The WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute was inaugurated in May 2018 and is an independent focal point working at the interdisciplinary interface between science, industry, policy, ocean governance and law. Faculty, staff and students at the Institute undertake challenge-led and evidence-based research, as well as educational and capacity-building training, with a particular focus on the implementation of Goal 14, Life Below Water, as well as multiple interconnecting goals among others such as Goal 5 concerning Gender Equality, and Goal 13 on Climate Action under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

For this purpose, the Institute efforts are contributing to international processes such as the development of an international legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), the United Nations World Ocean Assessment as well as the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) as an endorsed Ocean Decade Action. The work programme is focused on a broad range of initiatives including: Land-to-Ocean leadership; the empowerment of women in ocean science for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development; marine debris, sargassum and marine spatial planning in the Eastern Caribbean, as well as robotics and automation in an ocean and maritime industry context. These initiatives are supported by The Nippon Foundation of Japan, Sweden, Germany, Canada, the European Commission and the City of Malmö.