Aitor Forcada is a marine biologist, researcher and senior lecturer in the Department of Marine Science and Applied Biology of the University of Alicante (Spain). He has acted as Head of the Department since 2019. He teaches mainly subjects related to applied statistics and geographic information systems (GIS) in Biology and Marine Science degrees, and in 2 official masters at the University of Alicante. Additionally, he participated in teaching several international courses (Tunis, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ecuador, México, …), organized by national and international institutions, about use of GIS for fisheries and aquaculture management, methodologies for ecological monitoring in marine protected areas, tools for environmental management of aquaculture, techniques for mapping marine key habitats and introduction to experimental design. Additionally, he has coordinated the master's degree in Sustainable Fisheries Management since 2017.

He graduated in marine biology in 2002 and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2008 (Special Award), which was focused on assessing the protection effect of marine protected areas and its impact on the surrounding artisanal fisheries in Western Mediterranean Sea. His research interest is focused on marine protected areas, ecology of littoral fish assemblages, management and conservation of marine fisheries resources and GIS applied to marine resources assessment.

He participated in more than 130 national and international research projects or contracts with companies, institutions and/or administrations (4 of them European projects). He acted as Principal Investigator of 8 projects/subprojects on fisheries and marine protected areas, funded by the European Union (1), regional governments (2), University of Alicante (2) and other institutions or companies (3). His international experience is further illustrated collaborating actively with other international researchers, he realized 8 stays in foreign research centers and universities. This research activity has allowed him to participate as author of more than 72 contributions to conferences (including as member of the organizing or scientific committee for seven of them), 9 books, 24 book chapters and also several papers (28 of them published in international indexed journals).