Stefano Cattelan is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Research Group CORE) and Adjunct Professor at the Brussels School of Governance. He publishes on the history and theory of international law, with a particular focus on the law of the sea and the laws of war between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. He is the author of 'Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-Modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650)' (Brill | Nijhoff, 2025) and co-editor (with Frederik Dhondt) of 'Small Power Neutrality and the Law of the Sea in the Long Eighteenth Century (c. 1650–1800)' (Brill, 2025). His research is supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).