Notes on Contributors
Prof. Frida M. Armas-Pfirter
is a Professor of Public International Law. She has been a member of the Finance Committee of the International Seabed Authority since 2012. She was previously a member of the Legal and Technical Commission from 2000 to 2011. She was a member of the Argentine delegation to the fifth to sixteenth sessions of the international seabed authority from 1999-2010 as well as a member of the Argentine delegation to the meetings with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf The common heritage of mankind principle and the equitable sharing of benefits and the sub commission which analyse the Argentine submission on the outer limits of the continental shelf in 2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. She has also been a member of the Argentine delegation to the United Nations meetings related to the law of the sea, including the meeting of the working group on biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction. She has been a conciliator and arbitrator (for Argentina) of the dispute settlement system of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea since 2009.
Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera
joined the International Seabed Authority as Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General in early 2017. He served previously as a career diplomat for 20 years in Mexico’s Foreign Service. Alfonso’s previous postings were Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations (2001-2006), Deputy Head of Mission in the Embassy of Mexico to the Kingdom of Thailand (2006-2010), Director of the International Law Unit (Law of the Sea) at the Legal Adviser’s Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2010-2014), and Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Mexico to the Republic of Korea (2014-2017).
Dr. Kathy-Ann Brown
was elected Judge to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2020, prior to this, she was the Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the International Seabed Authority and Chief Technical Adviser to the Prime Minister. She also served as Deputy Solicitor General, International Affairs, Attorney General’s Chambers. She has worked with various regional and international organisations in London, Brussels and Geneva and previously lectured international law, including the Law of the Sea (LLM), at the Faculty of Law, Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies. She recently rejoined the University at its Mona Campus as an adjunct lecturer teaching Advanced International Law (LLM). Kathy-Ann pursued her undergraduate studies at the UWI Faculty of Law, Barbados, and professional qualifications at the Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica. She pursued post-graduate studies at the Cambridge University, England, and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada.
Eden Charles
is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority for the Enterprise. Mr. Charles is an independent consultant in international law and is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Charles also serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of One Ocean Hub UKRI. A former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Deputy Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations, New York, Mr. Charles has more than twenty years expertise and experience in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, public international law, the law of the sea, international criminal law and multilateral diplomacy. He was elected Chairman of the Sixth Committee (Legal Affairs) of the United Nations General Assembly for its 70th Session and was appointed by the President of the United Nations General Assembly, as the first Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the conclusion of an international legally binding agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction. Mr. Charles was the coordinator of the annual UNGA resolution on Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea for 4 years and is a former facilitator of the working groups of the Meeting of States Parties to UNCLOS on the allocation of seats to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. He has also been a delegate and advisor at numerous international conferences, seminars and workshops; and has published articles on different areas on international law.
Prof. Neil Craik
is a Professor of Law at the University of Waterloo with appointments to the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, where he teaches and researches in the fields of international and Canadian environmental law. His current research examines the legal structure of global commons regimes. Professor Craik has particular interests in climate and geoengineering law and governance, deep-seabed mining regulation and environmental impact assessment. From 2017 to 2019, he co-convened the Legal Working Group on Liability for Environmental Harm from Activities in the Area. He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and, from 2011 to 2017, he served as the Director of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Tara Davenport
holds a Bachelor of Laws from the London School of Economics, a Master of Law (Maritime Law) from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and a Master of Law and Doctor of Juridical Science from Yale Law School. She is a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship as well as an NUS Overseas Graduate Scholarship. She is currently an Assistant Professor at NUS where she teaches Principles of Property Law, Law of the Sea and International Regulation of Shipping. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law (CIL) at NUS, Deputy Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL), member of the Executive Council of the Asian Society of International Law, member of the Editorial Board of the Asian Journal of International Law and Ocean Development and International Journal. She is co-rapporteur for the International Law Association’s Committee on Submarine Cables and Pipelines and was a member of the Legal Working Group on Deep Seabed Mining Liability. Her research interests are in public international law, law of the sea, marine environmental law and international dispute settlement.
Prof. James Harrison
holds a Ph.D. in international law from the University of Edinburgh. His research interests cover international law of the sea, international environmental law, and international dispute settlement. He has published widely in these areas, including two monographs: Making the Law of the Sea (Cambridge University Press 2011) and Saving the Oceans through Law (Oxford University Press, 2017). He has worked on behalf of a number of governments in international litigation and he regularly provides consultancy, advice and training to international organisations, government agencies and non-governmental organisations. He sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Environmental Law as international law annual case review editor and he is currently book review editor for the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law.
Prof. James R. Hein
received a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1973. He has been a marine geologist with the USGS since 2/1974. He started working on marine mineral deposits two years later as a member of the Deep Ocean Mining and Environmental Studies team (DOMES), a large interdisciplinary group studying manganese nodules. He later became Chief of a new USGS project on Cobalt-Rich Ferromanganese Crusts. Those efforts evolved into studies of a wide variety of mineral deposit types that occur in the modern ocean basins and comparisons with potential analogs in the geologic record. Hein has authored or co-authored over 630 papers and abstracts, including editing six books and Special Issues of the journals Ore Geology Reviews and Economic Geology. He is associate editor of Marine Geology and Marine Georesources and Geotechnology. He is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and the Geological Society of America and is past President of the International Marine Minerals Society. He is a scientific advisor to the US DOS and was part of their delegation to ISA from 2007–2017. He has contributed to ISA seminars and workshops since 2000. He was awarded the Prestigious Distinguished Service Award of the DOI, and the Moore Medal of the IMMS.
Judge Albert J. Hoffmann
has been a member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea since 2005 and was elected president in 2020. He served as Vice-President of the Tribunal from 2011–2014 and President of the Seabed Disputes Chamber from 2017–2020. He was elected as President of the Tribunal in October 2020 for the period 2020–2023. Prior to his election to the Tribunal, Judge Hoffmann served as Legal Adviser in the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Legal Counsellor of the South African Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. He represented South Africa at various international forums including the Meetings of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Assembly and Council of the International Seabed Authority. He was a member of the Authority’s Legal and Technical Commission as well as its Conciliation Committee and served in both as Chairman from 2002 to 2005.
Judge Maria Teresa Infante
was elected Judge to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2020, prior to this, she was Director of the Institute of International Studies of the University of Chile (1987–1994) and has been co-Director of the LLM. Program on Investments, Trade and Arbitration, offered jointly by the University of Heidelberg and the University of Chile. She is a former President of the Chilean Society of International Law, Member of Committees of the International Law Association, Member of the Institute of International Law, Member of the Instituto Hispano Luso Americano de Derecho Internacional, and President of the Latin American Society of International Law (2016–2018). Professor Infante was also Directora Nacional de Fronteras y Límites del Estado of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile between 1997 (July) and 2014.
Vladimír Jareš
Director, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, has been a staff member of the United Nations Secretariat since December 1992. In the Division, he has dealt with a number of issues concerning ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including those related to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, maritime spaces, maritime boundary delimitation as well as certain depositary functions of the Secretary-General of the United Nations under the Convention. He has been a member of the team which provides services to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf since its establishment in 1997, and since 2012, the Secretary of that Commission. During his first years at the United Nations, he dealt with fisheries issues in the context of the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. He has also been involved in servicing of numerous intergovernmental meetings and involved in the preparation of a number of publications issued by the Division.
Michael W. Lodge
received his LLB from the University of East Anglia and has an MSc in marine policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a barrister of Gray’s Inn, London. Mr. Lodge was first elected Secretary-General on 21 July 2016 at the International Seabed Authority’s 22nd Session for a 4-year term beginning 1 January 2017. In 2020, he was re-elected for another 4-year term (2021–2024). Prior to his election as Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority in July 2016, he had served as Deputy to the Secretary-General and Legal Counsel. Other professional experiences include serving as Counsellor to the Round Table on Sustainable Development, OECD (2004–2007); Legal Counsel to the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (1991–1995). He has also held appointments as a Visiting Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford (2012–2013), an Associate Fellow of Chatham House, London (2007) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Oceans (2011–2016).
With 28 years of experience as a public international lawyer, Michael Lodge has a strong background in the field of law of the sea as well as ten years’ judicial experience in the UK and South Pacific. He spent many years living and working in the South Pacific and was one of the lead negotiators for the South Pacific Island States of the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement. He has also worked as a consultant on fisheries, environmental and international law in Europe, Asia, Eastern Europe, the South Pacific and Africa.
With extensive knowledge of the United Nations and other international organizations, Michael Lodge has facilitated high-level multilateral and bilateral negotiations at international and regional level. His significant achievements include his pivotal role in the ISA from its inception in 1996 and in helping to create and implement the first international regulatory regime for seabed mining. He also contributed to the future security of global fish stocks by leading the process to create the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission from concept to its establishment as the largest regional fisheries management organization in the world, also serving as the interim executive director of the Commission. He was instrumental in advising the Pew Charitable Trusts on their support for the Global Ocean Commission and also acted as an adviser to the Commission on international law of the sea and ocean policy.
Mr. Lodge has published and lectured extensively on the international law of the sea, with over 25 published books and articles on law of the sea, oceans policy and related issues.
Prof. Ronán Long
is the Director of the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden, and the Nippon Foundation Professorial Chair in Ocean Governance and the Law of the Sea. He is the author/co-editor of 12 books and over 300 scholarly contributions on oceans law and policy. He read for his Ph.D. at the School of Law Trinity College Dublin, he has been a Senior Visiting Scholar-in-Residence at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Oceans Law and Policy at the University of Virginia. Additionally, Professor Long teaches on the Law of the Sea programme at Harvard Law School. Prior to his academic career, he was a permanent staff member at the European Commission and undertook over 40 missions on behalf of the European Institutions to the Member States of the European Union, the United States of America, Canada, Central America as well as to African countries. His research interests are focused on regulatory and governance arrangements pertaining to new technologies, marine biodiversity, the law of climate change, as well as human rights. He writes and advocates on the interests and needs of the Global-South in ocean affairs and with view to supporting a rules-based international order.
Prof. Ted McDorman
was “academic-in-residence” in the Legal Affairs Branch of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs (now Global Affairs Canada) from 2002–2004 and again from 2011 to 2013 where he was involved in a number of Arctic and law of the sea matters including as regards article 82. Professor McDorman has over 130 publications in the areas of ocean law and policy, international trade law and comparative constitutional law. From 2000 to 2020, he was editor-in-chief of Ocean Development and International Law.
Dr. Kira Mizell
has worked with the Global Marine Mineral Resources Program at the U.S. Geological Survey in Santa Cruz, CA, since 2011 and received a Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2019. Her research focuses on the study of oceanographic factors that influence the composition and distribution of ferromanganese crusts, manganese nodules, and phosphorites. She is Secretary of the International Marine Minerals Society and in 2022 will become a scientific advisor to the US DOS as part of their delegation to the International Seabed Authority.
Prof. Myron H. Nordquist
earned his S.J.D. from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Law. Since 1999 he has served concurrently as the Associate Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Centre for Oceans Law and Policy at the UVA School of Law. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Centre for National Security Law. Amidst several academic and career achievements, Professor Nordquist was a professor of law at the US Air Force Academy from 1993 to 1999. During the 1995–1996 academic year he was the Stockton Professor of International Law at the US Naval War College.
Over the years he has taught on the adjunct law faculties at American University, George Washington University, and the University of Denver. He has edited more than 70 books, mostly on law of the sea topics. He is Editor-in-Chief of the seven-volume set titled – UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary sponsored by the Virginia Centre. He has authored and delivered uncounted academic presentations as well as numerous scholarly articles on oceans law, national security law and international law. While at the Virginia Centre, Professor Nordquist has directed the substantive programs on law of the sea, including its annual conference and the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy.
Judge Patrick Robinson
is a Member of the International Court of Justice and a Barrister of Law, Middle Temple, United Kingdom. Following his call to the Bar in 1968, Judge Robinson had a long and distinguished career in public service, working for the Jamaican government for over three decades. In 1972, Judge Robinson became Jamaica’s Representative to the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, a position that he held for 26 years. From 1981 to 1998, he led Jamaican delegations for the negotiation of treaties on several subjects, including extradition, mutual legal assistance, maritime delimitation and investment promotion and protection. He is also the author of a book, Jamaican Athletics – A Model for the World, and the Executive Producer of a documentary, Jus Run, both of which explain the system underpinning Jamaica’s success in global athletics.
Dr. Mariamalia Rodríguez Chaves
has more than fifteen years of experience working with environmental non-governmental organizations and as an independent consultant on diverse environmental topics. She has a Law Degree, and a Master’s degree in environmental law, from the University of Costa Rica; and a Ph.D. in Law from the School of Law of the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). She successfully completed the United Nations-Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship and is President of its alumni network of over 200 fellows worldwide. Currently, Dr. Rodríguez Chaves is a Post-Doctoral Fellow researcher in the Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development programme at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute; a consultant for the High Seas Alliance, where she is responsible for coordinating the approach of Latin American countries in negotiating new treaty on biodiversity beyond national negotiations at the United Nations, and the programme coordinator of the DOALOS/Norway programmes of assistance to meet the strategic capacity needs of developing states in the field of ocean governance and the law of the sea.
Dr. Zhen Sun
is a Research Officer at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Her main research interests include the law of the sea, international regulation of shipping, maritime security, and the protection of the marine environment. Prior to joining WMU, Dr. Sun was a Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law (CIL), National University of Singapore between 2013 and 2018. She was a member of the CIL Ocean Law and Policy team, in which she worked on a wide range of subjects in the law of the sea. Dr. Sun has lectured for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as government officials and practitioners. She has contributed to the editorial work of a couple of book projects and published a number of book chapters and journal articles on various topics. Dr. Sun received a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Hainan University and an LLM in International Law from China University of Political Science and Law in China. She continued her education in the United Kingdom where she received an LLM in Public International Law (with distinction) from the University of Edinburgh and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.
Prof. Stephen Vasciannie
is Professor of International Law at the University of the West Indies, Mona. He has served, at different times, as the President of the University of Technology, Jamaica, as Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States of America and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, and as Jamaica’s Deputy Solicitor General. Professor Vasciannie has also been a Member of the United Nations International Law Commission and of the Inter-American Juridical Committee. His most recent book, Caribbean Essays on Law and Policy, was published in September 2020.
Dr. Philomene Verlaan
is an oceanographer (Ph.D., Imperial College London) and lawyer (J.D., Florida State University); specializing in law of the sea, especially marine scientific research, marine mining and sustainable use of the marine environment and its resources.
In addition to research, including (so far) 25 oceanographic cruises, she works on the interface between marine science and international marine law with international and intergovernmental organizations. This involves her in the management of intergovernmental marine projects in fascinating locations and in the development of legally binding international instruments related to the protection of the marine environment. Professional associations: International Marine Minerals Society, Marine Technology Society, Oceanography Society, Fellow of the Society for Underwater Technology, Fellow of the Institute for Marine Engineering, Science and Technology. She has so far published some 55 papers in the fields of marine science and international law of the sea, including a review of the biogeochemical and physical controls on Pacific Ocean nodule, crust origin and variability in Geochemistry – Interdisciplinary Journal for Chemical Problems of the Geosciences and Geoecology. She is currently a Visiting Colleague with the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii, Trustee of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea, and Representative of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea to the International Seabed Authority.
Michael Wood
is a member of the UN International Law Commission, and a barrister at Twenty Essex Chambers, London. He was Legal Adviser to the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1999 and 2006, having joined as an Assistant Legal Adviser in 1970. He attended most sessions of the 1982 Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea as a member of the United Kingdom delegation, dealing among other matters with Part XI. He also attended some sessions of the Preparatory Commission and all the sessions of the International Seabed Authority between 1996 and 2006.
Dr. Xiangxin Xu Lily
holds a research position at the Center for Polar and Deep Ocean Development, KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Kiel, Germany. Her specialty is on legal issues regarding deep-seabed mining, and she has publications in the relevant areas. She has experience as an intern at the International Seabed Authority and was involved in several research programs convened by stakeholders (such as the ISA observer, Pew Charitable Trusts and Chinese contractor, COMRA). She also worked as an intern and Temporary Legal Assistant for Case No.26 and Case No.27 at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
Prof. Guifang Xue Julia
is distinguished Professor of international law at KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). She serves as Director to the Center for Polar and Deep Ocean Development and Center for the Rule of Ocean Law Studies, SJTU. In addition to the day-to-day institutional function and responsibilities for funding management and project operation, she has research interests in the law of the sea in general, issues relating to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and state practice in particular. She chairs commissioned projects for drafting up and revising national laws and regulations for conservation of marine living resources and protection of marine environment and provides consultancy on policy-making and practical issues to ocean-related agencies.
She is involved actively in academic activities by providing platform for national and international symposiums and conferences on law of the sea topics, polar issues and deep-seabed mining law and policy. She has participated in international forums and committees as professional adviser and executive member. She represents her institute which is an observer to the International Seabed Authority and contributes to the advancement of China’s participation in global governance in maritime domain. She has published widely on relevant issues.