Dr Balu Alagar Venmathi Maran is an Associate Professor at the Organization for Marine Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Japan, with over 30 years of teaching and research experience in marine science and aquaculture. He holds a PhD in Marine Biology from Hiroshima University, Japan. His research expertise includes marine biodiversity, fish parasitology, aquaculture health management, marine natural products and the biotechnological applications of marine organisms. He has authored more than 100 scientific publications, described numerous new species of parasitic copepods and led national and international collaborative research projects. His current research integrates artificial intelligence, biological imaging and sustainable marine resource utilisation to advance marine conservation, biodiversity research and aquaculture sustainability.