The Hellenic Branch of the International Law Association is organizing a two-days (30/11-1/12) International Conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The focus of this conference is not on what UNCLOS has been at the last 40 years, but on how it would look like in the next 40 years. Contemporary and future challenges, like those posed inter alia by the use of autonomous vessels, climate change, the rise of new threats to maritime security, energy security, sustainable development and the protection of marine biodiversity, efficient dispute settlement, will be discussed by distinguished academics and practitioners in this field.