Cymie Payne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Ecology-SEBS and affiliated with Rutgers Law. Her primary research interests are governance and protection of global commons, particularly the oceans and climate change. As a legal scholar, she is interested in the evolution of international law in the Anthropocene and the use of scientific information, particularly through institutions like international courts and tribunals; treaties and customary international law; and transnational processes. She has appeared as counsel before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in its deep seabed mining and fisheries advisory opinion cases. Currently, she is legal advisor to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) delegation to preparatory meetings for an international agreement on biodiversity in the high seas. She is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Specialist Group for Ocean Law.