Professor Transform Aqorau is the Vice Chancellor of the Solomon Islands National University. He is a renowned legal and policy expert on ocean governance, fisheries management, and the sustainable use of marine resources in the Pacific. Over the course of his career, Professor Aqorau has held senior advisory roles with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, and the Solomon Islands Government, among others. He has been instrumental in advancing regional cooperation on tuna fisheries management and is a leading voice on climate ocean policy and governance interlinkages in the Indo Pacific. He holds a PhD in International Law from the University of Wollongong and has published widely on fisheries law, ocean diplomacy, and Pacific regionalism. Professor Aqorau is deeply committed to ensuring that institutions of higher learning contribute actively to sustainable development and climate resilience in the Pacific.

Dr Hussain Sinan has represented the Maldives at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) for the past seven years and held key leadership roles, including Chair of the IOTC Standing Committee on Administration and Finance, Co-Chair of the G16 Coastal States Group, and Chair of the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC). He has been actively involved in multiple Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs), serving as the Maldives' lead negotiator in the BBNJ Agreement negotiations. Sinan completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Dalhousie University through the Nippon Foundation – Ocean Nexus Programme, focusing on strengthening RFMOs, particularly in the Indian Ocean. Most recently, he chaired the performance review panels for both the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) and the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). He is currently working on publishing a book on the next generation of RFMOs with UBC Press.

Professor Quentin Hanich leads the Fisheries Governance Research Program at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, where he has established various international research partnerships focusing on ocean governance and equity, marine conservation, and the sustainable and equitable management of transboundary fisheries. He is particularly interested in strategic research and capacity building projects that strengthen cooperation and consensus building. In addition to his roles at the University of Wollongong, Professor Hanich chairs the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s allocation committee, and is a member of the United Nations Pool of Experts for the World Ocean Assessments. Prof. Hanich has developed and taught undergraduate and post-graduate subjects, post-graduate courses, and professional short courses on international negotiations, fisheries management, and ocean governance.