Denis Bailly is a Senior Fellow at the United Nations University and a leading expert in marine and coastal economics, ocean governance, and integrated socio-ecological assessment.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Rennes I and has spent over three decades at the University of Brest, where he was a senior lecturer and researcher within the Centre for Law and Economics of the Sea (AMURE), in close association with IFREMER, CNRS, and IRD.
His work focuses on marine and coastal public policy, the blue economy, conservation, and ecosystem-based management, with a strong emphasis on participatory and interdisciplinary approaches. Denis Bailly has played a key role in major European and international research programmes related to marine spatial planning, ecosystem services assessment, and ocean governance. He is also a coordinator of the Ocean University Initiative and has been actively involved in advancing the creation of a United Nations University institute dedicated to the ocean.