Boating Bad
Faculty Research Director
Project Team Leads
Eoin Power
If a ship’s cargo explodes in a Lebanese port, and nobody can identify who owned it, is anyone responsible? After 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been unloaded from the MV Rhosus six years earlier blew up in a ramshackle warehouse on the Beirut docks in August 2020, law enforcement, government officials, and investigative journalists all found themselves trying to answer that question. Doing so proved shockingly difficult. Hidden behind a web of shell companies, falsified documents, and opaque corporate structures, the true owner of the ship, and its lethal cargo, has never been definitively identified. Far from being a one-off accident, this episode illustrates a widespread issue with know-your-customer and anti-money laundering (KYC/AML) procedures in international shipping. With IPD’s Boating Bad project, we execute research on the international regulatory regime governing flag registries, to better understand what factors shape state and private sector behavior in the maritime arena
Project Team Co-Leads
Eoin Power
IPD Project Team Leader
Team Members
Vijay Davis
Research Assistant
Shrika Guda
Research Assistant
Shrika Guda is a sophomore International Relations and Global Studies Major in the Liberal Arts Honors program with a tentative focus on International Security and regional focus in Asia. On the pre-law track, she plans to go to law school and pursue international law. As a Banking/Boating Bad team member, she is able to further her interests in legal regulations overseas and contribute in finding ship registries. Shrika is excited to be a part of this team and is eager to learn new skills throughout her time with IPD.
Zoya Hussain
Research Assistant
Zoya Hussain is a first-year undergraduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. She is from Houston, Texas and is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Sociology. She is part of Texas Votes club and is a student fellow for the Alliance for Citizen Engagement. In her free time, she loves to bake and play guitar. She is thrilled to join the Innovations for Peace and Development Lab on the Boating Bad Project
Zsuzsanna Balog
Research Assistant
Zsuzsanna Balog is a first year master’s student in International Public Affairs at the University of Bucharest. From Romania, she is a member of the country’s Hungarian minority. She has a keen interest in security and defense matters, driven by her passion for understanding global dynamics.
Sabin Puianu
Research Assistant
Sabin Puianu is a master’s student in International Public Affairs at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Bucharest. He studied Political Science in English, graduating with a bachelor’s thesis entitled “Ukrainians in Romania: Between Integrations and Assimilation”. He has lately developed a passion for studying public policies..
Andreea Sandu
Research Assistant
Andreea Sandu is in her second year at the Faculty of Political Science & Security Studies at the University of Bucharest. She has a strong interest in the mechanisms that underpin global security, and aspires to harness the knowledge and skills gained through her studies to make meaningful contributions to the field of international security.
Robert Gruiosu
Research Assistant
Robert Gruiosu is a second-year student in the Bachelor of Security Studies program at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bucharest. His interests center on military and international security. After high school he joined the military but decided to quit in order to pursue a career in academics. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and backpacking, experiencing new cultures, and making new friends.
Mara Bibicu
Research Assistant
Mara Ștefania Bibicu is a first-year student at the Master of International Public Affairs, Faculty of Political Sciences in Bucharest and a fourth-year student in Management Engineering in Agricultural Business, Faculty of Management and Rural Development. Her primary interests revolve around politics, particularly in the realm of diplomacy. She has a strong passion for travel and exploration and plans to get an Erasmus scholarship in Brussels for further studies.