Denis W. Aheto has been working in the field of coastal zone management in Ghana for over a decade. He is an Associate Professor in coastal ecology and has professional training in project management. He is UCC’s authorized representative of the USAID multi-year support for Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building in Ghana. He also manages the “Research-based management of the Gulf of Guinea Project” financed by the Danish Foreign Ministry (DANDA). Cumulatively these projects have a total funding volume of over US$ 12 million. He has participated in scientific meetings, conducted research and presented papers at conferences in Ghana, Sweden, Thailand, Namibia, Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, United States of America, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and Germany. Prof. Aheto is recipient of a number of individual academic awards worth over US$ 100,000. In 2015, he won the distinguished Lecturer award at the University of Cape Coast for his commitment, dexterity and diligence in the work of the university. He has authored a book, book chapters, several commissioned project reports, and over 25 scientific articles notably in Nature; Ocean and Coastal Management, Wetlands, Regional Studies in Marine Science, Journal of Coastal Conservation, Environmental Sciences Europe, Aquaculture International, African journal of marine science, West African Journal of Applied Ecology, Sustainability, PLOS ONE to mention a few. Along his line of duty as a Lecturer at UCC, he contributes to the work of university-wide Committees and Boards including serving as member of the search Committee for the Vice-Chancellor of UCC in 2017. He served as the Head of Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences of the same university for four years (2012-2016). He was instrumental in the establishment of a Centre for Coastal Management at UCC, where he currently serves as the Director. Nationally, he is a member of the Government Implementation Committee for the establishment of the Anomabo Fisheries College; member of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Committee under the auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana, where he chairs the funding sub-committee. He is also a member of the National Board for Professional and Technical Examinations (NABPTEX) assisting in establishing standards for acquisition of competencies and the development of industry-relevant programmes in Ghanaian Technical Universities. He has supported work of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) by reviewing for accreditation of academic programs at the University of Energy and Natural Resources and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Internationally, he serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the US Government’s Feed Initiative implemented under USAID/Ghana; a member of the UN Pool of Experts on the State of the Marine Environment. He has supervised and graduated 1 doctoral student, 10 masters and 25 undergraduate students. Currently, he supervises 9 PhD students and 5 masters’ students in the areas of coastal management, climate change adaptation, coastal ecosystems, small-scale fisheries management, and fisheries socioeconomics and fisheries policy. He enjoys reading, music, cycling and family life.