Professor Mark Appiah is the current President of CCST. He was the Deputy Director of CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG) (July 2017 – July 2019) and served as a vice chair of the Institute’s principal governing Board. He held a permanent position as a Principal Research Scientist (Agroforestry) at the CSIR-FORIG since September 2013. He also held different administrative and management positions including the position as the head of Division for the forest improvement and productivity division and the Coordinator for the Climate Change and Integrated Natural Resources Management Post-Graduate Programme of CCST.

As the Deputy Director he guided the institute’s efforts in research initiatives and supported the implementation of the climate change post graduate education hosted at CSIR-FORIG. Prof Appiah initiated and helped craft the partnership between the CSIR and University of Eastern Finland (UEF), which led to the establishment, in 2012, of the Masters in Bioeconomy and Natural Resources Management Programme between CSIR and UEF. He has also initiated and led in the implementation of several national and international forestry and education collaborative projects funded by agencies such as the Academy of Finland, ITTO, the World Bank and the Finnish Foreign ministry through the UEF. Prof. Appiah’s project activities have contributed significantly to improving forest management and biodiversity conservation in Ghana. In recent years, he has turned his scholarly focus to higher education and leadership to help expand both Ghanaian and international students opportunities for post graduate education. He has devoted his time to advising and mentoring students interested in careers in education, teaching and research.

Prof. Appiah holds an Adjunct Professorship in Tropical Forestry at the university of Eastern Finland with academic interests that range across tropical forestry, silviculture, sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation and social forestry. He is the author or co-author of over 40 publications on topics related to the above-mentioned areas of academic interests including a standard textbook chapter used globally in training for wildland fire management, printed in thousands of copies in several languages. He is a member of several Professional Organizations including the Society for Ecological Restoration (since 2016), the Finnish University Partnership for International Development – UniPID (since 2006), the African Forest Forum (AFF) (since 2008), and The Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (since 2010). Prof Appiah is also a member of several boards including the Board of Directors, Tapaman Senior Secondary Technical School, Abotoase, Oti Region, and the FinCEAL Regional Advisory Group. (FinCEAL = Developing Finnish Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Europe, Africa and the LAC Region. It is financially supported by Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture).

Prof. Appiah, who’s both parents are Ghanaian, attended the University College of Education, Mampong Campus, where he received his Diploma in Agricultural Education 1992-1995. He went on to earn Master of Science (MSc) degree in Land use in Developing Countries at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, formerly called The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL) (1997-1999), and a Ph.D. in in Tropical Silviculture from the University of Helsinki, Finland (1999-2003). Prof. Appiah is married with two daughters.