Dr. Ioannis Konstantinidis is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Qatar University, College of Law and Affiliate Member of the Center for Law and Development. His is the Secretary of the International Law Association (Qatari Branch). His Ph.D. thesis (Sorbonne Law School, Paris, France) focusing on the institutions established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), constitutes the first comprehensive study assessing these institutions following the entry into force of UNCLOS.
He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (University of Cambridge) and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. He has taught international law and international dispute settlement, inter alia, at the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea (Germany), Kobe University (Japan) and the University of Athens (Greece).
Prior to joining Qatar University, Dr. Konstantinidis was the Head of Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law at the Asian International Arbitration Center/AIAC (formerly known as the KLRCA) – an independent international organization, established in 1978 under the auspices of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization.
Before joining the AIAC, Dr. Konstantinidis worked as an associate at Volterra Fietta – a leading public international law firm in London – where he advised and represented governments, international organizations and companies on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious public international law and related dispute resolution issues, including law of the sea and natural resources, land and maritime boundary issues, the protection of foreign investments under international investment agreements and treaty interpretation. Dr. Konstantinidis has advised in connection with disputes heard at the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the European Court of Human Rights and at a multitude of ad hoc and institutional arbitral fora (including under UNCLOS, PCA and UNCITRAL Rules).
Before that, he worked at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS-Nippon Fellow) and the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations – Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.
Dr. Konstantinidis is a general public international law expert. He regularly acts for States, international organizations and private entities in contentious and advisory matters. He is currently involved as counsel in three cases before the International Court of Justice and in investor-State arbitrations. His research and practice focus on law of the sea and natural resources, land and maritime boundaries, deep seabed mining, international organizations, international investment law, international litigation and arbitration, international environmental law and sustainable development, human rights, and international humanitarian law. Dr. Konstantinidis is listed as arbitrator on the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) and the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration panels of arbitrators. He has recently been nominated on the List of Arbitrators under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by the Republic of Madagascar (the list is drawn up and kept by the Secretary-General of the United Nations).