The Maritime Law and Policy International Postgraduate Research Conference
The annual Maritime Law and Policy International Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the LUMLPRG, is organised by PhD researchers in maritime law.
Past Conferences
The 13th Maritime Law and Policy Research Conference 2023
On Friday, 21 April, the London Universities Maritime Law and Policy Research Group (LUMLPG) hosted the 13th iteration of its annual symposium for maritime law scholars from across UK the globe. The LUMLPG membership now boasts over 250 members with active involvement from researchers at the University of Southampton, the University of Gothenburg, Northumbria University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Queen Mary University of London, University of Edinburgh and others.
Friday’s event was configured around four panels which were chaired by distinguished colleagues offering invaluable expertise on particular research themes. The first panel, chaired by Professor Jason Chuah, discussed environmental matters in shipping ranging from the application of the polluter pays principle to shipping value chains, adoption of IMO decarbonisation clauses in contracts, using “seaworthiness” as a legal tool for tackling climate change, and reforming the law better to protect animal welfare in shipping.
The second panel, chaired by Professor Miriam Goldby, dealt with commercial matters in international trade. In addition to discussions on charterparty agreements and marine insurance, a vibrant discussion on electronic bills of lading ensued. Professor Goldby, who undertook a secondment with Law Commission of England and Wales to work on the Electronic Trade Documents project, was well suited to facilitate suggestions to allow for the legal recognition of trade documents. Both the legal aspects of implementing electronic bills of lading and the technological practicalities of doing so were raised by our discussants.
Our third panel centred on the theme of autonomous shipping and was chaired by Dr Simone Lamont-Black. Whilst the IMO is attempting to integrate new and advancing technologies in its regulatory framework, maritime scholars are investigating the challenges around private liability for collisions and operational failures. There are also issues surrounding maritime security, particularly in relation to cyber threats. Our speakers investigated potential legal frameworks and the important components of autonomous vessels which require both regulation and private law initiatives.
We ended the day with a panel on maritime services and regulation chaired by Professor Andrea Lista. This panel included the interesting findings of a large inter-disciplinary study on the correlation between fleet management practices during the pandemic and seafarer welfare, compulsory pilotage for cruise ships and proposals for an ASEAN multimodal transport harmonisation were also presented to address fragmentation and uncertainty in Asia and the Pacific for multimodal transport. Once again, electronic bills of lading were also raised but with a view to elucidating the difficulties with legislating on their recognition.
In addition to academic discourse on these interesting topics, the conference was also a wonderful social opportunity to reconnect with long-standing members of the LUMLPG and to forge new connections with scholars, especially early career researchers, in maritime law. The City Law School is proud to host this event which provides one of the few UK-based opportunities for postgraduate researchers and practitioners of maritime law to share their work in friendly and supportive environment.
This year’s event was organised by Mustafa Yilmaz and Dr Pia Rebelo from The City Law School.
The Maritime Law and Policy International Postgraduate Research Conference 2022
On 27 May 2022, after a hiatus of one cancelled conference in 2020 and an online conference in 2021, the London Universities Maritime Law and Policy Group’s 12th annual conference was successfully held in person in The City Law School's new building.
The LUMLP group was established in 2010 with Professor Jason Chuah as the founding director. It is currently hosted at The City Law School with key involvement now from a good number of law schools in the UK and elsewhere with a scholarly interest in maritime law.
This conference, as a matter of convention, is organised by PhD researchers in maritime law.
This year’s successful conference was organised by Raphael Esu, supported by staff and students from the City Law School, including Ali Movaghar, André Camargo Galvão, Dr Pia Rebelo, Dr Sepideh Harrasi, Ms Sandy Meredith, Dr Lijun Zhao and Mr Jeffrey Thomson.
The research papers presented at the conference covered a range of topical and conceptually challenging subjects in maritime law including autonomous shipping, blockchain technology in shipping and trade, protection of port workers, legal harmonisation, sustainable shipping, ship to ship transfers and others.
The presenters were chosen on the basis of their abstract submissions; this year as before attracted more submissions that places on the programme. Attendees were from diverse professional backgrounds – from the shipping industry to academia, from the UK to Africa, Asia and Europe.
The conference ended with a call to continue punching above our weight in making a contribution to maritime law development in the light of the many global challenges in this important field of human activity.
More photos from the conference are available at: (2) London Universities Maritime Law and Policy Research Group | Groups | LinkedIn
The Maritime Law and Policy International Postgraduate Research Conference 2014
The fifth Annual Conference was held on 4 April 2014 for researchers and postgraduate students. Researchers and postgraduate students presented their research work on maritime law and Policy, including relevant interdisciplinary work, attracting a large number of abstract submissions.
The 2014 conference presenters were:
- Sarah Gahlen (Ships Revisited - A Comparative Study ) -University of Hamburg
- Lijun Zhao (Fragmented Unification and Need for a Limited Scope of Unification) - Bangor University
- Knut Fournier (Should the Shipping Industry be Exempt from Competition Law ) - University of Leiden
- Carlo Corcione (Theoretical Framework and Evolution on Protection of Third Parties ) - The City Law School
- Cynthia Tseng (Analysis of the Role of Private Actors in the Adoption of Hard law: The Introduction of the Rotterdam Rules) - University of Surrey
- Tianyi Jiang (Transfer of Rights under the Bill of Lading and the Connection with the Underlying Transaction of Cargo - From the Perspective of Reforming Chinese Maritime Law) - Bangor University
- Selim Ciger (Recent Corrections to Rotterdam Rules with Regards to Provisions Related to Performing Parties ) - University of Bristol
- Faizah Abdul Rahman (Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Should Shipper be Blue ) - The City Law School
- Debo Awofeso (Sustainable Developing, Shipping and the IMO) - University of Southampton
- Julia Constantino Chagas Lessa (Maritime Labour Convention: Much Ado Nothing?) - The City Law School
- Andria Alexandrou (Balacing the Economic Arguments for Ship Owners Against Labour Conditions for Crewmen ) - Queen Mary University of London
- Audrey Kravets & Erik Kravets (HGB versus COGSA: Divergent Liability of German and American Carriers in the Atlantic Trade) - Leuphana University and Kravets & Kravets
- Cedric Vanleenhove & Jan de Bruyne (What Can Classification Societies Learn From Other "Certifiers"?) - Ghent University
- Federico Franchina (Ship- owners' Limitation of Liability - An Italian Perspective ) - University of Messina
- Yiqing Yang (Is the Duty of Good Faith Coming of Age in Insurance Law?) - Exeter Law School
- Feng Wang (The Sea Glory Case) - University of Exeter
- Daniel Bennitez (A Historical Analysis of the Precedents that Lead to the Judgment in the Krysia ) - Queen University Belfast
- Dirk Siebels (Ships, Guns, But no Rules? Regulating and Measuring the Performance of Private Maritime Security Companies?) - Greenwich Maritime Institute
- Avinder Bangal (Maritime Piracy ) - University of Hudderfield
- Matt Garrod (The Response by the International Community to Somali Piracy: Universality or Collective Protective Principle Jurisdiction Par Excellence?) - University of Portsmouth
The conference was chaired by:
- Prof Lars-Göran Malmberg, University of Gothenburg
- Dr Andrea Lista, University of Southampton
- Dr Minghua Zhao, Greenwich Maritime Institute
- Dr Johanna Hjalmarsson, University of Southampton
- Ms Anna Katsoulaki, The City Law School
- Prof Jason Chuah, The City Law School
The Maritime Law and Policy International Postgraduate Research Conference 2013
The London Universities Maritime Law and Policy Research Group held the Fourth Annual Maritime Law and Policy Conference for researchers and postgraduate students on Friday 12 April 2013.
Researchers and postgraduate students presented their research work on maritime law and Policy, including relevant interdisciplinary work.
An article about the event appeared in The Maritime Risk International (page 9).
The Maritime Law and Policy Postgraduate Research Conference 2012
When: Friday 23 March 2012
The London Universities Maritime Law and Policy Research Group held the Third Annual Maritime Law and Policy Conference for researchers and postgraduate students.
Researchers and postgraduate students presented their research work at this conference in areas of Maritime Law and Policy, including relevant interdisciplinary work.
Papers
The following papers were presented for discussion:
- Shipping at a Speed of Thought or Paper 2.0? by Sebastian Meyer, Swansea University
- The Rotterdam Rules and Paperless Contracts: Some Critical Reflections, Ioanna Magklasi, University of Southampton
- The Electronic Bill of Lading, Carlo Corcione, City University London
- 'Defining' Pool Agreements by Laura Ramil, Intership Navigations Co. Ltd.
- Options in Contracts of Carriage and Contractual Liability by Wouter Verheyen, Katholieke Universiteit Leven, Belgium
- Time for a New Law or a New Mind Set? by Konstantinos Kofopoulos, University of Southampton
- Development of the Offence of Corporate Manslaughter in the Maritime Industry by Craig Laverick, University of Central Lancashire
- Hazardous Wastes' Trade: A Global Concern by Gabriela Argüello Moncayo, Lund University, Sweden
- What is the structure of the required sea-based shipboard training of cadets as provided by cadetship programs? by Sanley Abila, SIRC, Cardiff University, Wales
- What is the meaning of 'abandoned seafarer'? by Julia Constantino Chagas Lessa, City University London
- Maritime Cabotage Law: Its History and Evolution by Aniekan Sylvester Johnson, City University London
- Piracy and Transnational Criminal Law: Counter-Terrorism Conventions and Maritime Security by Carmino Massarella, University of Hull
- Protection of Flagged-out Ships: Japanese Anti-piracy Law by Kentaro Furuya, University of Greenwich
- The Legality and Morality of Ransom Payments. Political Considerations by Mateusz Bek, University of Southampton
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