Arah Narida
Postdoctoral Associate
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BA Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan; MS University of the Philippines Diliman; PhD National Sun Yat-sen University
Research Websites: Mubadala Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental ScienceS (ACCESS)
Research Areas: Coral reef ecology, coral taxonomy, coral biology, coral spawning and larval rearing, benthic community surveys and larval cryopreservation
Arah Narida is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ACCESS), New York University Abu Dhabi. She earned her PhD in Marine Science from National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan, where her dissertation focused on the cryopreservation and cryobanking of coral larvae. She also holds an MS in Marine Science (Marine Biology) from the University of the Philippines Diliman and a BS in Marine Biology from Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, where she graduated with the Best Thesis Award and recognition as Most Outstanding Student.
Narida’s research bridges coral reef ecology, biotechnology, and climate adaptation. She has advanced coral cryobiology by developing vitrification and laser warming techniques, leading to the first successful production of adult corals from cryopreserved larvae (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2023). Her recent work, published in Invertebrate Biology and Coral Reefs (2025), further explores cryopreservation methods and ultrastructural impacts on coral larvae. She has also made significant contributions to reef community studies in the Philippines.
Narida specializes in coral ecology, coral biology, coral spawning and larval rearing, benthic community assessment, and larval cryopreservation, contributing to the development of scalable technologies for reef restoration under climate change.