Dr. Zhen Sun is a Research Officer at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Her main research interests include law of the sea, international regulation of shipping, ocean governance, climate action and the protection of the marine environment.

Prior to joining WMU, Zhen was a Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law (CIL), National University of Singapore between 2013 and 2018. She was a member of the CIL Ocean Law and Policy team, in which she worked on a wide range of subjects in the law of the sea. Zhen was the researcher-in-charge for a number of research projects and capacity building activities at CIL, including projects funded by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Zhen has lectured for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as government officials and practitioners. She has contributed to the editorial work of a couple of book projects at CIL and published a number of book chapters and journal articles on various topics including legal issues in the Arctic, the interaction between UNCLOS and the IMO, straits used for international navigation, maritime security and the protection of submarine cables.

Zhen received the Bachelor of Laws Degree from Hainan University and a LLM in International Law from China University of Political Science and Law in China. She continued her education in the United Kingdom where she received a LLM in Public International Law (with distinction) from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.