CIL made a significant contribution to the 22nd Annual Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, which was held in Rhodes, Greece, from 2 July to 21 July, 2017.

As one of the five sponsoring organisations of the Rhodes Academy, CIL sponsored five participants to attend the 2017 Academy. The five participants sponsored by CIL included two members of CIL research staff (Ms Millicent McCreath and Ms Xu Muzi) as well as Mr Tran Minh of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, Ms Adelsia Coelha Da Silva of the Maritime Boundary Office of Timor Leste, and Ms Christina Fernandez, a judicial law clerk to the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

CIL-sponsored participants bagged both prizes at the 2017 Academy. Ms Millicent McCreath, a CIL Research Associate, won the prize for the best paper in the written examination, and Ms Adelsia Coelha Da Silva of Timor Leste won the prize for the best student in the oral examination. Millicent stated on her win that it was a real honour to be awarded the prize considering the very high calibre of the participants at the Academy. “Attending the Rhodes Academy was a very valuable experience and I learnt a great deal from the distinguished faculty and also from my classmates. I would encourage anyone interested in or working in the field of law of the sea to apply to attend the Academy in future years.”

As a sponsoring organisation, CIL also contributes to the teaching programme at the Rhodes Academy. Assoc Prof Robert Beckman has been teaching at the Academy since 2009. This year he gave three lectures on the marine environment and organised a workshop on how the UNCLOS dispute settlement regime can be utilised in cases involving damage to the marine environment. The workshop was cotaught by Assoc Prof Beckman and ITLOS Judge Paik Jin-Hyun of Korea, who is a member of CIL’s International Advisory Panel.