Tafsir Johansson
Dr. Tafsir Matin Johansson is Associate Professor of Ocean Sustainability, Governance and Management at the World Maritime University–Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute (WMU-GOI) in Malmö, Sweden.
He holds a PhD in Maritime Affairs from WMU, supported by the Government of Canada through PROTRAAV, and an LLM in Maritime Law from Lund University. His research examines the governance of emerging maritime and marine technologies, artificial intelligence and autonomous ocean systems, with a strong foundation in doctrinal legal analysis and dynamic governance. He teaches across disciplines and supervises postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates and MSc students.
Dr. Johansson has published, among others, on Arctic governance, marine pollution, maritime decarbonization, climate justice, fisheries politics, remote inspection technologies, trust and liability, and legal frameworks for protecting biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.
He has led major interdisciplinary projects funded by the European Union, Transport Canada, the Nippon Foundation and Lloyd’s Register Foundation. In 2024, he completed his role as Co-Principal Investigator of the EU Horizon 2020 BUGWRIGHT2 project, which received high commendation from the European Commission. He currently leads the Ocean Technology and AI pillar of the Nippon Foundation’s Future of the Oceans programme and a Lloyd’s Register Foundation project on decarbonization in the Eastern Mediterranean. He also serves as administrative Principal Investigator for Mission Atlantic and Ocean ICU.
Dr. Johansson is an international guest lecturer at several universities, an ESG Shipping Awards judge, and an editorial board member of Ocean Development & International Law and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ocean Law and Policy.