Dr. Aleke Stöfen-O’Brien is Associate Research Officer at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Her research interests include law of the sea, marine environmental protection and resource management, with a particular focus on marine pollution as well as questions relating to equity and diversity within ocean governance.

Prior to joining the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, Dr. Stöfen-O’Brien served as a Scientific Officer in the Marine Unit of the Federal Environment Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany working on national and international regulatory aspects relating to marine debris. Dr. Stöfen-O’Brien has extensive professional experience gained during her career as at the Secretariat for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the European Commission, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) as well as the WHO/Europe representation to the EU working on aspects such as marine environmental protection, marine litter, sub-seabed CO₂ capture and storage, capacity-building and broader aspects of international and European law.

Dr. Stöfen-O’Brien completed her education in legal studies as well as public policy from Universities in Germany, the Netherlands as well as France.
Dr. Stöfen-O’Brien served as a nominated expert to the United Nations World Ocean Assessment (Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment Including Socio-economic Aspects) and was co convenor and author on Chapter 12 on marine debris and dumping.