Sylvan is a Sustainability Specialist professionally devoted to sustainable change by harnessing the power of science, research and innovation to improve human lives, transform vulnerable societies, and co-create brighter futures. He is an Executive Lead for the GOOD – a start-up ecoentreprise that promotes conservation, co-restoration and sustainable consumption of oysters in greener manners to meet sustainability needs. He is affiliated to the Earth System Governance Project of the Utrecht University, The Netherlands; UCD Centre for Sustainable Development, Ireland, and GeoSustainability Consulting, GH. In 2005, Sylvan won a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship to train in Practising Sustainable Development at the Royal Holloway, University of London (England); and holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Agri-Technology (Economics and Extension Option). Sylvan’s education is associated with the universities of the University College Dublin/UN SDSN, Central European University/UNIDO, and United Nations University– INRA. He was a recipient of the Irene Marshal Scholarship, IWMI Dissertation Award, University of London Convocation Trust Award as well as travel supports from the United Nations Foundation, Future Earth, Stockholm Resilience Centre/PIK-Germany, Elsevier/Oxford University, UN FAO, and European Science Foundation. The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK awarded him the 2023 Alumni Community Engagement Fund.
Sylvan’s research assignments and participation in over 46 conferences and workshops enabled him to gain exposure and experience in 16 countries, including Ghana, Switzerland, UK, South Africa, Hungary, Sweden and Senegal. He was a Group Lead for Ghana’s first National Urban Policy and (co-)published in GeoJournal, Environmental Sciences Proceedings, PNAS and UN Sustainable Development Journal (NRF) as well as peer-reviewed for the International Science Council (2018), Journal of Society & Natural Resources (2024), and Journal of Human Ecology (2008–2013). He authored a book on ‘Advancing sustainability in developing world’ (2014) and contributed to the ‘Living in the shadow of loss and damage: uncovering non-economic impacts’ (2023) published by the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK. He is active as a mentor and reviewer for various programs that support developing young leaders, including the Mandela Washington Fellowship (2014–2019), IREX Community Solutions Program (2016–2021), World Food Forum (2024), Global Development Network (2024), and the Queen’s Young Leaders Programme based at the University of Cambridge (2016 & 2018). In 2021, he served as a Reserve Judge for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition.
Sylvan is a Member of the Accelerator for Systemic Risks Assessment Network (2024-present), Professional Member of the International Association for Society and Natural Resources (2022-present), Associate Member of the International Society of Development and Sustainability (2023-present), and Early Career Researchers Network Future Earth (2018–2022).
His current research interest spans Human-environments; Tipping point risks e.g. ecoconflicts, sea level rise, land loss & flooding; Systemic risks in transformative processes; Earth system stability & sustainability; Risks in food & agrosystems e.g wildfires, invasive species, salinity & drought; Sustainability law & policy; Estuary science; Green eco-entrepreneurship (NbS, ES, Conservation & Biodiversity); Urbanism; and Inequalities all in the sense of Sustainability Science and/or Sustainable Development.