The Centre for International Law (CIL) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Zhen Sun as Co-Head of the Ocean Law and Policy (OLP) Programme and Principal Research Fellow.
Dr Sun returns to CIL, where she previously served as a Research Fellow, following her appointment as Associate Professor (Research/Ocean Sustainability, Governance & Management) at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University, in Malmö, Sweden.
Dr Sun’s research interests span the law of the sea, international shipping regulation, marine environmental protection, gender equality in ocean governance, and naval warfare. In addition to leading major research projects, she has substantial experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision. She has published widely on the law of the sea and ocean governance, most recently the monograph Finding a Balance in the Exclusive Economic Zone: Conflict and Stability in the Law of the Sea (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Dr Sun holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, LLM degrees from China University of Political Science and Law and the University of Edinburgh, and an LLB from Hainan University.
As Co-Head, Dr Sun will help steer the strategic direction of the Ocean Law and Policy Programme and contribute to CIL’s broader research agenda. We look forward to working with her and extend her a warm welcome back to the CIL team.
Dr. Sun will be taking over as Co-Head from Emeritus Professor Robert Beckman who was the founding director of CIL and has been leading the OLP Programme for the past 10 years, along with Dr. Tara Davenport. Prof Beckman will continue to be involved in the work of the CIL OLP Team as Senior Advisor, including mentoring CIL OLP researchers, CIL’s training and capacity building initiatives and in the development of the OLP team’s research agenda. CIL organized a workshop on The Law of The Sea and the International Regulation of Shipping: Law, Policy and Practice on 14 – 15 April 2026 to honour Prof Beckman’s invaluable and wide-ranging contributions to CIL and the law of the sea in general. For more details, please see https://cil.nus.edu.sg/event/cil-workshop-on-the-law-of-the-sea-and-the-international-regulation-of-shipping-law-policy-and-practice/.