All Posts by Flavia

Shuo Ma

Vice-President (International) and Professor
World Maritime University

Dr. Ma is a professor of Maritime Economics and Policy at World Maritime University. He is also Vice-President (International) of the University and responsible for the University’s Outreach programs which include Asia-based MSc. Programs, Post-Graduate Diploma courses by distance learning, professional development short courses and the newly developed activities related to E-learning Solutions. 

He has taught shipping management and port management subjects at the University, including maritime economics, the subject that he has been teaching as a foundation study subject of WMU’s MSc. Program in Maritime Affairs. He has acted as visiting professor, external examiner, and research fellow in a number of Asian and European Universities. He has been involved in a number of research projects for private as well as public organizations. His latest book on “Economics of Maritime Business” was published by Routledge Taylor & Francis in 2020.

He holds a PhD degree in economics from the University of Paris.

Ellen Johanessen

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant
WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Ellen Johannesen is a PhD Candidate at the World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden.. Ellen is a Canadian who has spent the past 15 years in Copenhagen, and since 2009 has been working in marine science administration as the Coordinating Officer at the Secretariat of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).
With an interdisciplinary background, her professional interests include international marine science cooperation and administration, the ecosystem approach, and more recently considering the role of gender in the practice of international marine science.

Through ICES, she has contributed to a variety of international marine science projects, including as work package leader for the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Coordination and Support Action on the Ecosystem Approach to Ocean Health and Stressors; and contributing to the UNDP-GEF Large Marine Ecosystems (LME):LEARN Governance Mechanisms Working Group.

Ellen’s research perspective recognizes that change is needed at all levels, personal, political, and institutional to make the changes necessary for greater social justice and equality between genders, but also for the ocean. Without respect, understanding, and representation of diverse perspectives in science decision-making we will continue to struggle to change the current course of increasing degradation of the ocean, climate, and biodiversity.

Sebastian Unger

Ocean Commissioner of the German Federal Government and Director for Marine Environmental Protection at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)

Sebastian Unger is the Ocean Commissioner of the German Federal Government and Director for Marine Environmental Protection at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). Previously, from 2011-2022, he led the research group on ocean governance at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam. In this role he initiated numerous international research initiatives, lectured on ocean governance, and advised governments and international organisations on key marine policy processes for achieving ocean health.

In 2007 he was appointed to be Deputy Secretary to the OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North‐East Atlantic. In that role he supported negotiations of new international legislation for marine conservation and environmental impacts of human activities, including the development of the world’s first network of marine protected areas on the “High Seas”.

From 2004-2007 Sebastian Unger served at the German Federal Foreign Office, where he coordinated the Ministry’s work on international maritime affairs. He has an academic background in biology with political science.

H.E. Nancy Karigithu

Principal Secretary
State Department for Shipping and Maritim

Mrs. Nancy Karigithu, CBS is the Principal Secretary of the State Department for Shipping and Maritime, the State Department charged with responsibility for promotion of the Maritime and Shipping Industry in Kenya. She holds a bachelor’s degree in law and a Master’s degree in International Maritime law from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute, Malta. 

Prior to joining the State Department, Mrs. Karigithu worked at the Kenya Maritime Authority as Director General for nine (9) years. She has previously served as the Chair of the Technical Cooperation Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for two (2) terms.  Currently she sits on the Boards of Governors of the World Maritime University (WMU) based in Malmo, Sweden and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute based in Malta. 

She was involved jointly with IMO, in the setting up and launch of the Association of Women in the Maritime Sector in Eastern & Southern Africa (WOMESA), where she served two terms as Chairperson and now sits on the governing council.  WOMESA is a first regional body which brings together women professionals in the maritime sector of 26 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Before her present appointment Mrs. Karigithu was working as a legal expert for the European Union (EU) project, Critical Maritime Routes, aimed at enhancing maritime situational awareness in the Indian Ocean. 

Mrs. Karigithu was bestowed with an Honorary Fellowship by the World Maritime University, in recognition of her distinguished service to the international maritime industry, and recently appointed by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya as Ambassador and Special Envoy for Maritime and Blue Economy in Kenya. 

H.E. Rena Lee

Ambassador for Oceans and Law of the Sea Issues and Special Envoy of the Minister for Foreign Affairs
President of the BBNJ Conference

Rena is Singapore’s Ambassador for Oceans and Law of the Sea Issues and Special Envoy of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. She specialises in the practice of public international law, covering areas including law of the sea, environmental and climate change law. Rena was elected as President of the UN Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) in 2018. She is also a member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority.

Rena joined the Singapore public service in 1992 and has served in a number of roles, including with the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She currently also serves as the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.

Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs

Vice-President (Academic Affairs) and Professor
World Maritime University

Professor Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs is Vice-President (Academic Affairs) of the World Maritime University (WMU), a university established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.

He oversees and directs the development of the academic agenda and related activities to strengthen the academic profile of the University, and is responsible for the academic developments needed to keep WMU as the global centre of excellence in maritime and ocean education, research and capacity building. In this, he is supported by a wide range of experience gathered over two decades, during which he has taken on increasingly responsible academic and managerial roles at WMU.

Professor Schröder-Hinrichs is an internationally recognized maritime safety expert with special emphasis on the implementation and enforcement of the legal instruments of the IMO, the parent body of WMU. Professor Schröder-Hinrichs has been involved for more than 20 years in numerous capacity-building missions during which he advised IMO member State administrations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Northern America as well as the Black Sea and Caspian Sea areas on issues related to their international obligations under various instruments of the IMO.

In recent years Professor Schröder-Hinrichs developed a strong interest in the implications of increased levels of automation and new technologies in maritime transport. He was the principal investigator for “Transport 2040: Automation, Technology, Employment – The Future of Work”, which was commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and launched in 2019.

Aykut I. Ölcer

Director of Maritime Research and Professor
World Maritime University

Professor Dr. Aykut I. ÖLÇER is a naval architect and marine engineer holding the Nippon Foundation Professorial Chair in “Marine Technology and Innovation” at the World Maritime University (WMU). He is currently the Director of Research of WMU as well as the Head of Maritime Energy Management Specialization (MSc program). He served as the Editor-in-Chief of WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs (JOMA) and Book Series between February’17 and February’19. Prior to joining WMU, he worked at Newcastle University (England), University of Strathclyde (Scotland) and Istanbul Technical University (Türkiye) within the fields of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. He played an important role in Newcastle University’s first international branch in Singapore to help the University achieve its objectives in teaching/learning and research activities in the UG and PG programs of Marine Technology.

For many years, he has conducted research independently/jointly and collaborated with other researchers, academics and students all over the world, in particular from Europe and Asia. Dr Ölçer was involved in numerous EU funded FP5, FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020 and EU Horizon projects and IMO projects as well as IAMU and regional projects in Scandinavia. He currently leads the research priority areas, namely ‘Maritime Energy Management” and “Marine Technology and Innovation”, at WMU. He has published results of his research in leading, internationally peer-reviewed journals such as “Journal of Cleaner Production”, “Fuel Processing Technology”, “European Journal of Operational Research”, “Computers and Operational Research”, “Applied Soft Computing”, “Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment” and so on. He is the main Editor of the book “Trends and Challenges in Maritime Energy Management ”, which was one of the most downloaded Springer books in 2018. He delivered keynote speeches all over the world, in particular in the discipline of maritime decarbonisation.

Beatriz Martinez Romera

Associate Professor on Environmental and Climage Change Law
University of Copenhagen

Dr. Beatriz Martinez Romera is associate professor of environmental and climate change law at the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law. She has a keen interest in the international climate negotiations, and the regulatory processes at the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization, as well as the developments at the EU level. For the last 13 years Dr. Martinez Romera has been teaching and researching on the field of climate, environment and energy transition law. She is the coordinator of the master courses on Climate Change Law and International Environmental Law and the Advanced LLM on Energy Law (NSELP). In 2020 she was awarded the Young Investigator Carlsberg Foundation Grant for a 3-year project on International Law-Making: Actors in Shipping and Climate Change. She is PI for a number of research projects including the Independent Research Fund Denmark project Enhancing Climate Action through International Law and the NOS-HS project Climate Change and Ocean Governance: Understanding International and Regional Ocean Regimes through the Lens of Climate Change.

Andrew Birchenough

Technical Officer for Office for the London Convention/Protocol and Ocean Affairs, Marine Environment Division,
International Maritime Organization (IMO)

Andrew is the Technical Officer for the Office for the London Convention/Protocol and Ocean Affairs at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). He has a background in applied environmental research, focusing on marine pollution and ocean and coastal zone management, and holds a doctorate from Newcastle University. He joined the IMO in 2017, his primary task being to support the implementation of the London Convention and Protocol, the international treaties that regulate the dumping of wastes and other matters at sea. He is also involved in the Office’s Ocean Affairs portfolio, including the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) and in other IMO Marine Environment Division work including on Particular Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs), matters related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, and leading on anthropogenic underwater noise. Prior to joining IMO, he worked for Cefas and was responsible for providing scientific policy and regulatory advice to UK Government and regulators on the potential risks and impacts to the marine environment, and represented the UK at international and regional fora. 

Todd Bridges

Senior Research Scientist (ST) for Environmental Science
United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

Dr. Bridges is the US Army and US Army Corps of Engineers’ Senior Research Scientist (ST) for Environmental Science.  He became one of approximately 40 Senior Research Scientists within the US Army in 2006, where his responsibilities include leading innovation and research and development that support goals related to resilience and sustainability.  Dr. Bridges is the founder and National Lead for the USACE Engineering with Nature_® (EWN_®) initiative (www.engineeringwithnature.org), which includes a network of research, field-scale applications, and communication activities to support the development of nature-based solutions.  He led a large international collaboration over five years to develop and publish (in 2021) technical guidelines on the use of natural and nature-based features (NNBF) for coastal and fluvial flood risk management.  Dr. Bridges is the technical lead and Program Manager for the Dredging Operations Environmental Research (DOER) program, one of USACE’s largest and longest-running R&D programs.  He has chaired international working groups and guidance development for the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC).  Over the last 30 years, he has published more than 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, several books and book chapters, and numerous technical reports. 

Dr. Bridges and his work have been recognized through receipt of several national and international awards, including receiving a Distinguished Presidential Rank Award from President Biden in 2021 for “sustained, extraordinary accomplishments.”