Class of 2025
The students of the class of 2025
Our 17th IFLOS Summer Academy
The 17th IFLOS Summer Academy was held at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea from 13 July 2025 to 8 August 2025. As in the past, the event endorsed the overarch-ing theme of “Promoting Ocean Governance and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes.”
Special Thanks
The Foundation would like to express its sincere gratitude to all those who have supported us. The Summer Academy would not be possible without your generous financial aid, tireless volunteering, moral support, and commitment year after year.
In particular, the Foundation would like to express sincere thanks to Tomas Heidar, President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Ximena Hinrichs, Registrar of the Tribunal, and all the staff members of the Tribunal. Your support is greatly appreciated. Your contribution in providing the Summer Academy with a remarkable home on the premises of the Tribunal has made the Summer Academy an unparalleled experience for the Participants, the Lecturers, and everyone else who has the opportunity to enjoy the Summer Academy’s program.
Additionally, the Summer Academy would like to express its sincere appreciation to our financial supporters. Thanks to their generosity, we can offer our program to participants from around the world through scholarships. Additionally, their support enables us to invite an impressive faculty from all around the world. Specifically, we received support from the Federal Foreign Office, the Edmund Siemers Stiftung, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, the German Shipowners’ Association, the Seerechtsstiftung, Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG and the Jens-Peter und Betsy Schlüter-Stiftung für Schifffahrt and Umweltschutz. Furthermore, we also received valuable non-financial support from our partner institutions, namely the Max Planck Institute for comparative and international Private Law Hamburg, the Comité Maritime International (CMI), the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) and the World Maritime University (WMU).
2025 participants in front of the ITLOS court room
Participants
The Foundation had the pleasure of hosting 40 Participants from 32 different States around the world. With participants hailing from 2 that had not previously participated in the Summer Academy, our “Global Reach” expanded to encompass 141 Nations, with a total of 607 Alumni representing all continents. The Tribunal seconded 7 attendees within the framework of the Nippon Program. Once again, a high number of applications was achieved, with over 140 submissions. As in previous years, the Foundation noted a continued high level of academic qualifications and professional achievement among applicants.
A Growing Network
Despite the Participants’ varied legal and cultural backgrounds, they rapidly formed strong bonds, establishing a highly active and engaged group. With their assistance, the Foundation will endeavor to maintain a comprehensive record of all participants, thereby facilitating enhanced networking opportunities and integrating this year’s Participants into the Alumni Circle established by the class of 2007. The feedback from the participants was extremely positive, particularly regarding the group’s cohesion, the caliber of the lectures, and the event’s coordination.
Names and Nationalities of all Alumni can be found at www.iflos.org/alumni. If you believe the Foundation has overlooked anyone, please contact us: summeracadamy@iflos.org.
Faculty / Schedule
This year’s Summer Academy Faculty included several long-standing friends of the Summer Academy, as well as new members. The list of Lecturers included judges, legal professionals, and academics and can be found here.
The Schedule covered variety of law of the sea, maritime law, and related lectures. The lectures thoroughly addressed specific subjects of interest, such as marine environmental protection, oil pollution, and its consequences. Given the successful execution of prior Summer Academies, the schedule was structured to include a dedicated thematic session on maritime delimitation. This session incorporated a practical workshop with courses on legal and political solutions, fostering a comprehensive learning experience.
Open Event: Edmund Siemers Lecture
As usual, this year’s Summer Academy hosted an Open Event as part of its schedule to invite our community and supporters, as well as offer insights to anyone interested in the law of the sea, maritime law, or the Summer Academy in general. The Open Event entails a lecture held in the main Courtroom of the Tribunal, followed by a reception where participants and guests get the chance to discuss and exchange perspectives and thoughts. This year, we were honored to welcome Prof. Dr. Seline Trevisanut, who held a presentation on the topic of “Protection and Exploitation of the Ocean: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue”. The presentation was followed by a lively Q & A Session where participants and guests participated equally and provided valuable insights in their own fields of expertise. The Open Event, as well as the Q & A session was moderated by the Foundation’s Co-Chair Prof. Alexander Proelß. For the first time, this year’s Open Event was not only recorded but also streamed live, intriguing hundreds of viewers worldwide to participate in this special event.
Exam
As established in previous years, the Summer Academy concluded with a mandatory exam, which allowed participants to demonstrate their acquired knowledge of the law of the sea and maritime law. Therefore, the participants were divided into groups. Each group was examined by a commission consisting of a chair of either Prof. Matz-Lück, Prof. Proelß or Prof. Schatz and a co-examiner. For the co-examiner the foundation invited Robert Steenkamp, Dr. Tony Cabus and Dr. Moritz von Rochow, whom we would like to thank for their support. The exam consisted of an extensive “exam conversation”, i.e., questions were raised by the commission and passed on from one candidate to another to develop an academic discussion on various topics that were covered by the Academy’s lectures. The participants’ performance was not graded, and they were notified of passing the exam after their respective rounds. Individual feedback was also provided during the break and after all exams.
Following the group exam, the commissions chose the best candidate from each group, which were offered to take part in the additional distinction exam. This exam took place in the afternoon of the same day in the main Courtroom of the Tribunal in front of the entire cohort. The candidates were each assigned a random statement, after which they had only twenty minutes to prepare. They then had to give a ten-minute presentation on this statement to a six-person commission board. This was followed by a demanding Q & A session on any topic covered by the Academy’s schedule. We congratulate all six candidates who successfully passed the distinction examination, which was announced at the farewell dinner.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Next to the challenging academic schedule, we always like to reserve some time for our participants for extra-curricular activities to get to know some of the beautiful and interesting places our city and its vicinity have to offer, and to get the chance to build connections within the cohort beyond the professional sphere. This includes an informative city tour through Hamburg as well as a boat tour through Hamburg’s port and a visit to the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg. Additionally, we also organized a trip to another Hanseatic city, namely Lübeck, followed by some time off at one of our beautiful Baltic Sea beaches. To round off the social program, we also went out for a “Night Out Bavarian Style” as well as the annual farewell dinner.
Senate Reception
At the end of the Summer Academy, the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg held an impressive and well-attended reception in the Town Hall hosted by the Senator for Finance Dr. Andreas Dressel. Additionally, Ms. Ximena Hinrichs, Registrar of the ITLOS and Prof. Nele Matz-Lück, Chair of the Foundation, held closing remarks.
We are highly honored to have been invited to this delightful and truly special graduation ceremony and reception at the Hamburg City Hall for the 17th consecutive year.
Closing Remarks
With this, we would like to close the chapter on yet another successful and truly inspiring Summer Academy. The Foundation would like to express its sincere thanks to all its supporters and anyone who took part in this year’s Academy, whether actively in class by participating or holding lectures, in the events around the Academy or in the background by supporting it. We are deeply thankful to every one of you for making the 2025 edition such a success.