Vincent Florens works at the University of Mauritius where he is currently an associate professor in Ecology. His main interest is in conservation of biodiversity in tropical terrestrial systems with particular emphasis on the impact of invasive alien species on the biodiversity of tropical forests on oceanic islands. His research interests also include restoration ecology and taxonomy of Mascarene flowering plants and land molluscs and he also collaborates on various research projects in palaeoecology and climate change.

He holds a PhD (forest ecology and conservation) from the University of La Réunion, France, an MSc (Applied Ecology and Conservation) from the University of East Anglia, UK and a BSc (Honors) from the University of Mauritius and has been is active in biodiversity conservation since 1987. After working as an associate researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the University of East Anglia, Norwich, he returned to Mauritius and worked for the conservation NGO Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the National Herbarium before joining the University of Mauritius.

Vincent has been an active member of several boards and committees, including the Nature Reserves Board and the Wildlife and National Parks Advisory Council of Mauritius and many others. Since 2017, he heads the Pole of Research TIBEC (Tropical Island Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation) which he founded at the University of Mauritius the same year. He has published more than a hundred scientific articles on biodiversity, ecology and conservation. He is currently the principal supervisor of seven doctoral theses and Principal investigator of three funded projects.