TEAM
AND COLLABORATORS

MEET OUR TEAM

MICOL MONTAGNA

Project coordinator, trainer

Micol is a biologist with a specialization in biodiversity, biological evolution and animal behaviour. She is also a scuba diving lover and PADI Divemaster.
Her academic path brought her to experience various and peculiar fields: she moved her first steps studying wasps behaviour in Spain and afterward she worked on her Master’s thesis studying red deer distribution in the Apennines.

In 2012 Micol finally found her way in the marine field: she focused on cetaceans and mostly on marine turtles while assisting Ph.D. candidates in their research in Western Australia first and then in the Red Sea.

In 2015 she started collecting data on those amazing creatures in Southern Egypt and she joined TurtleWatch – Egypt: this was the beginning of a wonderful and unique adventure.
Micol now lives in Marsa Alam, Red Sea – Egypt, where she is always ready to go into the water to find new individual turtles.

ABDALLAH TAHER

Field coordinator/assistant, trainer

Abdallah, for friends “Abdu”, has been a diving instructor since 2004, he knows most of the dive sites along the Egyptian Red Sea coast and during his life has met probably more turtles and fish than humans.
He has always been extremely fascinated by marine creatures and his favourite hobby is to go diving and photograph them.
Abdu joined TurtleWatch – Egypt in 2015, giving a great contribution to the fieldwork thanks to his excellent skills in in-water activities and photography.

Abdu is also PADI diving instructor and he has created the Turtle Watch PADI Distinctive Specialty Course. During the course, approved by PADI, you will learn how to monitor marine turtles in the Red Sea and how to be part of our project.

AGNESE MANCINI

Founder and scientific coordinator, trainer

A turtle biologist and conservation scientist, Agnese started studying marine turtles in 2004 and has never stopped since, following turtles across oceans and continents.
In 2011, while working for the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), she started Turtlewatch Egypt and then found in Micol and Abdu some formidable collaborators. When she is not swimming after turtles, you can spot Agnese riding her blue bike across the streets of La Paz, Mexico, where she resides.

VALERIA ROMA

Assistant, trainer

Valeria holds a bachelor’s degree in Natural Science and a master’s degree in Biodiversity and Evolution. She has a deep passion for the animal kingdom, particularly the ecological and ethological aspects that distinguish different species. For her bachelor’s thesis, Valeria conducted an analysis of data on turtle strandings along the Adriatic Sea’s Italian coasts.
She’s very interested in environmental disclosure and species conservation. Valeria joined TurtleWatch Egypt in 2023 and is currently living in Marsa Alam.

REBECCA MONTANARI

Assistant, trainer

Rebecca has been passionate about the ocean and biology for as long as she can remember. She started diving at 9, knowing even back then that her life would always be tied to the sea. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences and a master’s degree in Marine Biology—there was no other path for her with her love for marine life.

For her bachelor’s thesis, Rebecca studied the Emilia-Romagna coastline as a potential nesting area for the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), analyzing the factors that influence egg incubation. That project sparked an even greater passion for these fascinating animals.

Rebecca is also a certified Divemaster, and her next goal is to become a diving instructor. She is a cheerful person, always ready to dive into new challenges and learn more, especially when it comes to the sea and nature.

MAJA ZAMENCKA

Assistant, trainer

Maja is an oceanographer (marine biology specialization) with a true love for all animals. Her adventure with sea turtles started in 2015 when she volunteered at ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece for the first time. Since then, she had a chance to work with turtle monitoring and research projects as well as rehabilitating sick and injured individuals at Sea Turtle Rescue Center.

In her free time, she loves to stay in the water following her passions and developing her diving/freediving/kitesurfing/underwater photography skills.

Maja joined TurtleWatch Egypt in 2022 and is currently living in Marsa Alam.

ARIANNA MATUOZZO

Assistant, trainer

Arianna is a biologist with the main focus on evolutionary biology.
Her very first experience in this field was in 2016 when she joined the sea turtle recovery center project in Linosa, south Italy as a volunteer.
After graduation, Arianna had the chance to travel in the Maldives and then to Egypt thanks to an environmental awareness project carried on by the University of Bologna.
In Egyptian land, she heard about the Turtle Watch project and joined Micol in this new experience.