Future Arctic Law and Governance

Katharina Heinrich

PhD Candidate

University of Helsinki

Katharina Heinrich is a researcher with a background in Polar Law and Coastal and Marine Management. Her work focuses primarily on ocean governance and marine biodiversity conservation in the Polar regions and Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). She is a doctoral researcher in Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki and an Arctic Initiative Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Relations.

Vito De Lucia (Project manager)

De Lucia, Vito

Professor

+4777620863

vito.delucia@uit.no

Gustavo Leite Neves Da Luz

Postdoctoral Fellow

Gustavo Leite Neves Da Luz

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dalhousie University

Gustavo Leite Neves Da Luz is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Law and Policy at Dalhousie University. His research lies at the intersection of international environmental law, the law of the sea, ocean governance, and climate regulation, with particular focus on marine carbon dioxide removal, deep seabed mining, and the governance of global commons. PhD in International Law from the University of Hamburg and an LLM in International Law from the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Aldo Chircop

ingrid.s.andreassen@uit.no

Aldo Chircop

Professor

Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University

Aldo Chircop, JSD, is Professor of Law and former Canada Research Chair in Maritime Law and Policy (Tier I) at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Canada. His research interests are in the fields of Canadian and international maritime law, international law of the sea, international environmental law, and Arctic shipping. Professor Chircop’s career has spanned academic, government, non-governmental organizations and UN specialized agencies. He has published extensively and his most recent books are: Area-Based Management of Shipping: Canadian and International Perspectives (Springer Nature, 2024; A Chircop, F Goerlandt, R Pelot, and C Aporta, eds); The International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships: A Commentary (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025; H Ringbom and A Chircop, eds.)

Stella Ebbersmeyer

Postdoctoral researcher

Stella Ebbersmeyer

Postdoctoral researcher

Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.

Dr. A. Stella Ebbersmeyer is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. She is interested in international climate change and environmental law, maritime law and law of the sea as well as Arctic governance. Stella holds an LLB in International and European Law (Honour's) from the University of Groningen and an LLM and PhD from the University of Copenhagen. She defended her PhD thesis entitled Regulating Black Carbon Emissions from Arctic Shipping: The Role of Non-State Actors in International Law-Making in December 2024. Supervisor: Associate Prof. Beatriz Martinez Romera. Currently, Stella is working as a Postdoctoral researcher on the Carlsberg-Foundation funded project: 'Regulating the Environmental Impacts of Arctic Cruise Ship Tourism through the Law-Science Interface (EMBARC)' (1 Jan 2026 - 31 Dec 2028).

Ingrid Solstad Andreassen

Associate Professor

Andreassen, Ingrid Solstad

Associate Professor

+4777644184

https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/h-r-g-jones/

Henry Jones

Associate Professor

Henry Jones

Associate Professor

University of Durham

Henry Jones is an Associate Professor at Durham Law School, where he has worked since 2013. He researches the history and spatiality of international law, both its theory and practice. Recent projects have focused on the law of the sea, and how law has developed historically for the particular geography of the oceans.

Timo Koivourova

Research Professor

Timo Koivourova

Research Professor

Arctic Centre, University of Lapland

Fiammetta Borgia

Full Professor of International Law and Director of the Italian Centre for the Law of the Sea (ICLOS)

Fiammetta Borgia

Full Professor of International Law and Director of the Italian Centre for the Law of the Sea (ICLOS)

Tor Vergata University of Rome

Fiammetta Borgia is Full Professor of International Law at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Director of the Italian Centre for the Law of the Sea (ICLOS), an interuniversity research centre dedicated to the study of maritime law and ocean governance. Initially trained as a generalist in public international law, her research has progressively focused on the law of the sea, Arctic governance, and the legal implications of technological innovation, including in the maritime and outer space domains. She is involved in several national and international research projects addressing ocean–climate interactions, maritime security, and the governance of dual-use and frontier technologies. Since 2012, she has been a member of the Arctic Table of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contributing to the development of Italy’s Arctic legal and policy framework. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiammetta-borgia-86380121/

Jan Jakub Solski

Associate Professor

Solski, Jan Jakub

Associate Professor

+4777644575

jan.j.solski@uit.no

Louisa Dassow

Louisa Dassow

PhD Candidate

Newcastle Law School, Newcastle University

Louisa Dassow is a Northern Bridge funded PhD candidate at Newcastle Law School, Newcastle University under the supervision of Dr Emily Jones, Professor Gina Heathcote and Associate Professor Henry Jones. Building on an understanding of the material interconnection between social, environmental and multispecies injustice, her research applies critical posthuman, decolonial, queer, and intersectional feminist theory to international environmental law and the law of the sea. In particular, her PhD project focusses on the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement and its operationalization.

Federica Cantonini

PhD Fellow

Federica Cantonini

PhD Fellow

Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.

Federica Catonini is a PhD researcher at the Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, under the supervision of Associate Prof. Beatriz Martinez Romera. Her research focuses on international climate change, ocean and biodiversity law. Predominant topics in her work are the protection of the marine environment and biodiversity, and the use of new technologies for climate mitigation such as carbon dioxide removal and other geoengineering methods. In her research, she is particularly interested in how different international legal regimes interact with each other in the regulation of issues related to the triple planetary crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Federica holds single-cycle degree in Law from the University of Torino, and LLM in Public International Law (Environment and Law of the Sea track) from Utrecht University and a second LLM from the University of Copenhagen. Besides her studies, she has professional experience in coastal management, environmental consulting, and offshore wind procurement from both the NGO and corporate sectors.

Irene Vanja Dahl

Dahl, Irene Vanja

Professor

+4777645932

irene.dahl@uit.no

https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/millicent-j-mccreath/

Millicent McCreath

Durham University

Beatriz Martinez Romera

Associate Professor and Head of Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance

Beatriz Martinez Romera

Associate Professor and Head of Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance

University of Copenhagen

Adelaide Francesca Daniela Luminari

https://research.ulapland.fi/en/persons/krittika-singh/

Adelaide Francesca Daniela Luminari

PhD Candidate

Università Europea di Roma

Adelaide Francesca Daniela Luminari is a PhD Candidate at Università Europea di Roma (Italy), where she conducts research in international law, with a particular focus on climate change litigation, international courts and tribunals, and the law of the sea. She holds a Master of Science in Human Rights from University College Dublin, a 2nd Level Professional Master’s Degree in Experts in Politics and International Relations from Università LUMSA in Rome, and a Master’s Degree in Law from Università Europea di Roma, complemented by a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) obtained through a double-degree programme with Dublin Business School.

Krittika Singh

Researcher

Krittika Singh

Researcher

Arctic Centre

Lawyer with an MA in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (USA). She is currently a legal researcher in the NordForsk - funded CRIMINA project (2025-2027), working on Indigenous rights in the Nordic countries in the context of the critical minerals imperative. She is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Lapland. Her doctoral dissertation is titled: "Environmental regulation of seabed mining: both within and beyond national jurisdiction". Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as a lecturer in international law and has professional experience with judicial institutions in India, as well as in national policy drafting and formulation. Her research interests include the law of the sea, indigenous rights law, environmental law, BBNJ Agreement, Arctic governance, Antarctic Treaty System, rule of law in a multi-polar world.

Tore Henriksen

Henriksen, Tore

Professor

+4777645237

tore.henriksen@uit.no

Sebastiano Gianino

Sylvia Xinyue Zhang

https://www.dal.ca/faculty/law/faculty-staff/our-faculty/sara-seck.html

Sylvia Xinyue Zhang

PhD Candidate

Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University

Sylvia Xinyue Zhang is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate specializing in maritime law and international relations. She holds an MA in Politics and Contemporary History from the University of Nottingham and was a Chevening Scholarship recipient from 2010 to 2011. Her research focuses on Arctic shipping, with an emphasis on ship-source air emission control, shipping decarbonization, civil liability for ship-source oil pollution, and related international cooperation mechanisms. Previously, she served as a Division Director at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in China, where she coordinated and participated in various research projects on China’s maritime history and policy.

Sara Seck

Full Professor

Sara Seck

Full Professor

Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University

Professor Sara L Seck is a full professor at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. She held the Yogis & Keddy Chair in Human Rights Law (2021-2025) and since July 2023 has served as the Director of the Marine and Environmental Law Institute. Her research and teaching interests are situated at the intersection of international environmental and human rights law, with attention to business responsibilities, climate justice, and the protection of the marine environment. Her work is informed and inspired by feminist, relational and intersectional approaches to legal analysis, including TWAIL. Seck is a co-editor of the Ocean Yearbook, a member of the International Law Association (ILA)’s Committee on the Protection of People at Sea and a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow with Macquarie University’s Environmental Law Research Centre.

Cecilia Engler Palma