The European Commission has granted this distinction to Penal Law professor at UJI, Esteban Morelle-Hungría. The Jean Monnet Chair «EU Blue Criminology and Ocean Governance» (BLUECRIME-GOV) will run for 36 months, from October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2029, with a funding of 44,000 euros.
The project integrates criminology, European Union law, and ocean governance from an interdisciplinary perspective, also incorporating social sciences and humanities, and the framework of Earth System Law. Its objective is to contribute to the development of a field of study still scarcely present in research and teaching: the criminological and penal dimension of the European Union's ocean governance.
Among the issues BLUECRIME-GOV will address are illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; marine pollution; biodiversity loss, as well as other forms of criminality and environmental harm in marine ecosystems. It will also analyze European mechanisms for prevention, regulatory compliance, and prosecution of environmental crimes, and the role of the European Union in ocean protection and international marine environment governance.
The initiative continues the line of work that the UJI has been developing in this area through the IbizaPreservation Chair of Blue Criminology and the Blue Governance Lab (BlueGovLab), both coordinated by Morelle-Hungría.
The Chair's activities will be structured around teaching, research, and knowledge transfer. In the teaching area, 90 lecture hours will be offered per academic year, totaling 270 hours over the three years of execution. The content will be incorporated into undergraduate and postgraduate degree subjects at UJI, including interdisciplinary seminars in collaboration with the Master's Degree in Geospatial Technologies.
In the research area, the project will promote the production of scientific articles, working papers, and policy analysis and recommendation documents. Knowledge transfer and dissemination actions will include the creation of a dedicated website, the development of educational materials, videos, and podcasts, as well as the organization of public activities.
The Chair is directed by Esteban Morelle-Hungría and includes the participation of María Luisa Cuerda Arnau, Juan José Periago Morant, and Carlos Granell Canut, from the Universitat Jaume I. The team also incorporates specialists from other national and international universities.
