Abstract

This seminar explores the legitimacy challenges faced by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an intergovernmental organization with the peculiar dual mandate of protecting the marine environment and enabling deep-sea mining. Amid growing contestation of its epistemic authority, the ISA has to cope with calls for more inclusive and pluralistic knowledge governance. The seminar will examine how the ISA navigates these tensions and how it could address emerging demands for epistemic pluralism in managing seabed resources.

Short Bio

Matteo De Donà holds a PhD in Environmental Social Science from the University of Gothenburg. Prior to joining AIAS, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science at Lund University. Matteo has an interdisciplinary background spanning the fields of International Relations (IR) and Science & Technology Studies (STS). His main fields of expertise include legitimation in global governance, the role of knowledge in global environmental politics, and the relation between science and policy in intergovernmental organizations.

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar Series is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellows, AIAS Visiting or Tandem Fellows or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, a fellow will present and discuss her/his current research and work-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience for 30 minutes, closing off with 30 minutes for questions, comments and discussion.

All seminars are in-person and held in English. To attend online, please contact Cecilie Horshauge at cecilie@aias.au.dk by 9:00am on the day of the semimar as the latest to request a link.