Name: Dr Darren Fa  FLS

Job title: Museum Deputy Director/ Education, Research & Survey Officer

E-mail: darrenfa@gibraltar.gi

Responsibilities:

Darren Fa has been the Education, Research & Survey Officer for the Gibraltar Museum since September 1999, a role that has recently been expanded to incorporate all heritage aspects following the recent creation of the Gibraltar Heritage & Planning Division. Darren is also the Deputy Director of the Gibraltar Museum as well co-director of the Underwater Research Unit (URU).  Prior to this he was employed by the Government of Gibraltar as a schoolteacher, a position he held for ten years. He has held responsibility posts for Technology, Information Technology and Science and has broad experience of the various school sectors as well as adult further education.

In his current role, he has supervised the creation of the Gibraltar Heritage database and has responsibility for Education policy and public awareness initiatives, which include such varied elements as historical re-enactments, interactive activities for schoolchildren, co-editing a bi-annual magazine, production of television documentaries and the creation of resources for schools.  

In addition to this these, he is responsible for planning and coordinating various research initiatives within the division which include both heritage and natural history projects, aspects of which include the Gibraltar Caves Project, work on palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, archaeological excavations (both above and below water), historical research, ecological fieldwork (both terrestrial and marine) and setting up and overseeing collaborative projects with other museums and institutions.

Hobbies include diving, playing music, photography and painting.

Research Interests:

- Multi-scale distribution patterns of biodiversity, with special reference to marine benthic systems, and ecological modelling.
- Body size, abundance and range distributions and associated ecological and evolutionary theories.
- The Quaternary, with special reference to climatic variability, eustatic fluctuations and mass extinctions, especially the Neanderthal-Modern transition.
- Habitat loss and nature conservation, with special regard to extinction dynamics.
- Macroecology and biogeography.
- The effects of anthropic impacts on marine communities, including pollution, invasive non-indigenous species and coastal developments.
- The effects of environmental variability, habitat structure and complexity on the diversity and distributions of species, with special interest in fractal systems and chaotic dynamics.
- Heritage and natural history conservation, interpretation and public accessibility.
- Underwater archaeology and European maritime history.
- Evolution, conservation and interpretation of military sites, especially fortifications and ordinance.

- Role of museums in education provision and communication.

Academic Background:

- First Class Honours degree (BA QTS) in Education and Biology (1990) awarded by St. Mary’s College, University of Surrey , U.K.  

- Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography (July 1998) awarded by the Southampton Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, U.K. entitled ‘The Influence of Pattern and Scale on Rocky-Shore Macrofaunal Communities along the Mediterranean/Atlantic Interface through the Straits of Gibraltar.’  

- In April 2003 he commenced a distance learning Masters degree in Museum Studies at Leicester University , U.K.  

Academic Publications List