Category Archives for "Speakers"

Sarah Mahadeo

Research Fellow, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Sarah Mahadeo a Research Fellow in the Closing the Circle Programme which looks at exploring challenges and advancing potential solutions to marine debris, Sargassum and marine spatial planning (MSP) in the Eastern Caribbean. Sarah has more than 7 years’ experience working both in terrestrial and marine planning. Prior to joining WMU, she worked with the MSP global initiative of the IOC-UNESCO for capacity development activities on MSP and the Blue Economy in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as on a series of policy briefs related to MSP on a range of topics including Climate Change, Ocean Governance and Capacity Development. Her work in MSP also includes an internship at Nordregio in Stockholm Sweden in 2018, where she was involved in the Pan Baltic Scope project. Sarah was previously employed as a Town Planner in the Ministry of Planning and Development in Trinidad and Tobago from 2011 until 2020 (with a hiatus for study from 2016-2018). Her work in land use planning involved assessment of applications for building and the development of land and contributing to policy reviews and other planning guidance. She was also a member of the working committee which produced the national standards for accessible buildings and facilities. Sarah’s educational background includes the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Maritime Spatial Planning, jointly conferred by the University of Seville, Spain; University of Azores, Portugal and University IUAV of Venice, Italy. She also holds a BSc in Urban and Regional Planning from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland and a BSc in Biology from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interests include stakeholder engagement in planning, land-sea interactions, marine and terrestrial planning integration and developing MSP in small island states.

Luciana F. Coelho

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Luciana Fernandes Coelho is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree at World Maritime University. She has been working in academia and civil society with issues related to the law of the sea, fisheries law, environmental justice and law-policy-science interface for over eight years. Her PhD research investigates the implementation of the framework governing Marine Scientific Research under UNCLOS by Small Island Developing States. She anticipates that her findings will have a positive impact on discussions about equity in ocean sciences, achieving the sustainable development goal 14, negotiations on BBNJ, implementing the 2030 Seabed Survey and the Ocean Decade. Luciana holds an M.Sc. in Environment, Politics & Society from the University College London, UK, a Masters of Law from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, and a Bachelor of Laws with first-class honour from the Dom Bosco University, Brazil.

Kristie Alleyne

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Kristie Alleyne is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus with a
background in Marine Biology and Environmental Management. During her Bachelors
degree Kristie became very interested in behavioural ecology which led her to work with the
Bellairs Research Institute, examining the behavioural traits of cleaner gobies on both
sponge and coral microhabitats in Barbados. With an increased love for ecology and
conservation, Kristie pursued her post-graduate studies in marine management with specific
interest in social-ecological interactions. Subsequent to her Masters in Resource and
Environmental Management where she specialised in Coastal and Marine Resource
Management, she was appointed to the post of Research Assistant at UWI-CERMES where
she worked primarily on fisheries and sargassum related projects. After working on a
variety of sargassum projects for 2 years, Kristie now pursues a PhD degree at the World
Maritime University where her main research focuses on spatiotemporal analysis of
sargassum influx events in Barbados.

Johanan Dujon

CEO, Algas Organics

Johanan Dujon is CEO of Algas Organics, the Caribbean’s first indigenous biotechnology manufacturing company. Recognizing the crippling effect of Sargassum on his home island of St. Lucia, Johanan founded the company in 2014, with the vision of valorizing the invasive plant species into world class, organic, crop protection and crop nutrition products. Under his stewardship, Algas Organics has processed over 1 million pounds of Sargassum seaweed into fertilizer for export regionally and internationally. Johanan has been recognized for his innovation locally and internationally, including:

  • Forbes 30 Under 30 2020
  • Commonwealth Youth Award For Excellence in Development 2019
  • Forbes 2019
  • Young Leader of the Americas 2018
  • Prime Minister’s Award for Innovation in Microbiology 2018
  • Huffington Post 2017
  • OECS Top 30 Entrepreneur under 30 2017
  • Caribbean Beat Top 25 Achiever Under 25 2017
  • Young Entrepreneur of the year 2017.

Aleke Stöfen O’Brien

Programme Principle Investigator and Associate Research Officer, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, WMU

Dr. Aleke Stöfen-O’Brien is Associate Research Officer at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Her research interests include law of the sea, marine environmental protection and sustainable ocean governance. Prior to joining the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, Aleke worked at the Federal Environment Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Montréal, Canada, 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 was awarded with several scholarships and awards and received funding for her studies from the University of Maastricht, the German National Merit Foundation, Carlo-Schmid- Fellowship as well as the German Research Foundation. Her research has received several awards and distinctions, including the runner-up for the European Society for International Law Monography Prize 2015. Aleke has been involved in different intergovernmental processes, including serving as delegate in the German delegation to the Ministerial Conference on Plastic and Marine Litter from 1 to 2 September 2021, UN Global Compact for the Oceans and she co-convened Chapter 12 on Marine Litter of the Second World Ocean Assessment.

Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry

President, World Maritime University

LLM, PhD, University of Geneva
LLB, LLM, University of the West Indies
Barrister-at-Law

Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry (LL.B, LL.M, Ph.D International Law) joined WMU as President in the summer of 2015.
Prior to joining WMU, she served as the Director of the International Labour Standards Department of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Doumbia-Henry began her career at the University of the West Indies, Barbados, as a lecturer in law. She later worked with the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands and then joined the ILO in 1986 where she served both as a senior lawyer of the Organization and in several management positions. She was responsible for developing ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 and remained responsible for it until she joined WMU. Since the late 1990s, she led the ILO participation in a number of IMO/ILO interagency collaborations on several issues of common interest to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and ILO, including the Joint IMO/ILO Ad Hoc Expert Working Groups on Fair Treatment of Seafarers and on Liability and Compensation regarding Claims for Death, Personal Injury and Abandonment of Seafarers.

Her qualifications include Barrister at Law and Solicitor, and she is entitled to practice in all English-speaking Caribbean jurisdictions and is a Member of the Inner Temple, Inns of Court, United Kingdom. She holds:

– a Masters of Law from the University of the West Indies;

– a Masters in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva, and

– a Doctorate in International Law from the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Doumbia-Henry has dual Dominican and Swiss nationality and has published extensively on a wide range of international law subjects, including on: International labour standards and trade, the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, the Seafarers Identity Documents’ Convention, 2003 and the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Sea.

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