Adrian Attard was awarded a PhD from the Queen Mary, University of London. Vice-chancellor Wendy Thomson CBE authorised the conferment of awards, with the official graduation ceremony being subsequently held in December 2019.

Dr Attard’s successfully defended his research thesis entitled ‘The Liability of Classification Societies under International Law’, with his examiners recommending he pass without any corrections. Adrian’s thesis was supervised by Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice, and examined by Professor Loukas Mistelis, Director of the School of International Arbitration at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and Dr Dorota Lost–Sieminska, Deputy Director and Head at Legal Affairs Office, Legal Affairs and External Relation Division at the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

In this thesis, Dr Attard examines the functions and status of classification societies in shipping, with a view of identifying the multi-faceted conundrums which classification societies are facing, particularly with respect to their inability to invoke limitation of liability. By analysing the various legal rules in existing international limitation of liability regimes, his study explores whether some of these existing principles can be relied upon by classification societies in relation to contractual, tortuous, and environmental damages.  His dissertation culminates with a proposal for the need for an international treaty to regulate the non-contractual liabilities of classification societies and identifies a number of key elements based on the realities found in existing treaties, as well as by drawing inspiration from the treatment accorded to credit rating agencies.

Dr Attard thanked his supervisor Professor Fitzmaurice for all her support and assistance throughout his research. He also expressed his gratitude to the Maltese Government whose funding under the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme (MGSS) made it possible to conduct his extensive research.

Above: Dr Attard being conferred with his PhD at the official graduation ceremony held in the Great Hall, Queen Mary Campus.