Asiem Sanyal is a marine conservationist specialising in the design and management of marine protected and locally managed marine areas (MPAs and LMMAs). His work integrates ecological research with community-led approaches to enhance coastal resilience across small-island and tropical systems. With Blue Ventures, he led the science programme in Timor-Leste, supporting fisheries monitoring and community-managed MPAs. With Fauna & Flora (International) and Fundação Príncipe, he helped establish São Tomé and Príncipe’s first MPA network and, in 2024, co-received a Global Diversity Foundation Seed Grant to expand regional learning exchanges with partners in Nigeria. His earlier fieldwork spans seagrass and mangrove studies in Madagascar, turtle conservation in Cabo Verde, and coral reef monitoring in Southeast Asia. He is a Certified Conservation Standards Coach and member of the IUCN Sirenia Specialist Group. He is also a 2023 Conservation and Communties Fellow (through the Global Diversity Foundation), and a 2024 Kinship Fellow (through the Kinship Foundation). Additionally, he is a PADI Open Water SCUBA Instructor and a ReefCheck Indo-Pacific Eco Diver Trainer, and a polyglot (currently speaking eight languages).