Wagner Cotroni Valenti

Dr. Wagner Valenti is a senior research scientist and professor in Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil. At present, he is Executive Director of UNESP Inovation Agency and coordinates many research projects on sustainable and integrated aquaculture in the Aquaculture Center of UNESP. Wagner has served the aquaculture profession through teaching, R&D and the development of national policies since 1981. He has published over 200 papers, books, book chapters and scientific articles on general aquaculture and freshwater prawn biology and culture, which is his principal area of scientific expertise. He has developed systems for hatchery and grow-out of Crustacean species, which has been used on farms in Brazil and other Latin America countries. In the past decade, he headed a multi-institutional research network to develop technology for producing a wild Amazonian species, Macrobrachium amazonicum, and as a result, such species has now been introduced in aquafarms in Brazil. Currently, he heads other research network to develop sustainability indicators to assess Brazilian aquaculture systems. He has been involved directly in the organization of numerous national and international conferences and has been selected as a keynote or plenary speaker on several occasions. He has managed, Ph.D. and MS graduate programs, technology transfer to the aquaculture industry and many research programs focusing on aquaculture and aquatic biology. He has been a member of the Regional Biology Council (CRB-1) and Aquaculture Committee of the National Scientific and Technological Council (CNPq), Brazil for several years. In addition, he has been enrolled with a Brazilian aquaculture policy for a long time. He has co-edited a landmark book on freshwater prawn farming published by Wiley-Blackwell and has developed revisions and editorial tasks for important international journals. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)