On 11 May 2026, Monday, the Interdisciplinary Observatory on Climate Change and the World Political Analysis Laboratory (LABMUNDO) will welcome Prof. Licínia Simão (University of Coimbra – Portugal) at the Institute of Social and Political Studies (IESP-UERJ), to present the lecture Ocean Regions and the Ocean Research Agenda in International Relations. Between 2.30 pm and 4.30 pm, in the Olavo Brasil Room, the professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC) will present the main elements of the research agenda concerning ocean regions, based on her findings developed in collaboration with the Ocean Regions Programme at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa.

The analysis of large oceanic spaces through the lens of oceanic regions has been gaining traction in the field of International Relations, seeking to contextualise the different dynamics of maritime governance and identify new ways of creating regions based on distinct, localised experiences of the sea. This research agenda draws on concepts such as complexity and multi-level, interdisciplinary governance to characterise the nature of emerging regionalism around maritime issues. Taking the Atlantic context as its starting point, the research presented here analyses the challenges of constructing an integrated Atlantic regional space and the distinct forms this region takes in addressing its multiple governance challenges. The work is based on the book Africa and the politics of ocean regions, edited by the guest speaker with Daniela Marggraff (University of Pretoria), which forms the basis for the graduate curriculum in International Ocean Policy currently being developed at the University of Coimbra.

PhD in International Relations, specialising in European Studies, from the University of Coimbra (DRI-UC), Licínia Maria dos Santos Simão is an associate professor in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, and a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies at the same institution (CES-UC). Since 2024, she has been Deputy Director of FEUC and co-coordinator of CES Thematic Area 1, ‘(Semi-)peripheral Capitalism: Crises and Alternatives’. Between December 2018 and January 2023, she held an official position as an adviser to the Portuguese Minister of National Defence, where she was responsible for coordinating the Atlantic Centre. She was a visiting researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels (Belgium) and at the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University (CES) in Ottawa (Canada). Her academic interests include Foreign Policy, Security and Defence Studies, and Ocean Governance, with a focus on European policy, the post-Soviet states, and maritime security in the Atlantic.