Team
Tomaso Ferrando
Principal investigatorTomaso Ferrando is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Antwerp, and part of the Law and Development Research Group. He holds a Phd in law from Sciences Po University (Paris) and has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University Law School, University of Sao Paulo and the University of Cape Town. Before joining the University of Antwerp, he worked as a Lecturer in Law at the Universities of Warwick School of Law and at the University of Bristol Law School. Outside of academia, Tomaso has been the legal advisor of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2016 to 2020. He is a member of the Legal Committee of the Global Legal Action Network (glanlaw.org) and the Extraterritorial Obligation Consortium (ETOc). He acts as a consultant and a pro-bono advocate in questions relating to the right to food and food policies.
Adriane Takahara Montenegro
PhD candidateAdriane Takahara Montenegro is a PhD candidate in Law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of São Paulo (2019) and an Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in Latin America and Europe in a Global World (2022). As part of the FWO ContainerHaven project, her doctoral research adopts a comparative perspective to examine how legal frameworks governing port operations and logistics infrastructures shape social, territorial, and ecological impacts on communities and everyday life. Her research is based on case studies in Antwerp, Tangier, and Cartagena and employs a socio-legal and ethnographic approach.
Peter Mbogo Kimani
PhD candidatePeter Mbogo Kimani is a PhD student in Law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of Nairobi and two Master of Laws in International Trade, Investment and Business Law from Stellenbosch University (2022) and the University of the Western Cape (2025), South Africa. As part of the FWO ContainerHavens Project, his doctoral research focuses on how legal, spatial, and institutional frameworks share the identity and visibility of port workers, particularly in complex logistics hubs like Antwerp, San Pedro Bay Port Complex (Los Angeles and Long Beach), and Shanghai.
Enrique Alberto Prieto-Ríos
CollaboratorEnrique Alberto Prieto-Ríos holds a PhD in Law from Birkbeck, University of London (2017), an MA in International Law from University College London (2008), and an LLB from Universidad del Rosario (2007). Dr. Prieto-Ríos is currently the Chief Editor of Estudios Socio-Jurídicos, an esteemed academic journal, and has previously served as Research Director of the Faculty of Law and Head of the Research Group on International Law at Universidad del Rosario. His extensive academic contributions include the authorship of numerous books, book chapters, and journal articles published in renowned academic outlets. Beyond academia, Dr. Prieto-Ríos has been a visiting research fellow at prestigious institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and the School of Law at the University of Warwick. He has also lectured at Universidad de los Andes and served as a sessional lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London.
Aleksandar Stojanović
CollaboratorAleksandar Stojanovic is the Interim Director of the Institute for Cities and Real Estate in Emerging Markets (ICREEM) and a professor of economics at the Shanghai campus of New York University. He holds a Master of Philosophy from the University of Belgrade, a Master of Comparative Analysis of Law, Economics and Finance from International University College of Turin, and Doctor of Economics from the University of Turin and Doctor of Laws from the University of Ghent. Within the field of economic analysis of law and comparative analysis of economic law, he focuses on the analysis of Chinese money markets, especially in terms of clearing and settlement. He is currently coordinating two projects, one dealing with a comparative analysis of constitutional, surveillance and financial measures against the pandemic across jurisdictions, and the other, dealing with a historical analysis of the international expansion of the RMB. In addition to his professorship in Shanghai, Aleksandar is affiliated with the International University College in Turin, the Institute for New Economic Thought in New York and coordinates the East Asia Working Group, the Young Scholars Initiative.
Grace Shichao Xu
Research assistantGrace Shichao Xu holds an MSc in China in Comparative Perspective from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She served as a Research Associate of Economics at New York University Shanghai, where she contributed to the FWO ContainerHavens Project on the Shanghai Port. Her work involves analysing legal frameworks and institutional actors, conducting stakeholder interviews, and producing research outputs on port governance, green transition, and digitalisation.
Mengyuan Liu
Research assistantMengyuan Liu (Julia) is a Master’s student in Conference Interpreting at Shanghai International Studies University (China). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Translation from Anqing Normal University (2023), China. Her academic interests lie in Cognitive Interpreting Studies and language-mediated communication in cross-cultural and institutional contexts. In the FWO ContainerHavens Project, she contributed to interview-based research through interpreting and communication support in Shanghai, with a focus on interpreter agency and communication effectiveness.
Li Yanling
Research assistantLi Yanling (Sue) is a postgraduate student in English Interpreting at Shanghai International Studies University. She has hands-on experience in field research and quality control (QC) for the CHARLS project. As part of the FWO ContainerHavens Project, she assists the research team with fieldwork in Shanghai, applying her language skills, rigorous documentation practices, and cross-cultural communication skills to support global content workflow.
Lin Tianyi
Research assistantLin Tianyi (Steve) is an undergraduate majoring in TCSOL at Shanghai Sanda University, with systematic learning in Chinese teaching, traditional Chinese culture, cross-cultural communication, SLA and linguistics. He has long assisted in planning and producing popular science videos for universities and private institutions. As part of the FWO ContainerHavens Project, he fully supported FWO ContainerHavens Project’s Shanghai fieldwork, helping with interviews, translation and contacting shipping/port leaders. He will deepen academic pursuits in TESOL and Computational Linguistics.
Tamara Navarro Balanta
Research assistantTamara Navarro Balanta is an Afro-Colombian woman, a lawyer and internationalist with an emphasis on international politics and diplomacy from Universidad del Rosario. She was awarded the “Carlos Alzate” Excellence Award in the field of Commercial and Consumer Law in 2025. Her interests have been centered on research, particularly in maritime and port-related issues. In this field, she has promoted the creation of a think tank focused on the protection of the marine environment, titled MARES BALANTA. She has also served as the head of the legal department of the National Association of Maritime Pilots of Colombia. As part of the FWO ContainerHavens project, her contributions include the identification and review of relevant documents, engagement with key stakeholders within the port, and the support of any additional activities required for the development of the research. Her trajectory is characterized by a critical, committed perspective oriented toward social transformation.
Mouna Guidiri
Research assistantMouna Guidiri is a consultant based in Rabat, Morocco. She co-founded Beyond Mobility, a research and practice-based initiative providing training, research, and evaluation support to NGOs and social workers. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Evaluation from the University of Antwerp. Her research interests focus on the interactions between migration dynamics and (cheap) labour, as well as on the functioning of global circuits of capitalism and their local effects in terms of inclusion and exclusion.
As part of the FWO ContainerHavens Project, she supported the Tanger Med Port fieldwork by assisting with field activities and facilitating access to local actors. She also provided interpretation during interviews and contributed to the organization of workshops with university students and a closing seminar.
University of Antwerp
Faculty of Law and Institute of Development Policy (IOB)
Stadscampus – Gebouw V
Venusstraat 23
2000 Antwerp, Belgium
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