Thematic Areas of Interest

Energy and Natural Resources Law
Environmental Law and Ecosystems-Based Management
European Fisheries Law and the Common Fisheries Policy
Law of the Sea
Maritime Security Law and Piracy
European Union's Integrated Maritime Policy
Law of Marine Scientific Research
Offshore Oil and Gas Law
Renewable Energy Law
Foreshore Law
Underwater Cultural Heritage
EU Administrative Law
Public International Law
Maritime Delineation and Delimitation
Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Law
Public Participation in Law-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
Planning Law


Academic Awards 

• Scholar-in-Residence University of Virginia (2007)
• Marine Biodiscovery Fellowship NDP (2005-2007)
• Michael Manahan Fellowship (2003-2005)
• Academic Prize - Britannia Royal Naval College (1981) 

International & European Research Projects

• HERMES
• PROTECT
• The Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship Programme

Programmes 2012-2013

Dr. Ronán Long has collaborated with Dr. Anthony Grehan, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, on several successful European and national research projects concerning different aspects of marine environmental regulation and management. He is a former member of the Irish Coral Task Force and worked on the designation of Europe’s first special areas of conservation in the Exclusive Economic Zone. He is also on the management board of SEMRU in the School of Economics, and has an affiliation with Professor Colin Brown at the Ryan Institute.  His overall contribution to the implementation of the PRTLI Cycle III marine research programme in the Ryan Institute (2002-2006) was rated as “an outstanding success story” by an external peer-review panel appointed by the Higher Education Authority in 2006.      

Over the past decade, Dr. Ronán Long has built-up a close working relationship with some of the world's leading centres of research excellence in his specialist field of law, including: the Center for Oceans Law and Policy at the University of Virginia; the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public Law and International Law at Heidelberg University; the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea at Utrect University,  as well as with the Marine and Environmental Law Institute at Dalhousie University.  He has also forged strong collaborations with the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong, the Centre for International Law at Singapore University, and the Korea Maritime Institute.  

In this capacity he has co-organised and co-hosted a number of international conferences and workshops focused on contemporary issues in oceans law and policy, with contributions from eminent jurists and scholars including, amongst others: the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority; the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO; and the General Counsel at the World Bank.  These have been attended by the leading practitioners and professionals from 60 countries and from many international organisations.

 At interdisciplinary level, he has collaborated with some of Europe’s leading marine scientific research institutes in the European framework research projects HERMES and PROTECT.

In conjunction with 11 institutional partners from both within and outside the EU, he is currently working in the ODEMM Project on an extra-mural basis which is examining the management options for improving ecosystem based management of the European marine environment.  The methodology and results of this project are being applied  by several EU Member States (including Finland and Ireland) to the task of implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Several of his recent publications are aimed at explaining how the EU is adopting a new approach to the regulation of activities undertaken in the marine environment,  the challenges and opportunities posed by the legal aspects of ecosystem-based management in Europe, the harmonisation of the regulatory and administrative procedures that apply to ship-based marine scientific research in the European Union, as well as on contentious issues concerning offshore wind energy development, marine spatial planning, and offshore oil and gas law.  

In Ireland, Dr. Long has organised specialist workshops and undertaken expert reports for the Petroleum Affairs Division at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Marine Institute.  He has collaborated with the Naval Service, the Legal Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and with the Office of the Attorney-General on a number of law of the sea matters. 

In 2012, he was a member of an international advisory panel that co-convened an international conference at Dalhousie University examining international regulatory standards that apply to the offshore oil and gas industry in light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the United States .