​Professor Carlos M. Duarte is the Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology and Director of the Red Research Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in Saudi Arabia.  Before this he was Research Professor with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Director of the Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia. 

Duarte received his Ph.D. from McGill University, Canada, in 1987.  Duarte’s research focuses on understanding the effects of global change in aquatic ecosystems, both marine and freshwater.  He has conducted research across Europe, South-East Asia, Cuba, México, USA, Australia, the Amazonia, the Arctic, the Southern Ocean, and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, spanning most of the marine ecosystem types, from near-shore to the deep sea. His research currently focuses on the role of marine ecosystems in the Red Sea, their resilience to global stressors and their capacity to help mitigate climate change.

Professor Duarte currently led the Malaspina 2010 Expedition, a Spanish circumnavigation expedition that sailed the world's oceans to examine the impacts of global change on ocean ecosystems and explore their biodiversity. Professor Duarte served as President of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography between 2007 and 2010.  In 2009, was appointed member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), the highest-level scientific committee at the European Level, where he served until 2013. He has published more than 600 scientific papers and two books, is Editor in Chief of Frontiers in Marine Science, and was editor-in-chief of Estuaries and Coasts, as well as associate editor for a number of journals. He has received many honors for his work including the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in 2001, the National Science Award of Spain (2007), the King James I Award for Research on Environmental Protection (2009) and the I. Vernadsky Medal of the European Geophysical Union.  In 2009, he received the Silver Medal Cross of Merit from the Guardia Civil, Spain, for his service to environmental protection. In 2011, he also received the Prix d’Excellence, the highest honour awarded by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). He has received honorary doctorates from the Université de Québec a Montrèal (Canada) in 2010 and Utrecht University (The Netherlands) in 2012. He has been ranked within the top 1% Highly-Cited Scientist by Thompson Reuters in all three assessments of this rank.