Funding, News and Announcements

Context

In several countries, including Canada, there is significant industry, academic, and initial regulatory activity concerning the development of autonomous ships. In some countries (e.g., Japan, Norway, Singapore, and UK) experimental vessels are being studied in designated test sites. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) recently concluded three major regulatory scoping exercises on maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) with a view to the future regulation of such vessels.

The introduction of MASS is expected to bring about disruptive changes in the maritime cluster. When operational, there will be direct impacts in commercial shipping, port activities, and various supporting maritime services. Much preparatory work is needed to better understand the safety, security, environmental, operational implications and reliability of MASS. There are considerable policy and regulatory challenges to create an industrial and societal context in which such systems can operate with a social license.

Transport Canada and the National Research Council are increasingly interested in autonomous systems in ports and shipping. The Port of Halifax supports these developments and appears to be interested in designating the port as a test site for MASS and the associated port interface.

The emergence of MASS presents opportunities for multidisciplinary scholarly discourse to explore the role of emerging autonomous systems in shipping for societal development.

Objectives

We believe that it is valuable to explore the interest across the Dalhousie University community to possibly engage with a new research theme, tentatively titled “MASS and Ports”.

We are convening an informal online networking event for Dalhousie researchers to gauge interest in this new research area in the Dalhousie community and to explore potential collaborative opportunities.

Concrete next steps

• Please confirm your interest in networking by sending an email to Ms. Lisa Sillito (Lisa.Sillito@dal.ca) at your earliest convenience before the event date mentioned below.
• We will send out an invitation for an online meeting to connect and share our areas of interest in this research theme. This meeting will be on 20th April at 14.00-16.00.
• In the meeting, please be prepared to briefly (2-3 minutes) highlight your research area and expertise, and topics of interest related to this theme. To support this, and to do this efficiently, please prepare 1 or 2 (max) slides to this effect.

Aldo Chircop
Professor, Schulich School of Law
Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Maritime Law and Policy

Floris Goerlandt
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering
Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Risk Management and Resource Optimization for Marine Industries

Ronald Pelot
Professor, Faculty of Engineering
Associate Scientific Director, Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response NCE