Personal bio
Melis is the Specialism Convenor for Maritime Law Studies at UCL and former Director of the UCL Centre for Commercial Law. She specialises in international trade law, carriage of goods by sea, international commercial arbitration, and conflict of laws and jurisdiction. Her expertise is shaped by combined experience in academia and legal practice, including work as legal counsel and in-house lawyer, and through participation in arbitration and litigation across a wide range of commercial disputes, extending beyond shipping law.
Melis’s scholarship has been widely acknowledged in leading practitioners’ works. She is the editor and co-author of Commercial Maritime Law (Hart Publishing, 2020), author of Bills of Lading Incorporating Charterparties (Hart Publishing, 2015), and co-author of EU Transport Law (Hart–Nomos–Beck, 2016).
She has also been actively engaged in policy-making on the regulation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). As a member of the Comité Maritime International (CMI)’s International Working Group on MASS, she has contributed to law-making initiatives and participated in discussions shaping the emerging regulatory framework. She has hosted and co-hosted conferences providing platforms for dialogue on key aspects of MASS regulation, contributed to collaborative projects on the subject, and published widely on related issues. She continues to combine her research with active involvement in policy development in this evolving area.
Melis is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Supporting Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators’ Association (LMAA).