Panelists

Lauri Mälksoo

Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He is the Estonian member at the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He is the author of books "Illegal Annexation and State Continuity" (2nd edition, 2022) and "Russian Approaches to International Law" (2015).

Arne Willy Dahl

Arne Willy Dahl is Honorary President of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War where he served as president in 2006-2012. He has authored Håndbok i militær folkerett (handbook of military international law) and several academic articles. He is the co-editor and co-author of the Oslo Manual on Select Topics of the Law of Armed Conflict (2020) and member of the Steering Committee for the revision of the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea.

Dahl has served in many positions in the Norwegian civil service, including as a Judge Advocate General from 1989 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2014, Head of Legal office at the Chief of Defence headquarters (2001-2002) and public prosecutor at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (2003-2005).

Said Mahmoudi

Said Mahmoudi is professor emeritus of international law at Stockholm University. He received his basic legal degree from the University of Tehran in 1971 and served as a diplomat between 1973 and 1981 at the Iranian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Embassy in Stockholm. He defended his doctoral thesis on the law of the sea at Stockholm University in 1987 and held various academic positions at the same university until 2019. His main fields of research are law of the sea, international environmental law, international organizations and use of force. He has published 14 books and about 100 articles on various international law issues. Since 2006, he has been listed as the Swedish representative on the Panel of Arbitrators according to Article 2 of Annex VII to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Erik Franckx

Erik Franckx is a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, honorary professor at the Nelson Mandela University, as well as professeur émérite at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He holds moreover teaching assignments at the Sorbonne Université Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and the University of Akureyri, Iceland. Besides numerous articles on the Law of the Sea, he has also updated, together with John Noyes and Kristen Juras, two standard works of Louis B. Sohn in this domain, namely The Law of the Sea in a Nutshell (West, 2nd ed. 2010, 3rd ed. In preparation) and Cases and Materials on the Law of the Sea (Brill, 2nd ed. 2014).

Erik serves between 2017 and 2022 as President of the Belgian Society for International Law and was appointed by Belgium as expert in marine scientific research for use in special arbitration under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 Convention) since 2004, as expert in maritime boundary delimitation to the International Hydrographic Organization since 2005, and as arbitrator under the 1982 Convention starting in 2014. Between 2006 and 2012 he was appointed by his country as member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Pierre Thévenin

Pierre Thévenin is a doctor of law from the University of Tartu. He conducts research on Soviet and Russian approaches to the law of the sea.

Tiina Pajuste

Tiina Pajuste is Professor of International Law and Security Studies at Tallinn University. Prof Pajuste has previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights (University of Helsinki).  She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge on the topic of accountability mechanisms for international organisations. Her current research focuses on digital human rights, non-discrimination and the concept of inclusion in international law (in the context of peace processes and beyond).

Anna Petrig

Anna Petrig holds the Chair of International and Public Law at the University of Basel in Switzerland. She has a PhD in the field of the law of the sea and human rights law and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. Anna is a member of the Bar of the Canton of Berne (Switzerland) and the New York State Bar. Her broad legal experience includes work in private practice, the courts, and the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Anna is the author of various monographs and articles, notably pertaining to the law of the sea, transnational and international criminal law and international humanitarian law. Anna has served as Judge ad hoc for Switzerland on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Cases 27 and 29. She has been a member of the Swiss Delegation and CMI Delegation to the International Maritime Organization.

Stuart Casey Maslen

Stuart is Extraordinary Professor of International Law at the University of Pretoria in South Africa where he teaches jus ad bellum, human rights law, counterterrorism law, disarmament law, and the law of armed conflict. He has a doctorate in international humanitarian law and master’s degrees in international human rights law and forensic ballistics. His book on The Right to Life under International Law was published by Cambridge University Press in September 2021. His book on international counterterrorism law will be published later this year.

Tore Henriksen

Tore is the current Dean of the Faculty of Law at UiT the Arctic University of Norway, former director of NCLOS and with expertise within the Law of the Sea.

Geir Ulfstein

Geir Ulfstein is Professor emeritus of International Law at the University of Oslo and Co-Director of PluriCourts – Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order. He has published in different areas of international law, including the law of the sea, international environmental law, international human rights and international institutional law. Ulfstein is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute for Procedural Law, Luxembourg and has been Co-chair of the International Law Association’s Study Group on the ‘Content and Evolution of the Rules of Interpretation’ (2015-2020). He is General Editor (with Andreas Føllesdal) of two book series Studies on Human Rights Conventions (Cambridge University Press) and Studies in International Courts and Tribunals (Cambridge University Press). He has been Director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo (2004-2008). He has been a member of the Executive Board of the European Society of International Law (2010-2016). Ulfstein has been President of the Norwegian Branch of the International Law Association (ILA). Winner of the University of Oslo Research Award 2021 (with Andreas Føllesdal). He delivered one of the special courses during the Hague Academy of International Law’s 2022 winter session.

Maria Madalena das Neves

Maria Madalena das Neves is an associate professor at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS), at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. She is currently leading two research programmes at NCLOS, one within the overarching project ‘Developing Good Ocean Governance of the Arctic in Times of Unpredictable and Rapid Changes’ and one on 'Sovereignty'. She also currently integrates the reference group for work with the International Seabed Authority created by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Maria is also the academic director of the LLM Programme in Law of the Sea at UiT; and has been a visiting researcher at the Groningen Centre for Energy Law at the University of Groningen, Netherlands; and a guest associate professor at the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University, Japan. Her main research interests are within law of the sea, energy law, climate change and environmental law, and regulation of offshore energy and extractive industries.

Timo Koivurova

Timo Koivurova has a multidisciplinary specialisation in Arctic law and governance but has also conducted broader research on global law (including authoring an English-language text book on international environmental law). Some of his research areas include: The legal status of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic (e.g. the Sámi), regulations and politics regarding climate change in general and in the Arctic, regulating mining industry practices, the laws and politics surrounding the opening of the Arctic Ocean, the continued development of the Arctic Council as an intergovernmental forum, rapidly-changing geopolitical trends in the Arctic, both from a broader geopolitical perspective and also with a special focus on China's role in the region. and possibilities for an Arctic treaty. He has been involved as an expert in several international processes globally and in the Arctic region and has published on the above-mentioned topics extensively.

David Goddard

Dr David Goddard is a lawyer in the Legal Directorate of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, working on issues concerning the law of the sea, polar regions, the UK’s overseas territories and international humanitarian law. Prior to joining FCDO, he served as a lawyer in the Royal Navy. His roles included providing advice on operational and international law matters for ISAF in Afghanistan, for the Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East, as well as for NATO’s Maritime Headquarters in the UK. He also spent time as a prosecutor and on exchange on the faculty of the US Naval War College, where he taught and carried out research on subjects including the law of the sea, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Henrik Ringbom

Dr Henrik Ringbom is Professor of Marine Law at the Åbo Akademi University in Finland and Professor II (part-time) at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Oslo. His previous work experience includes 11 years as an EU official at the European Commission and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). Prof. Ringbom has published widely in the field of European and international shipping law and environmental law and is the co-editor of the book Autonomous Shipping and the Law from 2021.

Iva Parlov

Dr. Iva Parlov is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (Faculty of Law, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway); from March 2023 an associate professor at BI Norwegian Business School. Dr. Parlov is investigating legal challenges and opportunities concerning the regulation of maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) under the law of the sea regime. Dr. Parlov has a background in both law of the sea and maritime law, which both are the areas of her research interest. She is the author of the monograph Coastal State Jurisdiction over Ships in Need of Assistance, Maritime Casualties and Shipwrecks (Brill 2022).

Jan Solski

Jan Solski, LL.M., Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS), UiT – the Arctic University of Norway. He holds academic degrees in Russian and English Philology, Law, and the Law of the Sea. He is primarily interested in Arctic governance, law of the sea, geopolitics and Russian policy and practice.

Alexander Lott

Alexander Lott is currently working as a Marie Curie fellow on a research project «Law of the Sea and Hybrid Warfare (LOSFARE)» at the Norwegian Center for the Law of the Sea; University of Tromsø. He is also a lecturer of administrative law at the University of Tartu. He is the author of books "Hybrid Threats and the Law of the Sea" (2022) and "The Estonian Straits: Exceptions to the Strait Regime of Innocent or Transit Passage” (2018). Alexander has published on the law of the sea, human rights and environmental law in many international and domestic law journals.

Margit Gross

Margit Gross is an undersecretary for legal and administrative affairs in the Estonian Ministry of Defence. Her diverse more than eighteen years experiences include working in the different positions related to the legal questions in the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of the Interior. She has led Estonian Defence legislation revision and is well-known defence law expert. Her field of expertise is public law, national defence law and international humanitarian law. She has taught national defence law at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and is co-author of the comments on the national defence chapter of the Estonian constitution.

Sofia Galani

Dr Sofia Galani (LLB, LLM, PhD, FHEA) is an Assistant Professor at the Panteion University of Athens and a Scientific Advisor to the Hellenic Parliament. Previously, she was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol. Her research interests lie on maritime security, the law of the sea, human rights and terrorism and she has published in these areas. She is the author of Hostages and Human Rights: Towards a Victim-Centred Approach? (CUP, 2021) and a co-editor (with Professor Sir Malcolm Evans) of Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea: Help or Hindrance? (EE, 2020). Sofia is one of the principal contributors to the UNODC Maritime Crime: A Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners. She sits at the Non-Executive Board of Advisors of Human Rights at Sea and is one of the authors of the Geneva Declaration of Human Rights at Sea

Agnes Kasper

Dr. Agnes Kasper, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer of Law and Technology in the Department of Law of the Tallinn University of Technology and the Chief of Law Branch at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. She holds diplomas in international business, law and management, and also received formal trainings on technical aspects of cybersecurity and digital evidence. Dr Kasper served at embassies, human rights organizations and she was leading the legal department in an IT consultancy and development company. She has also acted in advisory capacity in consultations with governments on issues relating to cybersecurity, as well as an external expert for the European Commission, and advised cybersecurity start-ups. Dr Kasper is trained in and holds a certificate in information security audit. Her current research focuses on regulatory aspects of cybersecurity, cyber defence and cyber diplomacy.

Dariusz R. Bugajski

Captain (N) Dariusz R. Bugajski, PhD, DSc, graduate of the Faculty of Navigation & Naval Weapons at Polish Naval Academy as well as the Faculty of Law at the University of Gdańsk. He served as commanding officer of an Anti-submarine Warfare Naval Ship (Fast Attack Craft). Received PhD in 2001 and habilitation in international law at the Faculty of Law at Szczecin University in 2009. Member of the Maritime Law Commission of the Polish Academy of Science, the Shipbuilding Council Society, the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War, national expert of Advisory Board on the Law of the Sea (International Hydrographic Organization) and editor-in-chief of the “International Humanitarian Law” journal. He currently is a professor of International Law and Law of the Sea at the Polish Naval Academy in Gdynia. His scientific interests include international law and security, law of the sea, international humanitarian law, strategy and history.

Tanel Kerikmäe

Professor Tanel Kerikmäe is professor of European Legal Policy and Law & Tech at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), and has worldwide experience from different universities/different States in teaching and research. Tanel has been invited professor in Europe and Asia. He is honorary professor at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law and holds a title of doctor honoris causa at National University of Law in Kharkiv, acting also as a foreign member of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine. Tanel has designed a new type of legal education that is international and interdisciplinary. Most of his research activities are related to law & technology issues. Tanel is a member of excellent academic networks in the field and has been a principal investigator for many research and capacity building projects.

Magne Frostad

Magne Frostad is professor of law at the Faculty of Law, UiT the Arctic University of Norway. He studied in Norway, Sweden, England and Germany (PhD) and focuses on both domestic and international law – constitutional law, human rights, law of the sea, jus in bello, jus ad bellum, legal history and methodology. Among his publications we find a book on piracy, and he currently works on a book on naval graves.

Stanislas Frenzel

Commander Stanislas Frenzel is a senior legal adviser at the NATO Maritime Command in Northwood, the United Kingdom.