Hope Elizabeth Tracey is a Ph.D. Candidate in Global Governance at the BSIA via University of Waterloo, Canada, specializing in ocean governance in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) under the supervision of Dr. Neil Craik. Her doctoral research is situated at the interface of public international law, international relations, international organization literature, and regime interaction/complexity studies. Specifically, Hope’s research – using the BBNJ Agreement as a central and motivating case – studies the legal, institutional, and political elements of intra- and inter-regime interaction, and how such interactions might be better managed towards more cooperative or ‘integrated ocean governance’ in ABNJ.

Hope completed an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Waterloo in 2022, and a B.A. in History from the University of Western Ontario in 2019. Her M.A. research focused on the fragmented governance of terrestrial and marine biological prospecting (bioprospecting) under the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), and the interactional dynamics between the ATS and other relevant international legal regimes co-governing elements of the bioprospecting process.

Aside from her doctoral research, Hope works as a Research Assistant to Dr. Neil Craik under multiple SSHRC-funded projects; is a member the Waterloo Climate Intervention Strategies Lab (WatCISL); a professional member of Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation (Ant-ICON) & the International Carbon Ocean Network for Early Career Researchers (GOA-ICONEC); a volunteer member of the Balsillie Global Climate Action Committee, where she leads on the school’s community garden; and works (ad hoc) as an external consultant on ocean-related projects.

Hope’s areas of research interest include Regime interaction/complexity; BBNJ Agreement; Law of the Sea; Antarctic and Southern Ocean governance; the governance of deep-seabed mining; the governance of ocean-based climate interventions; marine bioprospecting governance.