On 16 February, the World Maritime University’s WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute (GOI) hosted the WMU-BUGWRIGHT2 Forum 2024. The Forum was delivered under the auspices of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework funded project BUGWRIGHT2, and in partnership with Danaos Shipping at their headquarters in Athens, Greece.

The Forum brought together academics and experts in robotics and law to deliberate the strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, and prospects stemming from the implementation of technology and/or techniques within the maritime and oceanic realm. The event was opened by Professor Max Mejia, WMU President, who spoke about how the integration of service robotics offers the potential to revolutionize how we understand and harness the power of our oceans.

Mr Leonidas Dimitriadis-Evgenidis, IMO Goodwill Maritime Ambassador and Chairman of the Management Committee of Eugenides Foundation, welcomed the participants to Athens, highlighting the importance of Greece in the navigation and shipping industry. The Forum was led by Professor Ronán Long and Dr Tafsir Johansson of the WMU-GOI who introduced the BUGWRIGHT2 programme and shared the successful research journey, significant deliverables and project conclusion of the WMU-GOI contributions and work on “Overcoming Regulatory Barriers for Service Robotics in an Ocean Industry Context”, in the EU H2020 funded project, focusing on ‘Autonomous Robotic Inspection and Maintenance on Ship Hulls’. BUGWRIGHT2 is set to conclude in March 2024.

Over 30 expert speakers from academic, industry, legislative, and intergovernmental agencies held discussions on topics that included the rise of maritime robotics, environmental challenges with innovation, technology and industry perceptions, innovation and regulation, bridging the north-south digital divide, and recommendations for digital reform. The discussions generated lively debate with the audience, both onsite and online.

The combined onsite and online registration included over 330 participants from more than 68 different countries representing a wide range of sectors including governmental agencies, academia as well as industry, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society.

To access photos from the event as well as the recording, click here.

From 20 to 22 September 2023, the WMU took part in the 46th Conference on Ocean Law and Policy (COLP), in Istanbul, Türkiye. The conference theme of “Safe, Secure, and Sustainable Shipping” gathered participants from around the world to discuss pressing issues regarding sustainability in the shipping industry and ocean governance and the project was presented in two different presentations:

Dr. Aspasia Pastra’s presentation was titled “Optimizing the Vessel Inspection Domain via Robotic Systems: The “Human Element” Conundrum”. Here Dr. Pastra highlighted where the work of the human ends and when the work of the service robots begin through a detailed understanding of the status quo human-robot interface in the maritime sector.
Another presentation by Dr. Tafsir Johansson titled “Standards in Decarbonization and Techno-regulation (NP): Transcending Prescriptive Boundaries” under the panel titled “Protection of the Marine Environment”.

Dr. Aspasia Pastra and Dr. Tafsir Johansson (WMU) participated in the 7th Naftemporiki Shipping Conference entitled “The big dilemmas”, that took place on Wednesday 14 June 2023 at Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) in Greece.
The structure of the conference consisted of discussion panels on different topics, with 500 participants including prominent executives from the shipping market, representatives of institutions from Greece and abroad, and shipping opinion makers.

Dr. Pastra presented the BUGWRIGHT2 under the panel discussion titled ‘The new face of human resources in shipping’
Dr Johansson under the panel titled ‘How can technology contribute to the goal of decarbonization?’

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WMU, represented by Dr. Tafsir Johansson and Dr. Aspasia Pastra, participated to the 8th Annual Meeting on 27th April 2023 in Athens, Greece.

The panel was about Envisioning Blue Oceanic Affairs with Emerging Technologies with speakers from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Logistro Consulting International Inc., Atlantic Bulk Carriers Management, Lloyd’s Register EMEA and Qualco Group.