Researchers' Activities

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) – Singapore to participate in the 1st Meeting of the CSCAP Study Group on Marine Environmental Protection, which was held on 3-5 April 2016 at the Marco Polo Ortigas Hotel in Manila, Philippines. She made a presentation on ‘Challenges to the Marine Environment and Gaps in Regional Cooperation’. To download her presentation, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in a conference hosted by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS) in Hainan, China from 17-19 January 2016. The conference was the Second Conference on the Partnership for Regional Peace: Operationalising ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in Southeast Asia under a project headed by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia and the NISCSS to try to find a resolution to the issues in the South China Sea. Prof Beckman served as the Co-Chair of the Working Group on Legal Principles, one of four working groups established under the project.

Following the 16th Meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on the Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME), CIL Director Robert Beckman, CIL Global Associate Captain J Ashley Roach and CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons were invited to address members of the AWGCME, together with invited representatives of Singapore government agencies, at a seminar held on 10 June 2015 in Singapore, on issues under UNCLOS and other international legal frameworks governing the protection of the coastal and marine environment. As the Designated Resource Persons at the seminar, Professor Beckman made a presentation on ‘Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)’ (download in PDF), Captain Roach made a presentation on ‘Access-Benefit Sharing Scheme for Marine Genetic Resources in areas beyond National Jurisdiction’ (download in PDF) and Ms Lyons made a presentation on ‘Prioritisation and the Protection of Sea-Space’ (download in PDF). To view the Agenda, click here.

CIL Senior Non-Resident Fellow, retired Navy Captain J. Ashley Roach addressed the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on Regional Confidence Building and the Law of the Sea, which was held in Tokyo, Japan on 4 December 2015, and convened by the Division of Maritime Security of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The seminar was co-chaired by Japan, Vietnam and India. Captain Roach suggested that the ARF members review carefully the Award on the Merits in the Philippine-PRC arbitration expected by mid-June 2016, and the Final Report of the International Law Association’s (ILA) Committee on Baselines under the International Law of the Sea (chaired by Captain Roach) expected to be adopted at the ILA’s biennial conference in August 2016. He suggested the documents be reviewed in light of the ARF members’ maritime claims that are inconsistent with the Law of the Sea Convention.

CIL Research Fellow Zhen Sun participated in the 5th AsianSIL Biennial Conference – “International Law and the Changing Economic & Political Landscape in Asia” on 26-27 November 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Conference was organised by the Asian Society of International Law. At the Conference, Dr Sun was a panelist on a Law of the Sea panel and delivered a presentation on “Sustainable Maritime Security Measures in South-East Asia”. To download her presentation, click here.

CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman and CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan were invited to participate in the 7th South China Sea International Conference on “Cooperation for Regional Security and Development” on 23-24 November 2015 in Vung Tau, Viet Nam. The Conference was jointly organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam, the Viet Nam Lawyers Association and the East Sea Foundation. Professor Beckman made a presentation on “The South China Sea: Prospects for Cooperation to Manage the Disputes”. To download his presentation, please click here.

CIL Research Fellow Denise Cheong presented on “The balance between legal and administrative measures – Singapore’s implementation of international conventions on marine spill contingency planning” at the EAS Congress 2015 organised by Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), which was held in Danang City, Vietnam from 16-21 November 2015. To download her presentation, please click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons presented a paper on ‘Shared Resources in the South China Sea and the Management of Transboundary Environmental Risks’ at the RSIS Maritime Security Programme Workshop on Assessing the Future Maritime Environment in Asia, which was held in Singapore on 12 November 2015. To download her paper summary, please click here. To download her presentation, please click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons made a presentation on ‘Ocean Governance, Ocean Conservation and Ocean Industries’ at the Sustainable Ocean Summit organised by the World Ocean Council in Singapore from 9-11 November 2015. To download her presentation, please click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons attended the 8th ABLOS Conference 2015 in Monaco – UNCLOS: Advances in Managing the Blue World. Youna presented a paper on ‘States International Rights and Obligations in the Race for Giant Clams in the South China Sea’, which was co-authored by Ms Neo Mei Lin, Research Fellow, NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute, CIL Research Fellow Denise Cheong and CIL Research Assistant Hiu Fung Wong. To download the presentation, please click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons attended the 37th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the 1972 London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter and the 10th Meeting of Contracting Parties to the 1996 London Protocol to the London Convention at the IMO, in London, from 11-15 October 2015.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons and CIL Research Fellow Denise Cheong participated in the ‘Asia-Pacific Deep Sea Mining Summit – Forming New Partnerships 2015’ at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on 29-30 September 2015.

CIL Non-Resident Fellow Captain J Ashley Roach and CIL Research Fellow Zhen Sun participated in the Arctic Deeply Roundtable Discussion on ‘Asia and the Arctic: Where Things Stand’ on 16 September 2015 in Singapore. The Roundtable was jointly organised by Arctic Deeply and the World Policy Institute, in collaboration with Guggenheim Partners and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS. At the Roundtable Discussion, Captain Roach made a presentation on ‘Asia and the Arctic: The Legal Issues’. To download his presentation, please click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in a conference on the South China Sea in Jakarta, Indonesia from 14-16 September 2015. The Conference was co-organised by the Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia and the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS) in Hainan, China. This was the First Conference in a project led by Indonesia and China to enhance cooperation and help manage the security situation in the South China Sea. Prof Beckman served as the co-chair of a Working Group on UNCLOS and the South China Sea.

Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons and Research Fellow Denise Cheong participated in the 2015 Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law held at the Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 7-11 September 2015. Youna made a presentation titled: “Towards a comprehensive framework for the designation of sensitive marine environments”. To download her presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited to present the lessons learned and recommendations that arose from the NUS Workshop on the Prospects for Large-Scale Artificial Reefs in Southeast Asia, at the Indonesia Decommissioning Conference on 13-14 August 2015 in Bandung, Indonesia. To download her presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan and CIL Research Fellow Dr Sun Zhen were invited to speak at the China-ASEAN Forum on Law, Policy and Management of the Sea on 4 August 2015 in Guiyang, Guizhou, China. Hao Duy Phan delivered a presentation on ‘ASEAN Cooperation on Maritime Security’ (download in PDF). Sun Zhen made a presentation on ‘Regional Sea Cooperation in East Asia’ (download in PDF). The Forum was co-organised by the Ocean University of China and the Guiyang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. More than 50 participants from China, ASEAN Member States and other states attended the Forum.

CIL was a sponsoring organisation at the 39th Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy (COLP) of the University of Virginia, which was held in Shanghai, China from 24-26 June 2015. The title of the Conference was ‘International Marine Economy: Law and Policy’. CIL Director Robert Beckman chaired a panel on grey areas in international boundary delimitation. CIL sponsored the participation of four speakers: CIL International Advisory Panel Member Arif Havas Oegroseno, Dr Clive Schofield, CIL Non-Resident Fellow Captain Ashley Roach and CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard. CIL Research Fellow Zhen Sun also attended the conference. To download Capt. Roach’s presentation, click here. To download Dr Schofield’s presentation, click here.

CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman, CIL Non-Resident Fellow Captain Ashley Roach, and Research Fellows Leo Bernard and Dr Zhen Sun participated in the 2015 International Symposium on Global Commons and the Law of the Sea in Hangzhou, China on 22-23 June 2015. The Symposium was co-organised by the Centre for Ocean Law and Governance, Guanghua Law School and Collaborative Innovation Centre for the Belt and Road Initiative, Zhejiang University. Professor Beckman delivered a presentation on ‘The Development of the Polar Code and Challenges to Its Implementation’, while Captain Roach presented on ‘Evolution of Soviet Maritime Navigation Policy and China’s Far Seas Operations’. Research Fellows Leo Bernard and Dr Zhen Sun also served as discussants for two panels. To download Professor Beckman’s and Dr Sun’s presentation, click here. To download Capt. Roach’s presentation, click here.

On 12 June 2015, the Symposium for the Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Rhodes Academy on Oceans Law and Policy was held at the United Nations in New York. Hosted by the Permanent Mission of Iceland to the UN, the Symposium featured Judge Tomas Heidar and several other Rhodes Alumni, who presented on current law of the sea issues. Most of the Symposium’s 70 participants had attended the Meeting of States Parties to the Law of the Sea Convention that took place the previous week. CIL, one of the sponsoring organisations of the Rhodes Academy, was represented at the Symposium by CIL Research Fellow (Non-Resident) Tara Davenport at which she gave a presentation on ‘Submarine Cables in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction’. To view her presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines as a presenter in a side event they organised on UNCLOS and the protection of the marine environment during the Meeting of the States Parties to the Law of the Sea Convention, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on 10 June 2015. Her presentation was titled ‘Environmental Impacts from Large Scale Constructions in the South China Sea: Legal Issues’. To see her presentation, please click here.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun participated in the Conference on ‘The European Union and the Arctic’ on 29-30 May 2015, at the University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom. The Conference was jointly organised by the University of Dundee and the University of Tromso. At the Conference, Dr. Sun made a presentation on ‘The Interests and Potential Roles of Observers in the Arctic Council – In the Context of Marine Environmental Protection’. Her presentation attracted discussion on the general involvement of the Asian States in the Arctic issues. To download her presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated at the 2015 American Association of Petroleum Geologists Workshop on Tectonic Evolution and Sedimentation of the South China Sea Region, on 26-27 May 2015, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard participated at the 2015 ILA – ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum on 25-26 May 2015 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Research Forum was organised by the Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law – Chinese (Taiwan) Branch of the International Law Association, in cooperation with the American Society of International Law and Research Center for International Legal Studies, National Chengchi University. Prof Beckman was part of the panel on Law of the Sea: South China Sea, where he presented on the Philippines v China Case and Maritime Disputes in the South China Sea. To download Prof Beckman’s paper, click here. To download his presentation in PDF format, click here.

CIL Researchers Leonardo Bernard, Harpreet Kaur Dillon, Hao Duy Phan, Sun Zhen and Ranyta Yusran participated in the 12th Annual Asian Law Institute Conference – “Law 2.0: New Challenges in Asia” on 21-22 May 2015 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Conference was jointly organised by the National University of Taiwan and the Asian Law Institute. At the Conference, CIL researchers made various presentations on different topics of international law and chaired different panels. Dr Zhen Sun and Mr Leonardo Bernard spoke at a panel on international law with a particular focus on the law of the sea. Dr Zhen Sun made a presentation on “A Hot Land in A Cold Place: Opportunities and Challenges for Singapore in the Arctic” (download in PDF) and Mr Leonardo Bernard made a presentation on “Historic Fishing Rights and the EEZ” (download in PDF). Dr Hao Duy Phan and Ms Harpreet Dhillon participated in two different panels on international law and spoke about “ASEAN’s Legal Personality and its Treaty-Making Power” (download in PDF) and “Consolidation of Claims Arising under an International Investment Agreement: What is at Stake?” (download in PDF) respectively. Ms Ranyta Yusran was a panellist at the panel on cross-border issues. She made a presentation on “Mapping the ASEAN Framework on Transnational Crime” (download in PDF).