School of Law and Politics to host prestigious UN fellowship programme

The School of Law and Politics has been named as a host school for a prestigious United Nations ocean affairs and law of the sea fellowship programme.

The United Nations Nippon Foundation Fellowship Programme gives opportunities to government officials and mid-level professionals from developing coastal states for advanced research and training in the fields of ocean affairs and the law of the sea, as well as related disciplines such as marine science.

The Fellowship will be hosted by the school’s Centre for Multilateralism and International Law. The Centre is a global forum for academics, policymakers, non-governmental organisations, and other members of civil society, business, and stakeholders that supports the promotion and dissemination of world-class research in the fields of international law and multilateralism.

Fellows in the training programme gain the expertise required to assist their nations in developing comprehensive ocean policies and implementing the legal system outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other relevant treaties. The nine-month Fellowship programme is divided into 2 stages.

The first 3 months of the programme are spent on practical training at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, while the second 6 months are spent on advanced academic research and study at one of the participating host institutions which includes the School of Law and Politics. At the host institutions the fellows will be guided by subject matter expert(s) with recognised expertise in their chosen field of study. So far the school has hosted fellows from Cameroon, Brazil and the pacific country of Niue.

Professor Edwin Egede, co-director of the Centre for Multilateralism and International Law and coordinator of the Fellowship programme, said, "It is a tremendous pleasure to welcome fellows from the United Nations Nippon Fellowship programme to our school and to contribute to the building of global capacity and knowledge transfer in the subject of ocean law and policy. It is also appreciated that the UN Nippon fellows contribute to and engage in the school's research life during their visits through delivering research presentations, attending seminars, and engaging in other research-related activities. In the coming months, we hope to welcome more UN Nippon Fellows.”

The prestigious United Nations Nippon Foundation Fellowship Programme is sponsored by the Nippon Foundation of Japan and implemented by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS).