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 #PrestigiousAwardReceivedBySMMIDeputyDirector #UniversityAndShellLaunchResearchCentre #CMMICyprusKickOffEvent #AIIntelligenceAgents #IconicBlueWhale #OceanEcosystem  #GrantOpportunities #Events

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Hi <<First Name>>, please take a look at our latest Bulletin below. If you have any news you wish to share, please let us know.

      SMMI BULLETIN - OCTOBER 2019

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News

SMMI Deputy Director awarded prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies

Professor Susan Gourvenec, Professor of Offshore Geotechnical Engineering and Deputy Director of the Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute at the University of Southampton, has been awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies to drive forward Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering. The award will provide Professor Gourvenec with sustained support for her research and to develop a Centre of Excellence in Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering.  
The Chair will address technology gaps at each stage of the engineered life cycle of ocean structures, from characterising and forecasting ocean and seafloor behaviour, to the design and operation of novel platforms for ocean facilities. By harnessing the intelligence of sensing, robotics and autonomy, this next generation of resilient engineered systems will unlock ocean resources more efficiently and more sustainably, with less risk to life. 

The RAEng Chairs in Emerging Technologies are supported through the UK government’s investment in Research Talent initiative.  The ten-year support provided to the Chairs will enable progression of pioneering ideas from basic science through to full deployment and commercialisation.  Read more here.
University and Shell open new research centre for a cleaner shipping industry

The University of Southampton and Shell Shipping & Maritime have launched the Centre for Maritime Futures which will bring together university and industry partners to transform the energy shipping industry to be safer, cleaner and more efficient. The Centre has received a gift of £1.5m from Shell Shipping & Maritime, the largest corporate gift in the University’s history. Drawing on the extensive expertise in maritime research in both institutions and using ground-breaking digital and technological advances, the Centre will play a vital role in delivering the UN International Maritime Organisation’s goal to reduce greenhouse emissions from international shipping by 50 percent by 2050. Read more here.

Horizon 2020 project to establish the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI) is officially launched
Professor David White speaking at the press conference to launch the CMMI/MaRITeC-X H2020 project
The official kick-off for the H2020 project CMMI/MaRITeC-X (EU Commission Grant agreement ID: 857586) was held on 10 and 11 October in Larnaca. CMMI/MaRITeC-X is co-funded by €30 million from the European Union and the Cyprus Government, with an additional €10 million of local industrial support, and aims to establish a Centre for Excellence in Marine and Maritime Research, Innovation and Technology, the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI). CMMI will provide practical solutions to the global challenges facing the marine and maritime socioeconomic stakeholders.  At the press conference, SMMI member Professor David White, joined other project partners and presented more details on the implementation of CMMI’s business plan.  Read more here.

Southampton team develop new Artificial General Intelligence agents
Artificial Intelligence (AI) already helps to solve complex problems in sectors as varied as medical research and online shopping but it does have limitations in unpredictable environments.  Autonomous agents are dependent on human feedback to determine what is interesting and what is not, and they lack the ability to self-adapt and self-modify. But now a team from Southampton,  David Bossens, Nick Townsend and Adam Sobey, have developed a generic architecture that allows AI to create its own learning strategies and to adapt to changing situations. The new method takes inspiration from both biology and pure computer science, and it reduces the limitations of neural networks in reinforcement learning tasks. Read more here and  here and view the youtube video.

 
The secret life of Hope: Britain’s favourite Blue Whale
A team of scientists, led by the University of Southampton, have established the last known movements of Hope, the iconic blue whale in the Natural History Museum in London, using forensic analysis of her remains which date from 1891. The team have developed a method to match the chemical patterns recorded in her preserved tissues to recreate the most likely movements in the last 7 years of her life. The lead author and SMMI member was Dr Clive Trueman, Associate Professor in Marine Ecology.  Read more here.
 
Tiny plankton slow to recover after dinosaur killing asteroid collision
A team of scientists have revealed that after the devastation caused by a mass extinction event on Earth 66 million years ago, the plankton at the base of the ocean ecosystem were disrupted for nearly two million years. It then took a further eight million years for global species numbers to fully recover. The team, from the University of Southampton and the universities of Bristol, UCL, Frankfurt and California, found that while the plankton in the oceans showed the first signs of ecological recovery almost immediately, these early communities of microscopic organisms were highly unstable and cell sizes unusually small. Read more here.

Journal of Ocean Technology - call for content
The spring 2020 issue of the Journal of Ocean Technology will focus on better ocean understanding. We’ll be looking at marine litter, oil spill response, green technologies, marine safety, shipping, etc. – any technology that enables us to better manage human impact on the oceans. We are inviting the submission of technical papers, essays, and short articles for this issue. Deadline for submission is 15 November 2019.  Read more here.

Research Opportunities

NOTE: Forthcoming calls and calls with no deadline, towards the end.

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants - DEADLINE 6 NOVEMBER 2019
These support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. Grants may be used to facilitate initial project planning and development, to support the direct costs of research and to enable the advancement of research through workshops or conferences or visits by or to partner scholars. Further details here.

Weather and climate science for service partnership South Africa research opportunities - DEADLINE 29 NOVEMBER 2019
The Met Office, on behalf of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, invites tenders for its weather and climate science for service partnership South Africa research opportunities. This supports the development of capability to underpin services to inform decision makers in climate mitigation and adaptation strategy, supporting climate and weather resilient economic development and social welfare. Further details here.

UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub - Outline Call - DEADLINE 12 DECEMBER 2019
UKRI is inviting outline proposals for the coordination Hub, which will act as a focal point of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme. Up to £11.7 million will be available to fund one Hub for 48 months, with a fixed start date on 1 June 2020. Of these £11.7 million, it is expected that approximately £4 million will be distributed by the Hub through a competitive process to pump-prime new connections, creative new research directions and new application areas, for researchers across the research community. Further details here.

EPSRC CASE Conversion - DEADLINE 20 DECEMBER 2019
EPSRC continues to encourage industrial collaboration through the employment of CASE (Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering) studentship awards. These awards are a type of doctoral studentship designed to incorporate an element of collaboration and industrially related training to broaden the student’s experience. These awards are supported through the University of Southampton’s EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership grant (DTP), and will be allocated through a competitive tender.  Further details here.

Department for Transport - Technology and innovation in UK maritime proposals - DEADLINE 20 DECEMBER 2019
This supports innovative solutions within mid technology readiness levels 3 to 7 that demonstrate potential applications for innovative technology or proof-of-concept of new ideas that offer benefits to maritime services and operations. Projects must have the potential to offer significant improvements to systems, timings, processes or technology for clean maritime operations. Further details here.

Lloyd's Register Foundation - Access to the Heritage and Education Centre Collections - DEADLINE 31 DECEMBER 2019
The Lloyd’s Register Foundation invites applications for access to its Heritage and Education Centre collections. This enables researchers from universities, museums and libraries to work with the foundation’s archive and library. The scheme aims to encourage others to carry out research projects that make use of our physical archive and library material or online resources in the fields of maritime history, engineering, naval architecture, offshore engineering and ocean technology. Further details here.

H2020-MG-2020 mobility for growth, two-stage – topics 1.12-1.14, 2.10-2.12 - DEADLINE 9 JANUARY 2020

This supports projects that develop new solutions regarding transport challenges, such as addressing transport means, infrastructure and operation models and integrating them into a user friendly European transport system of smart connected mobility with low impact on climate and environment. Further details here.

Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries - EMFF-OM-2019 - environmental monitoring of ocean energy devices - DEADLINE 15 JANUARY 2020
This aims to increase the amount of environmental data and initiate strategic research to address gaps in knowledge on assessing impacts of ocean energy device, in order to improve the modelling of impacts of future deployments and to develop mitigation measures, risk-based planning procedures and actions for engaging with stakeholders and the general public. Further details here.

H2020-BG-2020 blue growth, single stage – topic 7 - DEADLINE 22 JANUARY 2020
This supports projects that aim at sustainably harvesting the potential of aquatic resources from seas, oceans and inland waters for different uses and across the range of marine and maritime industries, while protecting biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience. Further details here.

H2020-BG-2020 blue growth, two stage – topics 10-11 - DEADLINE 22 JANUARY 2020
This supports projects that aim at sustainably harvesting the potential of aquatic resources from seas, oceans and inland waters for different uses and across the range of marine and maritime industries, while protecting biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience. Further details here.

Royal Academy of Engineering - Chair in Emerging Technologies - DEADLINE 11 FEBRUARY 2020
A prestigious award offering long-term support for researchers working on emerging technology areas.  Up to £2,780,000 available over a 10-year duration.  Further details here.

NO DEADLINE CALLS:

Overseas Development Assistance Global Challenges Research Fund (ODA-GCRF) - Strategic Development fund - APPLY NOW - NO DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
This fund is a key element of our University’s ODA-GCRF strategy and is made up from a ring-fenced part of our GCRF-Quality Research (QR) allocation, augmented by funds secured from UKRI and other sources. The SDF supports activities that further our University’s ODA-GCRF ambitions and priorities, and that are ODA-compliant.  Applications are invited from academic colleagues who are engaged in, or are interested in, getting involved in ODA activities. The application form and guidance can be found here.  Enquiries here.


National Lottery Heritage Fund - Small heritage grants - NO DEADLINE
These support projects that connect people and communities to the national, regional and local heritage of the UK. Heritage may include: people’s memories and experiences; cultural traditions; nature; natural and designed landscapes; community archaeology; historic buildings, monuments and environments; collections of objects, books or documents in museums, libraries or archives; histories of people and communities or places and events; the heritage of languages and dialects; places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history.  Further details here.

Nippon Foundation - Grants for maritime and ship-related projects - NO DEADLINE
These support projects to ensure the preservation and appreciation of the ocean.  Projects generally have a duration up to five years. Further details here.

NERC-NSF joint funding - NO DEADLINE
This enables UK and US environmental scientists to collaborate on discovery science projects and tackle global environmental challenges. Proposals must be an integrated UK-US effort to address a research topic of interest to both NERC and a relevant NSF division that would benefit from a collaborative approach.  Further details here.

FORTHCOMING CALLS:

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - Digitalisation of the transport system: data sharing - Planned opening date: 03 December 2019
This call is focused on data sharing to produce an intelligent transport system which is efficient, safer and reduce congestion. Further details here.

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - Development of next generation renewable fuel technologies from CO2 and renewable energy (Power and Energy to Renewable Fuels) - Planned opening date: 03 December 2019
This call is looking to support a CCS fuel production technology from renewable energy.  Further details here.

Events

2-4 November 2019 - The 8th Annual World Congress of Ocean-2019 - Xiamen, China
WCO-2019 intends provide an unique international platform for exchange of ideas and experiences, to facilitate the healthy development of marine industries and to promote sustainable utilization of marine resources, and involves the participation of the public and raise their awareness of marine environmental protection.  Further details here.

5-8 November 2019 - Marine Industry 4.0 - Rotterdam
This conference seeks to explore this technology and its application to the maritime industry, including such areas as Smart sensors, networked technology (IT/IoT/Comms), intelligent data analysis, artificial Intelligence (AI), advanced robotics, additive manufacturing (AM), augmented and mixed reality and constrained and fully autonomous operations.  Further details here.


8 November 2019 - University2Business: Facing the Clean Growth Challenge - Portsmouth
Hosted by the University of Portsmouth, working with the Knowledge Transfer Network and Portsmouth City Council, you are invited to join other organisations leading the way in clean growth technology and innovation. Further details here.

11 November 2019 - SMI event for the UK's maritime supply chain - Coventry
The National Shipbuilding Strategy called for an increase in shipyard and supply chain productivity to enhance UK competitiveness in export markets. To enable Industry to benefit from the support available to assist in improving productivity and exports, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Society of Maritime Industries (SMI) have convened a full day conference.  Further details here.

11-12 November 2019 - The Royal Society Scientific Meeting - Air quality, past, present and future - London
This meeting will bring together a range of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners working in fields related to air pollution, including human health, environmental policy and atmospheric composition in developing nations. Apply to present a poster by 30 September 2019.  Further details here.


12-14 November 2019 - Marine Autonomy & Technology Showcase - NOC
During MATS 2019, the aim is to explore the information needs of users of Marine Autonomous Systems (MAS), review the current technologies available to enable the data gathering for MAS users and explore the methods of taking that data and making it exploitable information for the user need. Further details here.

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6-17 November 2019 - Annual Conference - Nautical Archaeology Society- Wooden Walls and Stone Bastions - Portsmouth
The Nautical Archaeology Society and the Ordnance Society are excited to be co-hosting a two-day conference examining how ship and ordnance remains found on land and under the sea help our understanding of our maritime past. Further details here.

19 November 2019 - RINA 2019 Safety Technique Workshop - London
The workshop focuses on general risk assessment techniques in the context of safety management as well as risk-based approaches for the design and construction of ships and their operation.  Further details here.

21-22 November 2019 - Brookes Bell Biofouling Workshop and Reception - Liverpool
Keynote speeches and interactive panel discussions will see industry leaders from ship owners and P&I Clubs, academic researchers and our own experts discuss key hull fouling issues such as speed and consumption claims, regulatory challenges, trouble-shooting antifouling coatings and the future challenges for hull cleaning. Further details here.

19 December 2019 - Studying the Climate: A Challenge of Complexity - Institute of Physics, London (Abstract submission date 5 December 2019)
In light of the seriousness of climate change, the IOP’s Nonlinear and Complex Physics Group is hosting a one-day meeting for researchers to explore how the complex, nonlinear and societally-significant topic of the Earth’s climate is approached. Further details here.

11-14 September 2020 - 18th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES18) - Warwick
The conference will be structured around the theme ‘Global Humanitarian Challenges’ covering topics such as pollution, renewable energy, sustainable cities, water and sanitation, natural/man-made disasters, education and training in tackling societal challenges. Read more here.
 
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