Professor Irini Papanicolopulu (PhD, University of Milan) is Global Professor of International Law at SOAS, where she teaches and conducts research on public international law and the law of the sea. She has previously held academic positions at the University of Glasgow (UK) and the University of Oxford (UK) and has worked as a lawyer for the Italian Ministry of the Environment and a multinational company. Prof. Papanicolopulu conducts research and has published widely in international law, including among others law of the sea, delimitation of maritime boundaries, environmental law, international humanitarian law, human rights law and the protection of cultural heritage. She has been invited to academic and research institutions around the world, including the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (Germany), the International Maritime Law Institute (Malta), the Institute for Advanced Defence Studies (Italy), the Oxford International Law Course for Military Lawyers (UK), the Naval War College (US), and the San Remo International Institute of Humanitarian Law (Italy). She is the author of two monographs, including International Law and the Protection of People at Sea (OUP 2018), has edited several volumes, including Gender and the Law of the Sea (Brill 2019) and has authored numerous articles and book chapters. Her work spans different fields of public international law with a particular focus on law of the sea and oceans governance. Prof. Papanicolopulu has advised the Italian Ministry of foreign Affairs, other state entities and governmental and non-governmental organisations on issues of international law, law of the sea and the regulation of maritime activities. She currently acts as Convenor for the Law of the Sea interest group of the Italian Society of International Law (Società Italiana di Diritto Internazionale).