Dr. Felicity G. Attard has for a number of years specialised in international law including the law of the sea, maritime security law, migration law and human rights law.
At the University of Malta, she read law and ended her studies by successfully submitting her doctorate thesis which dealt with the contribution of the International Maritime Organization to international law regulating maritime security. She has obtained a Master of Laws with distinction from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute. Her research dissertation was entitled ‘Maritime Security under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’. She also studied at Queen Mary University of London, where she was awarded a first-class Master’s degree for her research on smuggling of persons at sea. In 2019, she obtained a PhD for her research on the duty to render assistance at sea under international law. Dr. Attard has participated in a number of international academies including the International Foundation of the Law of the Sea Academy, Hamburg and the Hague Academy of International Law.
Dr. Attard is a member of the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta, where she teaches and coordinates courses in international law, the law of the sea and maritime security law. She has lectured at a number of universities and institutes including the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at the University of London, the International Ocean Institute, Harvard Law School and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute. Dr. Attard has presented papers on international law subjects at conferences held throughout the world (Brazil, Cyprus, Georgia, India, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States).
Dr. Attard is the author of the monograph ‘The Duty of the Shipmaster to Render Assistance at Sea under International Law’ published by Brill in its Queen Mary Studies in International Law series. She is continuously publishing research in journals and collected works.
She is often invited by the international media, including the BBC, Agence France-Press, and the National to comment on various issues, in particular, maritime security and territory disputes.
