The International and Global Studies Program will host the second lecture in their new Speakers' Series on Global Development and Sustainability. Professor Tabitha Grace Mallory of the University of Washington will give a talk titled "Oceans Apart: Global Governance Approaches to the Deep-Sea Strategic Frontier."

The talk will be from 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Student Success Center, Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence room 324. Mallory will talk about the United Nations initiatives to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and the efforts of the International Seabed Authority to hammer out a code to govern commercial seabed mining. These initiatives must balance environmental concerns with access to important resources like metals for renewable-energy technologies and marine genetic resources for new pharmaceuticals.

In her talk, Mallory, an expert on Chinese fisheries and ocean innitiatives, will explain how China hopes to become a leader in these new industries with significant strategic implications. The tradeoffs involve high-seas areas that belong to all of us. How should we approach these global-commons resources — from the perspective of a first-come-first-served "freedom of the seas" or a more universal "common heritage of mankind"?

Mallory is an affiliate professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and specializes in Chinese foreign and environmental policy. She is also CEO of the consulting firm China Ocean Institute and has consulted for organizations such as the United Nations Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

She is currently conducting research on China and global ocean governance and has published work on China's fisheries and oceans policy. She previously served as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program and has also worked for The National Bureau of Asian Research and for the U.S. government. Mallory holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. She serves on the board of directors of the China Club of Seattle and is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Washington State China Relations Council.

Future Lectures

This year, the Global Development and Sustainability Series will bring in leading experts on issues concerning global sustainability and development to coincide with programing already being offered by the International and Global Studies Program. Through this speaker series, students will be exposed to a variety of methodological approaches to issues surrounding development and sustainability. Here are the upcoming talks for 2023-24:

"International Trade, Noise Pollution, and Killer Whales" 

M. Scott Taylor
Professor of economics, University of Calgary
Research associate, The National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Friday, Feb. 16, from 3:30-5 p.m. in Willard J. Walker Hall room 403

"Strong Enough to Remove Dirt Skin: Coconut Soap, and Other Early Histories of Biofuels in the US and Mexico"

Jayson M. Porter
Voss Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environment and Society, Brown University
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland
Friday, March 7, at 4:30 p.m. in CORD 349

For questions about this event, please contact the International and Global Studies Program associate director, Kelly Hammond, at kah018@uark.edu.