CBS Maritime Welcomes Three New PhD Students to the POTENT Doctoral Network
CBS Maritime is delighted to welcome three new PhD students who have joined CBS under the “Ports as Energy Transition Hubs” (POTENT) doctoral network. Salena Yuanqi Wang joined the Department of Economics on 1 September 2025. Ka Lai Or and Irem Bilen joined the Department of Strategy and Innovation on 1 October.
The three New PhD Students
Salena will work on the project Socio-Economic Aspects of Energy Port Transition, supervised by Professor Tooraj Jamasb and Assistant Professor Christopher Dirzka. She holds a BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Warwick, an MSc in Development Studies from London School of Economics, and a CEMS Double Degree in International Management and International Business from Stockholm School of Economics and CBS. She brings industry and research experience from the UN World Food Programme and Institute of Development Studies (IDS).
Ka Lai Or will work on the project Facilitators of the Clean Energy Transition: Port Governance and Business Model Innovation, under the joint supervision of Associate Professor Henrik Sornn-Friese and Associate Professor Michele Acciaro. Ka Lai holds a BSc in Environmental Management and Technology from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and an MA in Resources, Environment and Sustainability from University of British Columbia. She brings work experience from UBC’s Green Shipping Project, C40’s Green Ports Forum, and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL).
Irem Bilen will work on the project Energy Ports in System and Network Perspective, supervised by Associate Professor Henrik Sornn-Friese and Professor Tooraj Jamasb. She holds an MSc in Business Analytics from Sabanci University and dual BSc degrees in Business Administration and Logistics Management from the Izmir University of Economics. Irem brings industry experience from Arkas Line, Barsan Global Logistics, and Ocean Network Express (ONE).
In welcoming the three PhD students, Associate Professor Henrik Sornn-Friese, Department of Strategy and Innovation, remarks:
“We are very pleased to welcome Salena, Ka Lai, and Irem. Each of them brings a unique blend of academic quality, international perspective, and hands-on industry experience that is directly relevant to the challenges and opportunities ports face in the green transition. Their contributions will significantly strengthen the research capacity of CBS Maritime and CSEI and help advance our ambition to position CBS as a leading hub for research on ports as energy transition platforms.”
Professor Tooraj Jamasb, Department of Economics, adds:
”The POTENT Doctoral Network presents an exciting inter-disciplinary and impactful research and capacity-building opportunity and is an example of how two CBS research centres have combined their strengths to address important real-world challenges in the energy and maritime sectors of our economies.”
POTENT is fully funded by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network programme and managed jointly by CBS Maritime and Copenhagen School of Energy Infrastructure (CSEI). It brings together leading European universities, including DTU and CBS in Denmark, Kühne Logistics University (Germany), KEDGE Business School (France), World Maritime University and Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), and Norwegian School of Economics and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), training a total of 15 doctoral students. The PhD students will also collaborate with industry partners, including ports, energy and technology companies, regulatory and policy bodies, and international organisations.