Dr. Peggy Oti-Boateng was appointed the Executive Director at the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) on 01 November 2022. In this role, she provides leadership and strategic direction to enable the Academy to achieve its vision, mission, and objectives. She oversees both the programmatic and operational management of the organization with a focus to sustainably drive the mandate of the AAS through the secretariat team, working under the guidance of the Governing Council of the Academy.

Previously Dr. Oti-Boateng was Senior Science Advisor for Natural Sciences and the Director of the Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building in the Natural Sciences Sector at UNESCO Paris (France). She has been responsible for projects and programmes relating to science policy and capacity building in basic sciences and engineering at the multisectoral UNESCO regional office in Harare (Zimbabwe). She was also regional thematic adviser for Africa for the formulation of policies and capacity building in science, technology, and innovation and engineering. She served as focal point for the African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology and was the Head of Science in the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). She had additional responsibilities in the area of local and indigenous knowledge systems, ecological and earth system sciences, water sciences, and intersectoral collaboration in Education, Social and Human Sciences, Culture and Communication.

Dr. Oti-Boateng holds a PhD in Food Science and Technology from the University of Adelaide in Australia and a BSc, with specialization in Biochemistry, obtained from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi (Ghana). Dr. Oti-Boateng began her career in 1985 as a researcher at the Technology Consultancy Centre at the College of Engineering at KNUST. In 1989 she was appointed Consultant and Trainer at the South Australian Department for Employment and Training in Adelaide (Australia) and from 2005 to 2010, she served as Director of the Technology Consultancy Centre, College of Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, working in collaboration with national and international strategic partners. In 2011, Dr. Oti-Boateng joined the UNESCO Office in Nairobi, Kenya as a Senior Programme Specialist for Science and Technology. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing, coordinating, implementing, and evaluating projects and programmes of activities relating to the basic sciences and engineering and science policy for sustainable development in Africa. In 2015, Dr. Oti-Boateng was transferred to the UNESCO multisectoral regional office in Harare (Zimbabwe) and between 2018 and 2022, she held the position of Director of Division at UNESCO Headquarters.