Speaker Bio

Dr. Aspasia Pastra is appointed as an Assistant Professor in Ocean Sustainability, Governance, and Management at the Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute of the World Maritime University in Sweden. Her work bridges policy, science, and industry, aiming to inspire collective action for a sustainable maritime and ocean future. She has been involved in a number of state-of-the-art regulatory projects in ocean governance, ocean technology, maritime policy, port governance, human element and gender equality. She publishes extensively in the ocean and management fields: Publications She is the Chairman of the GEBCO Sub-Committee on Education and Training (SCET) and she co-chairs the Ocean Data and of Marine Genetic Resources Scientific Committees of Future Ocean Programme of WMU . She has also been appointed as an advisory member of the Leading Women for the Ocean and is a member of the Judging Committee of the ESG Shipping Awards. Dr Pastra holds a B.Sc. degree in Public Administration from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Greece and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Cardiff University in the UK. She was granted a scholarship in memory of the ship-owner George P. Livanos for the World Maritime University in Sweden and received an MSc in Maritime Administration. She was awarded her PhD in the area of corporate governance from Brunel University in London and appointed as a WMU postdoc fellow in the European Union´s Horizon 2020 Bugwright2 project about ocean robotics. She has extensive experience in shipping as she worked for many years in large shipping companies. She has also participated in the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as an advisory member of the Greek Delegation. She was awarded the Greek International Women Award (GIWA) 2025 in the category of Shipping.