Monthly Archives: June 2023

Maria Carolina Romero Lares

Associate Professor; Head of Maritime Law and Policy
World Maritime University

Dr. Romero has been a member of the Faculty of Law at the World Maritime University since 2011 and currently serves as the Head of the Maritime Law and Policy Specialization. She received her Law degree from the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Venezuela and an LL.M. degree from Tulane University in the U.S. before earning a Ph.D. with honors (cum laude) from Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany.

Dr. Romero’s academic career began in 2005 when she joined the Venezuelan Maritime University as a part-time professor. In addition to her teaching duties, she served as Coordinator at the International Affairs Office of the Venezuelan Maritime Administration. She later became the Head of that office and represented her country at several international meetings at the International Maritime Organization and the International Oil Pollution Funds in London.

With firsthand professional experience both as a delegate at international forums representing her homeland and in the classroom, Dr. Romero brings a unique perspective to the Maritime Law and Policy Specialization. She lectures on International Organizations and Maritime Conventions, the Law of the Sea, and the Protection of the Marine Environment and oversees these courses. In addition, she organizes the annual Moot Court Competition, which focuses on current issues of the Law of the Sea, along with a field study trip to The Hague and Hamburg. She has also been invited to lecture at the IFLOS Summer Academy at ITLOS in Hamburg, Germany.

Dr. Romero places great importance on cooperation activities with Latin America and the Caribbean and has already organized two regional conferences there: the “Maritime and Port Sectors in the Americas: Challenges and Opportunities in Light of the SDGs” conference in Lima, Peru in 2017 and the “Second Regional Conference: Maritime Transport and Ocean Policies: Regional Perspectives for the Americas” in Veracruz, Mexico in 2019.

Dong-Wook Song

Dong-Wook Song is Republic of Korea Chair and Professor of Maritime Economics and Logistics at the World Maritime University, Sweden. Prior to the current post, he worked at Edinburgh Napier and Heriot-Watt University in the UK, and Hong Kong University. He holds a BA(Hons) with First Class in Shipping Management from Korea Maritime University, an MSc in International Shipping and Logistics, and a PhD in Maritime Economics and Logistics from the University of Plymouth, UK. He also attended an Industrial Economics Course at the London School of Economics.

Professor Song has received a number of academic awards including ‘The Maritime Policy and Management Award for the Best Paper’ at the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) Annual Conferences in 1999 and 2001; ‘The Best Paper Award’ at the Asian Association of Shipping and Logistics in 2008; and ‘The Best Paper of the Year 2009’ at the “International Journal of Logistics Research and Application”. He is a Chartered Member of The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), and has held a number of visiting posts at the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia; the University of Reading, UK; BEM Bordeaux Management School, France; the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Maritime University, and Dalian Maritime University China; University of Antwerp, Belgium; and University of Agder, Norway.

He is currently an Editor-in-Chief of “WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs”, a former Associate Editor (2011-2018) of “Maritime Policy and Management”, and sits on editorial boards at highly regarded transport and logistics journals. He has worked as a consultant for a number of private and public organisations including the UN, OECD, ADB and World Bank. Professor Song served IAME, a premier academic association in the field of maritime transport and logistics, as an elected Council Member for twelve years (2004-2010; 2012-2018), being among the longest serving Council Members for the Association.

One of his co-authored papers in 2006 is recently enlisted by Google Scholar (2017) as a classic paper in the entire field of transportation. In addition, an article in “Transport Reviews” (2013) shows that his works in port research are highly ranked – among the top listed over the last three decades (1980-2009). Another article in “Maritime Policy and Management” (2013) lists his two papers, published in 2003 and 2002, are among the top 30 most cited papers over the whole forty-year-history of the journal (1973-2013). His prolific-but-impact-bearing-refereed publications are a product from his keen interest in managerial and strategic aspects of global shipping, port and logistics. See Citation Index for more of his research works.

Francis Neat

Professor Neat joined WMU 2019 where he is currently Head of Specialization for Ocean Sustainability, Governance and Management in WMU’s Masters in Maritime Affairs. From Scotland, he has a broad research background in freshwater and marine ecosystems and management. He received his PhD from Glasgow University and undertook post-doctoral work in Italy, Austria and the US. For many years he was a principal researcher at the Scottish Government’s Marine Laboratory. Before joining WMU, he was Head of Strategic Research at the Marine Stewardship Council.

His past research focused on deep water marine ecosystems, the migration of fish and the impacts of fishing on the marine environment. His research has been applied to fisheries management and marine policy development, including the implementation of a network of Marine Protected Areas and the EU policy on deep-water fishing regulations. He has a particular interest in the marine ecosystems, fisheries and management of the High Seas. He has published around90 peer review papers and undertaken extensive science advisory work for the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, IUCN, FAO and the European Commission at the UN. His current research is interdisciplinary being focused on IUU fishing, marine debris and Sargassum in the Caribbean, gender equality in ocean science, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

His teaching experience has been mainly at Masters level and includes fish ecology(Aberdeen University) and global fisheries (Imperial College, London). He currently teaches the “Ocean Processes and Human Impacts” course at WMU. He has supervised numerous post-graduate students, many to PhD level.

Raphael Baumler

Raphael Baumler holds a Ph.D. in Risk Management and focuses his academic work on the impact of the vessel’s socioeconomical environment on safety and environment.

Primarily educated as a dual officer, he has worked on various types of vessels. Dr. Baumler spent 20 years in a seafaring career. He ended this occupation after six years as Master on a large container ship. His sea life drove him to work as Staff Captain on a cruise ship, and he completed various assignments as dual Junior Officer on board container ship, ferry, VLCC and supply vessel.

He participates or leads IMO national and regional workshops on MARPOL Annex VI and Ballast Water Management Convention.

He conducted various IMO projects and participated in several other research projects.