In July 2024, CIL researcher Joel Ong Jie Hao received the top award and prize for the best performance in the oral exam of the 2024 Rhodes Academy. The cash prize of the Award is generously provided courtesy of the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland.

In addition, he was also one of two participants selected by their peers to give a short address on their behalf at the Awards Ceremony.

In this year's 27th session, held from June 23 to July 12, 2024, 49 students from 33 countries attended (Azerbaijan, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Ghana, Denmark, Republic of Korea, Greece, United Kingdom, The .USA, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, China, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Norway, Netherlands, Ukraine, Samoa, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, Philippines and Chile). 

The lecturers included the current President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Tomas Heidar (Iceland), former presidents Rüdiger Wolfrum (Germany), Jin-Hyun Paik (South Korea) and Albert Hoffmann (South Africa) as well as judges of the same Tribunal, Tullio Treves (Italy) and Maria Teresa Infante (Chile).

The Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy is an international collegial institution that offers a prominent three-week summer course in Rhodes, Greece. It has been repeatedly recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolutions (most recently on December 5 2023 (A/RES/78/69)) for its importance to capacity-building in the field of the law of the sea.

It has graduated 1,093 students from 136 countries; and is a cooperative undertaking by:

• the University of Virginia School of Law, 
• the Aegean Institute of the Law of the Sea and Maritime Law, 
• the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland, 
• the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, 
• the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea of Utrecht University, 
• the Centre for International Law of the National University of Singapore, and 
• - the University of New Hampshire School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, 

And enjoys associate sponsorship of:

• the Korea Maritime Institute and 
• the Ankara University National Center for the Sea and Maritime Law.