OCEANS 2023 Limerick - MTS WIE Speakers

Women leadership in Marine Technology and Science: Women and the Ocean Decade – Speakers

Thursday, June 8^th 12.30-14.00
Location: Room EG010, Main Building

Fiona Grant: Women in Blue Economy Intelligence Gathering & Capacity Boosting

Dr. Fiona Grant heads up International Programmes in the Policy, Innovation and Research Services section of the Marine Institute in Ireland. Her PhD is in marine geology and geophysics with a focus on the structure of the Irish offshore continental shelf. Her roles have included the National Conservation Coordinator in the Central Fisheries Board and secretariat of the National Salmon Commission. She has worked on multiple projects supporting the design and development of marine research infrastructures both in Ireland and in Europe. Fiona is the National Contact Point and National Delegate for Cluster 6 and the Mission to Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030 under Horizon Europe, is vice chair of the European Marine Board and leads the Irish delegation to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC).

Mariamalia Rodriguez Chaves: Gender Mainstreaming in Ocean Governance Bodies

Dr. Rodríguez Chaves has more than ten years of experience working with environmental nongovernmental organizations and as an independent consultant on diverse environmental topics, such as renewable energy, marine conservation and management schemes, high seas governance, among other subjects.
She has a Law Degree from the University of Costa Rica, and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Law from the same University. She has a PhD degree from the School of Law of the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and lectured a Law of the Sea course in the same institution. Dr. Rodríguez Chaves successfully accomplished the United Nations-Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship, and participated in the Comparative Environmental Law Program, University of Florida–University of Costa Rica. She worked at MarViva Foundation as legal adviser in the Policy Advocacy Department, and afterwards as the High Seas Program Coordinator. Currently, she is a consultant for the High Seas Alliance, and works closely with the Latin American countries participating in the United Nations negotiation process on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Ellen Johanessen: Understanding the Role of Gender in the Practice of International Marine Science

Ellen Johannesen is a PhD Candidate at the World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden. Ellen is a Canadian who has spent the past 15 years in Copenhagen, and since 2009 has been working in marine science administration as the Coordinating Officer at the Secretariat of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). With an interdisciplinary background, her professional interests include international marine science cooperation and administration, the ecosystem approach, and more recently considering the role of gender in the practice of international marine science. Through ICES, she has contributed to a variety of international marine science projects, including as work package leader for the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Coordination and Support Action on the Ecosystem Approach to Ocean Health and Stressors; and contributing to the UNDP-GEF Large Marine Ecosystems (LME):LEARN Governance Mechanisms Working Group. Read More

Renis Auma Ojwala (recording): Gender Equality in Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: Analysis of Ocean Science Institutions in Kenya

Renis Auma Ojwala is a PhD student at World Maritime University (WMU). She is under the “Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development” Programme funded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). Her research topic focuses on “Evaluating Gender Equality in Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in Kenya.” Renis received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Aquatic Science from Egerton University in 2014. She later obtained a Master of Science Degree in Limnology and Wetland Management, a Joint International Master of Science Programme from BOKU University in Vienna Austria, Egerton University in Kenya and UNESCO-IHE (Currently, IHE-Delft) in Netherlands in 2017. Renis is passionate about gender equality and women’s empowerment in Ocean science and fisheries research related fields. She has worked with various institutions such Egerton University, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Kenya), Victory Fish Farms and National Museum of Kenya.

Cathy Hogan: Scaling Up Actions to Empower Women for the Ocean Decade

Catherine Hogan (Cathy) joined OceansAdvance on April 1, 2003 as the Administrative Officer. In June 2016, she assumed the role of (acting) Executive Director and was appointed to the position permanently in February 2017. With the support of a strong Board of Directors representative of all facets of the cluster, Cathy has led the organization into a new era.
Cathy currently holds the positions of: Co-Chair of the Pan Atlantic ACOA Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy oceans sector team; Chair of the Ocean Technology Alliance of Canada and she is an active member of the Blue Tech Cluster Alliance, an international cluster of clusters. Read More

Ronan Long, WMU-Sasakawa Global Institute – Moderator

Professor Ronan Long is Director of the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute and lectures on a broad range of ocean governance subjects including: the law of the sea, the law of climate change, as well as on multilateral diplomacy and dispute resolution. Previous appointments include a Personal Professorship and the Jean Monnet Chair of European Law at the National University of Ireland Galway, a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia School of Law and a Senior Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Law of the Sea Institute, Berkeley Law, University of California, faculty at the Rhodes Academy Oceans Law and Policy, as well as the United Nations – The Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship Programme. In the latter capacity, he has co-supervised mid-career legal professionals from Bangladesh, Mozambique, Myanmar, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Costa Rica, Namibia and Nigeria. He has a longstanding working relationship with the Korean Maritime Institute including faculty membership of the Yeosu Academy of the Law of the Sea. Read More

Professor Long was the first recipient of the Manahan Fellowship and has authored and co-edited 9 books and over 50 other publications to the leading peer-review journals, as well as over 130 international workshops/conference contributions in 40 countries and for 10 international organizations on the law of the sea, ocean governance, and the law and policy of the marine environment. His work has received critical acclaim in the academic literature and has been cited by the European Commission, the United Nations Secretary-General in his annual report to the General Assembly on oceans and the law of the sea, as well as in the jurisprudence of the superior courts in a number of common law jurisdictions and the Court of Justice of the European Union. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law and Ocean Development and International Law. Recent publications are translated into Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean.

Prior to his academic career, he was a permanent staff member at the European Commission (1993-2000) 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 responsibilities included representing the European Commission at European Council working groups and at several international fora as well as drafting European regulations governing new satellite technologies for vessel monitoring systems. Professor Long has participated on the European Union and the Irish delegations at a number of international fora dealing with the law of the sea including the United Nations and was Ireland’s representative at UNESCO /IOC Advisory Body of Experts of the Law of the Sea. He has acted as an adviser/consultant on oceans law and policy issues and undertaken commissioned work for foreign governments, the European Commission, as well as for public and private bodies including the OSPAR Commission, the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations, the International Hydrographic Organization, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas, the North-Sea Regional Advisory Council, the Government of Scotland, and the Forum Fisheries Agency in the Pacific.

With over 20 years’ leadership experience in EU research programmes, Professor Long is participating in the MERCES Project in conjunction with 17 European partners, which is aimed at providing the EU with new, ecologically and economically sustainable protocols for the restoration of threatened and damaged marine ecosystems. He is also a member of the ATLAS consortium forming a dynamic new partnership between multinational industries, SMEs, governments and academia to assess the Atlantic’s deep-sea ecosystems and marine genetic resources. His current research interests are focused on regulatory and governance arrangements pertaining to the restoration of marine biodiversity, ecosystem-based management, the law of climate change, as well as human rights in the maritime domain. During his career in the Irish Naval Service, he won an academic prize at Britannia Royal Naval College and held a number of appointments ashore and afloat, including membership of the Navy’s elite diving unit. As a keen yachtsman, he has represented Ireland at the top competitive level in offshore racing, including spending a memorable year on board NCB Ireland in the work-up programme for the Round the World Race in 1989, and was a regular crew member on Moonduster in the 1980s.

Liesl Hotaling, Marine Technology Society – Host

Liesl Hotaling is President of Eidos Education and is a Senior Research Engineering with the College of Marine Sciences, University of South Florida. She serves as the Project Manager of the Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology (SENSE IT) and specializes in real time data education projects and hands-on STEM educational projects supporting environmental observing networks. She is the co-editor and contributor to the 2021 publication Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy: People, Products and Policies. She serves as the Vice President for Communications and Publications for the Marine Technology Society (MTS), and is an MTS Fellow. She holds a B.S. in Marine Science, a M.A.T. in Science Teaching, and a M.S. in Maritime Systems.

Zhen Sun, WMU-Sasakawa Global Institute – Host

Dr. Zhen Sun is an Associate Professor (Research/Ocean Sustainability, Governance & Management) at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Her main research interests include law of the sea, international regulation of shipping, gender equality in ocean governance, climate actions and the protection of the marine environment. At WMU, Zhen has played an active role in the launch and execution of a number of high-level research programmes, including serving as Co-Principal Investigator (PI) for both the Land-to-Ocean Leadership Programme and the Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Programme. She contributes to the delivery of the MSc Ocean Sustainability, Governance & Management (OSGM) specialization, and the PhD Programme in Maritime Affairs through substantial teaching and supervision commitments. Read More

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MTS WIE Speakers

Women leadership in Marine Technology and Science: Women and the Ocean Decade – Speakers

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