Prof. AFFIAN K. completed his graduation (Doctorat 3° Cycle) in Marine Geology at Bordeaux 1 University (France). Later, he majored (PhD) in Remote sensing applied to oceanography at Cocody University (Cote d’Ivoire) and Nantes University (France). He started his academic career as an associate researcher in the Department of Marine Geology at the National Center of Oceanology of Abidjan in 1988. After one year, he moved to the National University of Cote d’Ivoire as an associate professor. He grew professionally in 32 years, which is evident from the various designations he administered, as a full Professor and Director of the Remote Sensing Center for Applied Research at the University of Cocody from 1999 to 2010, Director of the post-graduate African School of Remote Sensing from 1999 to 2010. He was promoted to Dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences at the University of Cocoy from 2010 to 2012.
His dedication and commitment earned him the status of Vice-president of the 62-year-old pioneer University in Côte d’Ivoire from 2012 to December 2022. He was in charge of Education, training, extension and student affairs. He also managed the research for four years before a vice president in charge of this question was appointed. He has been a reliable choice of the Management to represent the University in several international forums convened across the globe (North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa) that gave wider visibility of the University to students, researchers and all stakeholders. For IOC-UNESCO, Some of the key roles he is administering include (i) founding member of GOOS AFRICA; (ii) Vice-chair of I-GOOS Board in charge of capacity building in Africa for seven years (2005-2011); (iii) member of GOOS steering committee (2015-2019) (iv) Chair of GOOS-AFRICA since 2019; (v) Chair of IOC AFRICA since 2021; (vi) national coordination of UN decade of Marine sciences for sustainable development; member of the UN advisory committee.
He has served on numerous national bodies and committees, including as (i) Coordinator of the inter-ministerial scientific Board for coastal erosion; (ii) Chair of the scientific committee of Abidjan convention established for Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and Southern Africa Region; (iii) adviser of the Minister in charge of Environment of Côte d’Ivoire (2012-2014). He has more than 100 publications to his credit, including Journal articles, Conference articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. Many of his publications are indexed in Scopus. An inspiring academician and mentor of research, he is currently guiding many scholars and producing more than 20 PhD students. His research contribution includes the development of integrated coastal zone management, coastal erosion, sea surface temperature, sea colour, bathymetry and environment studies based on remote sensing and GIS. His commitment towards the promotion of science, particularly remote sensing and GIS, led him to create a scientific journal named “RESIGEO.”