John W. McManus, PhD is a Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries, and Director of the National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE) at the Rosenstiel School of the University of Miami. In 2007, he chaired the Five-Year Review of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, which led to major changes in its structure and activities. As the former Leader of the Aquatic Environments Program of the WorldFish Center in Southeast Asia (formerly ICLARM), he was the founder of ReefBase: the Global Coral Reef Database, and the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN).

John W. McManus is known for innovative approaches to human-environment science in support of coastal and watershed management, which ranges from simple approaches by which villagers can assess their resources, to cutting-edge science and technology.

Dr. McManus and his wife Dr. Liana McManus were recognized by the World Technology Network for being among “the most innovative individuals in the world in 2006”. A pioneer in decision-support and scenario-testing modeling applications in the marine environment, he teaches annual courses on “Object-Oriented Programming and Agent-Based Modelling”, “Coral Reef Science and Management”, and “Introduction to Marine Science”. The author of over 80 publications, his current work includes studying the relationships among food webs, ecological dynamics, reef geomorphology, human-environment interactions, and climate change, as well as developing a new coastal ecohydrology modelling approach, linked to socio-economic simulation, to facilitate integrative research and management decision-making.

He also continues to assist efforts to develop a large Spratly Island International Peace Park in the South China Sea, an idea often attributed to an early reef connectivity study he conducted. His students have worked on a wide range of topics, often involving field-verified computer models.