Kelly Hoareau has extensive academic and corporate experience in environmental management and sustainability, with professional engagement across Africa and multiple Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and coastal nations.

She is a co-founder of the Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre and served as a Management Committee member and liaison with the University of Seychelles until 2022. She holds an MSc in Environmental Management from the University of Johannesburg and is currently pursuing a PhD on science, technology, and decision-making in the Blue Economy, in collaboration with the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre and the University of Tasmania.

Kelly is the former founding Director of the James Michel Blue Economy Research Institute at the University of Seychelles. During her ten years at the University, she also served as Head of Programme for Environmental Science, where she developed and delivered courses in global change, environmental research methods, Earth system science, tropical land management, and biogeography.

Prior to joining the University, she worked as an environmental consultant specialising in contaminated site management, environmental impact assessment, and risk management.

Her professional trajectory reflects a strong commitment to nature conservation, sustainable development, and transdisciplinary collaboration. She works at the interface of science, policy, and investment, with a focus on making scientific knowledge accessible to communities, decision-makers, and private-sector actors. Her ongoing engagement across academic, governmental, private, and civil society sectors informs her research on knowledge co-production and innovative, ocean-based sustainable development pathways.