All Posts by Flavia

Tafsir M. Johansson

Assistant Professor, World Maritime University, WMU-Sasakaw Global Ocean Institute

‍Dr. Tafsir Matin Johansson is an Assistant Professor at the World Maritime University-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute (GOI) in Malmö, Sweden. Tafsir is a techno-policy analyst with a Ph.D. in Maritime Affairs from the World Maritime University, and an LLM in Maritime Law from the University of Lund, Sweden. His duties at the GOI include ocean governance and policy research, teaching and developing innovative policy models to better assess drivers and indicators relevant to ocean research agenda.

Tafsir has published extensively on maritime and ocean issues including: techno-regulatory dynamic governance, Arctic governance, vessels of concern, corporate social responsibility, marine pollution, climate change, conflict management and trust ecosystem, and Brexit and fisheries. Tafsir has worked on or led a number of multidisciplinary projects, including: regulatory development projects funded by Transport Canada (Government of Canada) since 2014, as well as those funded under the Canadian Government’s Oceans Protection Plan covering numerous topics critical to the maritime and ocean domain. Currently Tafsir serves as a CO-PI in a European Union Horizon2020 Programme funded project titled “Overcoming Regulatory Barriers for Service Robotics in an Ocean Industry Context” (BUGWRIGHT2; GA 871260).

George Theocharidis

Professor of Maritime Law & Policy, World Maritime University

George Theocharidis is a Professor of Maritime Law & Policy at World Maritime University. He is a member of the Piraeus Law Bar & a qualified advocate before Areios Pagos (Supreme Court) with extensive litigation practice, as weel as a full member of the Hellenic Maritime Law Association since 2000. Prof. Theoccharidis is a upporting Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) since 2004 and is a consultant of the IMO E-Roaster.

His research interests concentrate on Carriage of Goods by Sea, Marine Insurance, Conflict of Laws, Methodology of Law, Ship Arrest and Maritime Policy. He is the author of the books “Tort Liability of the Sea Carrier under Hague-Visby Rules” (2000), “The Co-ownership on Vessel as legal form for the exercise of maritime commercial activity” (2008) and co-author of “ Greek Maritime Law” (2015). He has also published several articles (“All About Freedom of Contract? Bunker Supply Arrangements Post-Res Cogitans in Global Context”, “Mechanisms of Protection From Non-Contractual Modes of Recovery in Sea Carriage – A Comparison Between Common Law and Civil Law Systems”, “Relationship between forum shopping and flag in satisfaction of security rights on a ship”, “Jurisdiction for Provisional Relief under the Brussels Convention in Maritime Context” et al.) His published research work in international referred periodicals (J.Mar.L&C., R.H.D.I.) has received numerous citations from courts and legal theory (Heidelberg Report).

Co-author of the Training Package on “Maritime Transport Policy”, instructed by IMO TCD. Member of the Working Group of the Legal Committee of IMO pertaining to “Measures to Prevent Unlawful Practices Associated with Fraudulent Registration and Fraudulent Registries of Ships”. Joint Rapporteur of the International Working Group of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) on “Liability for the Wrongful Arrest of Ships”.

Holder of LL.M. degree from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a Ph.D. from Aristotle University (Greece)

Christina Voigt

Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway

Dr. Christina Voigt is an internationally renowned expert in international environmental law and teaches, speaks
and publishes widely on legal issues of climate change, environmental multilateralism and sustainability. From 2009-2018, she worked as principal legal adviser for the Government of Norway in the UN climate negotiations and negotiated the Paris Agreement and its Rulebook. Professor Voigt is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and Co-chair of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee. She
also is a mother of two young boys, Victor and Oscar.

Atsuko Kanehara

Professor of International Law at Sophia University

Professor Atsuko Kanehara is a Professor of International Law at the Sophia University in Japan. Experience include:

• Former President of the Japanese Society of International Law.
• Member of the Governing Board of IMO International Maritime Law Institute.
• Councilor for the Sasakawa Peace Foundation
• Advocate for the Government of Japan in “Southern Bluefin Tuna” Cases.
• Counsel for the Government of Japan in “Whaling in the Antarctic” Case. 
• Policy Adviser for the Japan Coast Guard.
• Member of the Committee on Submarine Cables and Pipelines under the International Law Association

Professor Kanehara delivered a course of lectures at The Hague Academy of International Law in 2017, entitled “Reassessment of the Acts of the State in the Law of State Responsibility―A Proposal of an Integrative Theoretical Flamework of the Law of State Responsibility to Effectively Cope with the Internationally Harmful Acts of Non-State Actors,” which was published in Recueils des cours, Vol. 399 (2019). Her recent publications in English are: “Refining Japan’s Integrative Position on the Territorial Sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands,” International Law Studies, Vol. 97 (2021); ”Covid-19 and the Law of the Sea: Japan’s Port State Jurisdiction in Relation to the Diamond Princess,” Japanese Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 64 (2021); ”Interplay between the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and Other International Law for Building a Comprehensive International Maritime Order,” Japanese Yearbook of International Law Vol. 63 (2020): ”The Use of Force in Maritime Security and the Use of Arms in Law Enforcement under the Current Wide Understanding of Maritime Security,” Japan Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2019).

Alla Pozdnakova

Professor, the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, University of Oslo Law Faculty

Alla Pozdnakova holds a doctoral law degree from the University of Oslo (2007), LL.M in International and European Law (2001) from the Riga Graduate School of Law and a law degree from the University of Latvia Law Faculty (1999). Pozdnakova is co-editor for law journal Oslo Law Review published by the Scandinavian University Press, a board member of the Norwegian branch of International Law Association, member of the Northern Areas Committee and Chair of the Research Group International Law and Governance at the University of Oslo. Pozdnakova teaches EU/EEA law, administrative law, law of the sea and Arctic law at the University of Oslo. She has published on a broad range of topics of public international law, law of the sea, EU competition law, environmental law, Arctic and comparative law. Her research interests also include outer space law and she is a member of the Space Law committee tasked with the preparation of a draft proposal for the new Norwegian Outer Space Act. She is a co-editor for the forthcoming book titled ‘Environmental Rule of Law for Oceans: Designing Legal Solutions’ at Cambridge University Press.

Aleke Stöfen O’Brien

Assistant Professor
WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, WMU

Dr. Aleke Stöfen-O’Brien, LLM is an Assistant Professor (Research/Ocean Sustainability, Governance & Management) at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden. Her research interests include law of the sea, marine environmental protection and sustainable ocean governance. Her work focuses in particular on plastic pollution and equity questions in (ocean) governance. 

Prior to joining WMU, Dr. Stöfen-O’Brien served as Policy Officer in the Marine Unit of the Federal Environment Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr. Stöfen-O’Brien has extensive professional experience as an Associate Programme Officer at the Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Montréal, Canada, as Research Associate at the University of Trier, at the Marine Unit of Directorate-General Environment (DG ENV) of the European Commission, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) as well as the WHO/Europe representation to the EU working on aspects such as marine environmental protection, marine litter, aquaculture, sub-seabed CO2 capture and storage, capacity-building and broader aspects of international and European law.

Aleke’s research work has seen her participate in numerous international scientific collaborations, including that of co-convening Chapter 12 on marine debris and dumping of the United Nations Second World Ocean Assessment, which was published in July 2021. She has also contributed to The Economist Plastics Management Index (in collaboration with the Nippon Foundation), which was published in October 2021 as well as The Economist Invisible Blue report on marine chemical pollution, which was published in collaboration with the Nippon Foundation in March 2022. Aleke serves as PI on the WMU-The Nippon Foundation Closing the Circle Project on Marine Debris, Sargassum and Marine Spatial Planning in the Eastern Caribbean Region. 

Aleke has extensive teaching expertise, which has seen her most recently serving as the lead co-convenor of the Master Course on Sustainable Ocean Governance at the WMU as well as the convenor of the PhD Course on Ocean Governance in the academic year 2021/2022. Aleke supervises PhD and Master students on a wide range of topics.