Professor Ronan Long is Director of the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute and lectures on a broad range of ocean governance subjects including: the law of the sea, the law of climate change, as well as on multilateral diplomacy and dispute resolution. Previous appointments include a Personal Professorship and the Jean Monnet Chair of European Law at the National University of Ireland Galway, a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia School of Law and a Senior Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Law of the Sea Institute, Berkeley Law, University of California, faculty at the Rhodes Academy Oceans Law and Policy, as well as the United Nations - The Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship Programme. In the latter capacity, he has co-supervised mid-career legal professionals from Bangladesh, Mozambique, Myanmar, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Costa Rica, Namibia and Nigeria. He has a longstanding working relationship with the Korean Maritime Institute including faculty membership of the Yeosu Academy of the Law of the Sea.

Professor Long was the first recipient of the Manahan Fellowship and has authored and co-edited 14 books and over 60 other publications to the leading peer-review journals, as well as over 130 international workshops/conference contributions in 40 countries and for 10 international organizations on the law of the sea, ocean governance, and the law and policy of the marine environment. His work has received critical acclaim in the academic literature and has been cited by the European Commission, the United Nations Secretary-General in his annual report to the General Assembly on oceans and the law of the sea, as well as in the jurisprudence of the superior courts in a number of common law jurisdictions and the Court of Justice of the European Union. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law and Ocean Development and International Law. Recent publications are translated into Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean.

Prior to his academic career, he served as a permanent staff member of the European Commission (1993–2000), undertaking over 40 missions for European institutions to EU Member States, the United States, Canada, Central America, and Africa. His responsibilities included representing the Commission in European Council working groups and international fora, and drafting EU regulations on satellite-based vessel monitoring systems. Professor Long has participated in EU and Irish delegations to international fora on the law of the sea, including the United Nations, and served as Ireland’s representative to the UNESCO/IOC Advisory Body of Experts on the Law of the Sea. He has acted as an adviser and consultant on oceans law and policy for foreign governments, the European Commission, and numerous public and private bodies, including the OSPAR Commission, the UN Office of Legal Affairs, the International Hydrographic Organization, ICES, and regional fisheries and advisory organizations. With over 20 years’ leadership experience in EU research programmes, he is currently involved in the MERCES Project and the ATLAS consortium, working with European and international partners on the restoration of marine ecosystems. During his service in the Irish Naval Service, he received an academic prize at Britannia Royal Naval College and held appointments both ashore and afloat, including service in the Navy’s elite diving unit. A keen yachtsman, he has represented Ireland at the highest competitive level in offshore racing.