Yeosu Academy of the Law of the Sea

Fred Soons studied law at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, followed by postgraduate studies in international law at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA) and Cambridge University (UK). He obtained a PhD-degree at Utrecht University with a thesis in the field of the international law of the sea in 1982.

After having served from 1976 as a civil servant in various legal and policy positions at the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Water Management and Public Works, he became professor of public international law and director of the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS) at Utrecht University in 1987. He retired from these positions in 2014.

He was, inter alia, a deputy-judge at the Rotterdam District Court, member and chairman of the Advisory Committee on Public International Law of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Founding Co-director of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, President of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law, Director of Studies of the International Law Association, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Netherlands Defense Academy, member of the Advisory Body of Experts on the Law of the Sea of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/ABE-LOS), and Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Curaçao. He is a member of the Institut de Droit International.

As counsel and arbitrator he has been involved in international litigation at the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and arbitral tribunals.  

Professor Clive Schofield is Head of Research at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University (WMU) in MALMÖ, Sweden. He was previously Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia and remains a Visiting Professor with ANCORS. He holds a PhD (geography) from the University of Durham, UK and an LLM from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Clive developed his profile in these areas during an 11-year association with the International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) at the University of Durham, UK where he served as Director of Research. Clive joined the Centre for Maritime Policy (subsequently renamed ANCORS) at the Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong in 2004. He has held both an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship and QEII Senior Research Fellowship. Clive is a maritime geographer and international legal scholar whose research interests relate to maritime jurisdictional aspects of the law of the sea, the determination of baselines along the coast in an era of sea level rise, the delineation of the limits to maritime claims and maritime boundary delimitation. Clive’s current research focuses on geo-legal and geo-technical aspects of maritime boundary and security issues.He has published over 250 publications including 23 books and monographs (including edited works) on these issues. He is co-author (with Emeritus Professor Victor Prescott, University of Melbourne) of the book, The Maritime Political Boundaries of the World (2005).Clive is a member of the International Law Association’s Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise and serves as an International Hydrographic Office (IHO)-nominated Observer on the Advisory Board on the Law of the Sea (ABLOS). He has also been directly involved in the peaceful settlement of boundary and territory disputes, providing advice and research support to governments engaged in boundary negotiations. He has also been involved in four boundary dispute settlement cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and has been appointed as a Peacebuilding Adviser on behalf of the United Nations and World Bank. Additionally, he recently served as an independent expert witness in the international arbitration case between the Philippines and China, providing an expert report and giving testimony in the Great Hall of the Peace Palace, The Hague, November 2015.

PROFESSOR DONALD ROBERT ROTHWELL

James Kraska is Chair and Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Maritime Law in the Stockton Center for International Law at the Naval War College, the oldest chair at the institution, and Visiting Professor of Law and John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard Law School, where he teaches International Law of the Sea. He has served as Visiting Professor of Law at the College of Law, University of the Philippines, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Gujarat National Law University, Mary Derrickson McCurdy Visiting Scholar at Duke University Marine Laboratory, and Fellow in residence at the Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He has published numerous books and scholarly articles and is Editor-in-Chief of International Law Studies, the oldest journal of international law in the United States, and three volumes of the treatise, Benedict on Admiralty: International Maritime Law. He is also a Permanent Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Kraska served as a U.S. Navy officer and lawyer, with multiple tours of duty in Japan and the Pentagon, including as Oceans Law & Policy Adviser and then Director of International Negotiations on the Joint Staff.

Keun-Gwan Lee is a professor of law at the School of Law, Seoul National University. He received his LL.B. from Seoul National University, LL.M. from Georgetown University, and Ph.D. from Cambridge University. He has taught international law at the Korean Naval Academy, Konkuk University, Kyushu University and Seoul National University. He worked as director of studies at the Hague Academy of International Law in 2010 and gave a special lecture at the Academy in 2018. He has worked for UNESCO in the field of international protection of cultural objects since 2001, including the chairmanship of the Inter-Governmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (2012-2014). He served as the President of the Korean Society of International Law (2021) and as a Vice-President of the Asian Society of international Law (2019-2021). He is due to serve as a member of the International Law Commission from 2023. His research interests include the history and theory of international law, state recognition and succession, the law of the sea, the international protection of cultural property, and the various international legal issues arising in East Asia. 

Larry Mayer is a Professor and the Director of the School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He received a Ph.D. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Marine Geophysics in 1979 and was selected as an astronaut candidate finalist for NASA\'s first class of mission specialists. Larry has participated in more than 95 cruises (over 75 months at sea!) and has been chief or co-chief scientist of numerous expeditions including two legs of the Ocean Drilling Program and eight mapping expeditions in the ice covered regions of the high Arctic. He is the recipient of the Keen Medal for Marine Geology and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stockholm. He was a member of the President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration and chaired a National Academy of Science Committee on the impact of the Deepwater Horizon Spill on ecosystem services in the Gulf of Mexico. He is currently the Chair of the National Academies of Science’s Oceans Studies Board, a member of the State Dept.’s Extended Continental Shelf Task Force and in 2016 was appointed by President Obama to the Arctic Research Commission. Larry\'s current research deals with sonar imaging and remote characterization of the seafloor as well as advanced applications of 3-D visualization to ocean mapping problems and applications of mapping to Law of the Sea issues, particularly in the Arctic.

Lea Kolmos Weis is a Legal Officer (Regulatory Affairs) at the International Seabed Authority based in Kingston, Jamaica. Her work includes advising the organs of the International Seabed Authority in the preparation of the draft regulations on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area and the accompanying standards and guidelines as well as compliance and other regulatory matters in respect of UNCLOS, the 1994 Agreement and the regulations for prospecting and exploration.

Lea Kolmos Weis is an experienced attorney from Copenhagen. She is specialized in international arbitration, shipping and offshore matters. Lea Kolmos Weis has extensive experience with oil and gas disputes. Lea Kolmos Weis became a certified mediator in 2017 and has previously worked as a part-time lecturer in civil procedure at the University of Copenhagen.

Lea Kolmos Weis holds an LL.M from Copenhagen University and an LL.M from Queen Mary University of London.

Nilüfer Oral is Director of the Centre of International Law at the National University of Singapore, a member of the UN International Law Commission and Co-chair of the Study Group on Sea-level rise in relation to international law. She was an advisor to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and a climate change negotiator for the Ministry (2009 – 2016).  She has appeared before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.  Nilufer Oral is a Distinguished Fellow of the Law of the Sea Institute at Berkeley Law and Senior Fellow of the National University of Singapore Law School. She is also a member of the Committee of Legal Experts of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, and a member of the Steering Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. She has published numerous articles edited several books, and has spoken at many international conferences. 

Stuart Kaye is Director and Distinguished Professor of Law within the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong.  He holds degrees in arts and law from the University of Sydney, winning the Law Graduates’ Association Medal, and a doctorate in law from Dalhousie University.

Stuart Kaye has an extensive research interest in the law of the sea and international law. He has written a number of books, including Australia\'s Maritime Boundaries (2001), The Torres Strait (1997), International Fisheries Management (2001), Freedom of Navigation in the Indo-Pacific Region (2008) and over 100 other books, articles and chapters. He was appointed to the International Hydrographic Organization\'s Panel of Experts on Maritime Boundary Delimitation in 1995 and in 2000 was appointed to the List of Arbitrators under the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. He was chair of the Australian International Humanitarian Law Committee from 2003 to 2009, for which he was awarded the Australian Red Cross Society Distinguished Service Medal. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2007 and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2011.

Fred Soons studied law at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, followed by postgraduate studies in international law at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA) and Cambridge University (UK). He obtained a PhD-degree at Utrecht University with a thesis in the field of the international law of the sea in 1982.

After having served from 1976 as a civil servant in various legal and policy positions at the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Water Management and Public Works, he became professor of public international law and director of the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS) at Utrecht University in 1987. He retired from these positions in 2014.

He was, inter alia, a deputy-judge at the Rotterdam District Court, member and chairman of the Advisory Committee on Public International Law of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Founding Co-director of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, President of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law, Director of Studies of the International Law Association, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Netherlands Defense Academy, member of the Advisory Body of Experts on the Law of the Sea of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/ABE-LOS), and Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Curaçao. He is a member of the Institut de Droit International.

As counsel and arbitrator he has been involved in international litigation at the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and arbitral tribunals. 

Professor Clive Schofield is Head of Research at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University (WMU) in MALMÖ, Sweden. He was previously Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia and remains a Visiting Professor with ANCORS. He holds a PhD (geography) from the University of Durham, UK and an LLM from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Clive developed his profile in these areas during an 11-year association with the International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) at the University of Durham, UK where he served as Director of Research. Clive joined the Centre for Maritime Policy (subsequently renamed ANCORS) at the Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong in 2004. He has held both an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship and QEII Senior Research Fellowship.

PROFESSOR DONALD ROBERT ROTHWELL
B.A., LL.B. (Hons) (Queensland); LL.M. (Alberta); M.A. (Calgary); Ph.D. (Sydney) PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, ANU COLLEGE OF LAW, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA
Email: Donald.Rothwell@anu.edu.au; Tel: +61(0)2 6125 8948/+61(0)414 546 830

Donald R Rothwell is Professor of International Law at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University where he has taught since July 2006. His research has a specific focus on law of the sea, law of the polar regions, and implementation of international law within Australia as reflected in 26 authored, co-authored and edited books, and over 200 articles, book chapters and notes in international and Australian publications. Rothwell’s recent books include Rothwell and Letts (eds), The Law of the Sea in South East Asia: Environmental, Navigational and Security Challenges (2020); Nasu, McLaughlin, Rothwell and Tan, The Legal Authority of ASEAN as a Security Institution (2019); International Law: Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives 3rd (2018) with Kaye, Akhtar-Khavari, Davis and Saunders; and The International Law of the Sea 2nd (Bloomsbury, 2016) with Stephens. Major career works include The Polar Regions and the Development of International Law (CUP, 1996), and Rothwell, Oude Elferink, Scott and Stephens (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea (OUP, 2015). Rothwell is also General Editor of the Australian Year Book of International Law and Editor-in-Chief of the Brill Research Perspectives in Law of the Sea. From 2012-2018 he was Rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on ‘Baselines under the International Law of the Sea’. He has taught a range of courses including Law of the Sea, International Dispute Resolution, International Law and Use of Armed Force, International Humanitarian Law, Military Operations Law, and Public International Law, and has lectured at the Yeosu Academy of the Law of the Sea (2018-2019). Rothwell was previously Challis Professor of International Law and Director of the Sydney Centre for International and Global Law, University of Sydney (2004-2006), where he had taught since 1988. He has acted as a consultant or been a member of expert groups for UNEP, UNDP, IUCN, the Australian Government, and acted as advisor to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). In 2012 Rothwell was appointed an inaugural ANU Public Policy Fellow, and in 2015 elected as a Fellow to the Australian Academy of Law. He regularly commentates on international law issues, including for all of the major daily newspapers in Australia and has been interviewed on ABC TV 7.30, ABC Radio ‘AM’ and ‘PM’, ABC Radio National ‘Breakfast’, ABC News 24, Al Jazerra (TV), and BBC.

CAREER HISTORY
Current: Professor of International Law, ANU College of Law, Australian National University (2006- ); ANU Public Policy Fellow (2012 - ); General Editor and Co-Editor Australian Year Book of International Law (2007- ); Member, IUCN Commission on Environmental Law (1999- ); Member of the List of Arbitrators nominated by Australia under the 1991 Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (2000- ); Fellow, Australian Academy of Law (2015- ).
Previous: Deputy Dean (2014-2017), Head of School (2013-2014), Assistant Head of School (2011-2012), ANU College of Law; Director, Migration Law Programs (2016-2017), Director, LLM Programs, ANU College of Law (2007 – 2009, 2010 - 2012); Deputy Director, Australian Centre for Military Law and Justice, ANU College of Law (2009-2011); Challis Professor of International Law & Director, Sydney Centre for International and Global Law, University of Sydney (2004 - 2006); Pro Dean (Teaching Programs) Faculty of Law, University of Sydney (2002-2003; 2004-2005); Associate Professor (1997-2004) and Tutor, Lecturer & Senior Lecturer (1988-1996), Faculty of Law, University of Sydney; Visiting Professor, University of Victoria (2003); Visiting Professor, University of Alberta (1993); Visiting Fellow, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge (1993); Visiting Fellow, Centre for Maritime Policy, University of Wollongong (1997); Visiting Scholar, Law Program – Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University (2003); Rapporteur, International Law Association (ILA) Committee on Baselines under the International Law of the Sea (2012-8); President (2001-2005), Vice-President, Australian New Zealand Society of International Law (1999-2001); Editor-in-Chief Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law (1996-2001); Editorial Board, Environmental Law and Policy Series, Kluwer Law International (1998-2005 ); National Administrator, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition (1999-2001; 2005-2006; 2010-2012); Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Royal Australian Navy Reserve (1994-2002); Human Impacts Program Advisory Committee - Antarctic Science Advisory Committee (1999-2001); South East Marine Region Legal Working Group, National Oceans Office (2001); Co-Chair, Australian Canadian Oceans Research Network (ACORN) (1999-2003); Delegate, APEC Marine Resources Conservation Working Group (2000, 2002); Observer, Int’l Whaling Commission (2007)
MAJOR CAREER PUBLICATIONS
Hitoshi Nasu, Rob McLaughlin, Donald R. Rothwell and See Seng Tan, The Legal Authority of ASEAN as a Security Institution (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2019)
Rothwell and Tim Stephens, The International Law of the Sea (Hart/Bloomsbury: 1st 2010; 2nd 2016)
Rothwell, Alex G. Oude Elferink, Karen N. Scott and Tim Stephens (eds), Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea (Oxford University Press: 2015)
Rothwell, Stuart Kaye, Afshin Akhtarkhavari, Ruth Davis, and Imogen Saunders, International Law: Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives (Cambridge University Press: 1st 2010; 2nd 2014; 3rd 2018)
Erik J. Molenaar, Alex G. Oude Elferink, and Rothwell eds, The Law of the Sea and the Polar Regions: Interactions between Global and Regional Regimes (Martinus Nijhoff: 2013)
Rothwell (ed), The Law of the Sea (Edward Elgar: 2013)
Alan D. Hemmings, Rothwell and Karen N. Scott eds, Antarctic Security in the Twenty-First Century: Legal and Policy Perspectives (Routledge: 2012)
Rachel Baird and Rothwell eds, Australian Coastal and Marine Law (Federation: 2011)
Natalie Klein, Joanna Mossop and Rothwell eds., Maritime Security: International law and policy perspectives from Australia and New Zealand (Routledge: 2010)
Rothwell and David L. VanderZwaag eds., Towards Principled Oceans Governance: Australian and Canadian approaches and challenges (Routledge: 2006)
Alex G. Oude Elferink and Rothwell eds., Oceans Management in the 21st Century: Institutional Frameworks and Responses (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 2004)
Alex G. Oude Elferink and Rothwell eds., The Law of the Sea and Polar Maritime Delimitation and Jurisdiction (Kluwer Law International: 2001)
Brian Opeskin and Rothwell eds, International Law and Australian Federalism (Melbourne University Press: 1997)
The Polar Regions and the Development of International Law (CUP: 1996) 

James Kraska is Chair and Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Maritime Law in the Stockton Center for International Law at the Naval War College, the oldest chair at the institution, and Visiting Professor of Law and John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard Law School, where he teaches International Law of the Sea. He has served as Visiting Professor of Law at the College of Law, University of the Philippines, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Gujarat National Law University, Mary Derrickson McCurdy Visiting Scholar at Duke University Marine Laboratory, and Fellow in residence at the Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He has published numerous books and scholarly articles and is Editor-in-Chief of International Law Studies, the oldest journal of international law in the United States, and three volumes of the treatise, Benedict on Admiralty: International Maritime Law. He is also a Permanent Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Kraska served as a U.S. Navy officer and lawyer, with multiple tours of duty in Japan and the Pentagon, including as Oceans Law & Policy Adviser and then Director of International Negotiations on the Joint Staff.

Judge Jin-Hyun Paik is currently Judge for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University. He graduated from Seoul National University and Colombia University and went to earn his doctorate degree in international law at the University of Cambridge.

Larry Mayer is a Professor and the Director of the School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He received a Ph.D. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Marine Geophysics in 1979 and was selected as an astronaut candidate finalist for NASA\'s first class of mission specialists. Larry has participated in more than 95 cruises (over 75 months at sea!) and has been chief or co-chief scientist of numerous expeditions including two legs of the Ocean Drilling Program and eight mapping expeditions in the ice covered regions of the high Arctic. He is the recipient of the Keen Medal for Marine Geology and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stockholm. He was a member of the President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration and chaired a National Academy of Science Committee on the impact of the Deepwater Horizon Spill on ecosystem services in the Gulf of Mexico. He is currently the Chair of the National Academies of Science’s Oceans Studies Board, a member of the State Dept.’s Extended Continental Shelf Task Force and in 2016 was appointed by President Obama to the Arctic Research Commission. Larry\'s current research deals with sonar imaging and remote characterization of the seafloor as well as advanced applications of 3-D visualization to ocean mapping problems and applications of mapping to Law of the Sea issues, particularly in the Arctic. 

LL.B. (Hons) (UTS); LL.M. (Sydney)

Mr. Nathan Eastwood is a Legal Officer (Regulatory Affairs) at the International Seabed Authority based in Kingston, Jamaica. His work includes advising the organs of the International Seabed Authority in the preparation of the draft regulations on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area and the accompanying standards and guidelines as well as compliance and other regulatory matters in respect of UNCLOS, the 1994 Agreement and the regulations for prospecting and exploration.

Mr. Eastwood is also Counsel at Clifford Chance in the International Arbitration and Public International Law practice. He specialises in claims against foreign governments under investment treaties and free trade agreements as well as law of the sea disputes. Nathan\'s arbitration experience includes arbitrations under the ICSID, HKIAC, ICC, LCIA, SCC, SIAC and UNCITRAL Rules and he has appeared in matters before the International Court of Justice. He is recognised as an emerging leader in arbitration and won \"Young ADR Practitioner of the Year\" at the Australian ADR Awards; he was the winner of the International Bar Associations\' Dispute Resolution Scholarship and was named \"Future Leader: LGBT Lawyer of the Year\" at the 2020 Chambers Asia-Pacific Diversity & Inclusion Awards.

Mr. Eastwood is currently completing his PhD at the University of Sydney concerning the dispute resolution rights of non-State applicant contractors under Part XI of UNCLOS. He is also a guest lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he teaches International Arbitration and the Law of the Sea. 

Tomas Heidar (Iceland) has been Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) since October 2014 and currently serves as Vice-President of the Tribunal (2020-2023). Earlier he was President of the ITLOS Chamber for Fisheries Disputes (2017-2020). He is a Member of the ITLOS Special Chamber in the Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
From 1996-2014, Tomas Heidar served as Legal Adviser of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, attaining the rank of Ambassador. As such he was responsible for all matters of public international law and represented Iceland regularly at meetings on ocean affairs and the law of the sea at the United Nations and in other international fora.
Judge Heidar is also Director of the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland and Co-director and lecturer of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy. He lectures at the University of Iceland and many other universities and institutions around the world, including University College London, Queen Mary University of London, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, the Yeosu Academy of the Law of the Sea and the IFLOS Summer Academy. He has taught law of the sea at the United Nations Regional Course in International Law in Ethiopia.
Judge Heidar has published numerous books and articles on ocean affairs and the law of the sea, most recently New Knowledge and Changing Circumstances in the Law of the Sea (ed., Brill Nijhoff, 2020). He is also Conciliator and Arbitrator under Annexes V and VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. 

Mr. Vladimir Jares is the Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. He has dealt with many issues concerning the law of the sea, in particular those related to the implementation of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and related Agreements. Since 1997, he has been involved in providing services to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and has served as its Secretary. He has also been involved in capacity-building activities of the Division, delivering many of its training courses, including on UNCLOS article 76 implementation.