Marie Valerie Uppiah is a Senior lecturer in International Trade Law and Law of the Sea & Ocean Governance at the University of Mauritius. She is currently the Head of the Law Department at the University of Mauritius. Valerie was a former student of Loreto College of Mahebourg. She has a BA (Hons) in Law and Management from the University of Mauritius (Mauritius) and a Masters in Law (LLM) in Interna-tional Business Law from Birmingham City University (UK). She is currently undertaking her Doc-toral Studies at the University of Pretoria (South-Africa). Valerie is also a Fellow of the NAM&ST Centre & ZMT Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (Bremen, Germany). Valerie undertakes research in the fields of ocean governance, international trade and maritime law. Her research works have been published by internationally recognised publication houses. Her publications are being used by local, regional and international institutions to promote the use and development of marine spatial planning by Coastal States.
Valerie Uppiah is a member of the West Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), the Women Managers in the Maritime Sector of Eastern and Southern Africa (WOMESA) and Women in Maritime Sector (WIMS). She also forms part of the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM). In 2019, Valerie was nominated as a finalist of the prestigious UK Alumni Award 2018/2019.