Sardines are a highly nutritious, relatively affordable and commonly caught fish species in Timor-Leste, where food insecurity and under nutrition are widespread. Through this multidisciplinary PhD project, Kim Hunnam aims to gain insight into the ecological, socio-economic and food security dimensions of this fishery and contribute to understanding whether it can be developed in a sustainable manner to improve local food security and coastal livelihoods. This research is co-supervised by Chris Fulton (ANU), Natasha Stacey (Charles Darwin University) and David Mills (WorldFish Centre), and will be conducted in close collaboration with WorldFish Timor-Leste providing direct links to the Timor-Leste Government Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and other local fishery stakeholders. Funding and in-kind support have been generously provided by the North Australia Marine Research Alliance, WorldFish Timor-Leste, CDU and ANU.