Nkeiru Scotcher

Research

Nkeiru’s research focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to addressing challenges in the ocean and leans towards the relation between law, politics and science. Nkeiru has specifically researched topics in the law of sea and maritime law such as dispute resolution, submarine cable regulations, maritime security, fisheries and marine biodiversity. In these areas Nkeiru has lectured and supervised postgraduate theses on public international law, the law of the sea, the law of international organisations and marine environmental law. Nkeiru recently examined a doctorate on the law of the sea focusing on islands and the effects of climate change.

At the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Nkeiru researched and supervised students on transdisciplinary research approaches in regional ocean governance focusing on the EU’s maritime policy and AU’s maritime Strategy. She recently worked on a project funded by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management on legal and policy aspects of offshore wind generation in Europe. 

Nkeiru has work experience with international organisations such as the UN during the ad-hoc open-ended informal working group meetings dealing with marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction; the Office of the Vice President of the European Parliament where she worked on questions of sovereignty in the Nordics with particular focus on the Svalbard; the ITU/WMO/UNESCO IOC Joint Task Force on SMART Cable systems which investigates the use of submarine telecommunications cables for ocean and climate monitoring and disaster warning. The Task Force’s decade action “Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Subsea Cables: Observing the Global Ocean for Climate Monitoring and Disaster Risk Reduction” is endorsed by the UN Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030.