Past President Colin Summerhayes (Scott Polar Research Institute) has tendered his resignation from Council a few months short of the end of his 6-year term, as he has taken up a temporary post as an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ, for the  southern summer season from November 2015 through January 2016. Colin will be lecturing and mentoring students studying for the Postgraduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies (PCAS) in the university’s Gateway Antarctica Department. He is currently chairing the international performance review board for the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), and awaiting delivery of his new book “Earth’s Climate Evolution”, the story of climate change from the little-known geological perspective. His latest lecture on that topic is on YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0pgrzGnpv0&spfreload=10.

The SUT would like to thank Colin for all of his hard work and contribution towards the Society over the years. We will be sad to say goodbye to Colin, but wish him the best of luck in his new role.

Revised Articles of Association adopted

The Walrus and Carpenter on Monument Street in London provided an excellent venue for a rare meeting of SUT Members at which the revised Articles of Association of the Society were formally adopted.

As a limited liability company registered with Companies House, we are obliged to lodge with them our Articles of Association, which could be best described as our constitution. First written in 1968 with some minor revisions made over the years, it was agreed by Council that it was time to bring the document up to date making it better reflect the Society’s role in the modern world, particularly with respect to our international aspirations. This task was undertaken by a small working group led by David Kirkley, Chairman of the SUT’s International Committee, over the last year. David explained to those present the broad changes that had been made and that this document and that he hoped it would remain relevant to the Society for many years to come.

In true SUT style, those present made the most of this additional – and hopefully rare – networking opportunity.

On Tuesday 24^th March the newly formed branch of the SUT in Singapore held its first Evening Technical Meeting at the Hotel Jen in the infamous Orchard Road area of Singapore. The theme for the evening had been established as AUV’s but with an emphasis on alternative and unusual applications and instrumentation. The event was well attended with in excess of 100 people mainly from locally based offshore companies but with a few visiting quests from around the region, most notably Joyce Bremner who has been instrumental in establishing the branch in Singapore and assisting with this first event to ensure its success. The evening started with drinks and canapés and in alignment with industry norms there was difficulty in attracting the audience to take their seats away from the bar for the first of the evening presentations.

Emma Hill was first up, ‘Seafloor Geodesy with Wave Gliders: The next frontier to understanding great earthquakes and tsunami’ an interesting alternative application of the use of wave gliders by the Earth Observatory of Singapore to develop innovative systems to undertake seafloor geodesy surveys using AUV’s instead of surface vessels.  Measurements are taken to seafloor instruments using acoustic transceivers installed on wave gliders which can be remotely guided using only renewable energy from waves and the sun. The Sumatra Subduction Zone offshore Indonesia has experienced a number of great earthquakes in the last decade, and remaining seismic gaps may generate large earthquakes in the coming decades.  Their eventual goal is to use these innovative new systems for seafloor geodesy to better understand how this dangerous plate boundary is behaving in an effort to be able to predict seismic activity that may generate tsunamis.

The second presentation was given by Alick Thame, ‘AUV Mission Planning: the fundamentals’, which although based around the conventional AUV’s being utilised on a commercial basis in the offshore industry today focussed on area that very few of us have had any exposure to date. The complex preplanning activity associated with a single AUV deployment was explained in detail and the presentation concluded with a very visually stimulating fly through over the current search area for the missing aircraft flight MH370.

Finally a more light hearted delivery to round off the evening from Thomas Ng and Grace Chia, ‘Engineering AUV’s from the Group Up: A student team’s learning journey’ that explored the interaction between local industry and university students entering a global completion to deliver a very capable AUV from inception through to their success in winning the competition. All were suitably impressed by the drive of the team to learn about the technology required to develop an operational AUV and how quickly they adapted the technology to achieve the complex underwater tasks set by the completion organisers in San Diego.

Then followed a rush back to the bar for further networking and discussion on the night’s proceedings. The consumption was closely monitored by the newly appointed Singapore branch treasurer to ensure that this first event was also a commercial success.

The evening was sponsored by GardlineCGG and Liquid Robotics that we wish to thank for their generous support of this first Evening Technical Meeting. As the Chair for the evening and the Vice Chairman of the newly formed Singapore branch of the SUT I hope this is the first of many successful events to be held in Singapore.

Simon Redford

SUT Houston’s Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics Committee (OSIG) hosted a Learning Breakfast and International Webinar on March 26, 2015, at Fugro USA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas. Over 30 people registered to attend the breakfast presentation including geoscientists and engineers from a variety oil and gas companies as well as industry contractors. In addition, there were approximately 50 registrations for the simultaneous webinar broadcast spanning a variety of international locales including our sister OSIG committees based in the UK and Australia. Proceeds from the breakfast and webinar were used to support the SUT-Houston Scholarship Program.

The featured speaker was Dr. Zack Westgate (Registered Professional Engineer – Fugro GeoConsulting), who gave an excellent presentation entitled “Geohazards, Superspans, Walking Pipelines, and Slippery Foundations: Challenges for Subsea Pipelines”. The presentation described a variety of geohazards and seabed conditions that present challenges for the design and installation of subsea pipelines. Dr. Westgate also discussed how these challenges can be mitigated through advances in seabed characterization tools and testing facilities from investment in Joint Industry Projects (JIP’s), as well as improved route optimization techniques and advances in pipe-soil interaction. The presentation also highlighted some case studies from recent offshore projects where subsea pipelines were installed in a variety of soil conditions around the globe.

The next SUT Houston Learning Luncheon will be held in June 2015.

On January 27^th, the SUT Houston Young Professionals committee held their first “Speed Networking” event at Fox & Hound on Westheimer. This event was aimed towards young professionals who are in their early part of their career, and college students who are approaching graduation. The purpose of the event was to offer young professionals a chance to sit one-on-one with several industry experts/hiring managers to discuss growth, industry trends/hot topics, and build relationships. We offered a diverse group of industry experts in order to cover multiple areas in the industry, including subsea or geotechnical backgrounds from manufacturers, service companies, EPC, and operators.

In total, we had 20 industry experts and just under 30 young professionals attend the event. The “speed networking” portion lasted for approximately one hour. The young professionals were given 8-10 minutes to rotate through up to six seasoned professionals. A social/happy hour was held at the end of the session, which opened up the floor to informal networking and continued conversations.

At the conclusion of the event, several of the experts commented on how impressed they were with the turnout, and their pleasant experience giving guidance and inspiration to the young professionals. It was also recommended that SUT YP hold this event annually.

One of the focuses of SUT YP is giving back to the community. We provide educational programs, scholarships, and events to support young professionals entering into this market. This event would not have been possible without the generous support from our annual sponsor, Technip Umbilicals Inc., and our industry experts.*

(*Anadarko, Benthic, BP, C.A. Richards & Associates, CB&I, C-Nav, Deepsea Technologies, Inc., EXP Engineering International, HESS Corporation, Houlder Americas, KBR – Granherne, MMI – Geosyntec, Oceaneering International, Saipem, Technip Umbilicals Inc., T-REX Engineering + Construction, Xodus Subsea)

The Aberdeen Branch SUT+ group has kicked-off the year with three fantastic events.

On 22 January the SUT+ Pub Quiz was held at local bar, Korova, with 11 teams taking part. The evening provided a great opportunity to network and kick-off the New Year. “Mary Berry’s Master Bakers” Subsea 7 were the winning team and the “Scrambled Egg Heads” (ADIL) were awarded the wooden spoon! The group hopes to make this an annual event.

On 3 February, the group worked with Hydro Group plc. to arrange a tour at their site in Bridge of Don. There was a presentation on Hydro Group’s products and service areas, which include engineering, product design, manufacturing, project management and product testing, and this was followed by a tour of the workshop and manufacturing facilities.

On 24 February, the group was delighted to have the opportunity to visit the National Hyperbaric Centre. Attendees were given a presentation on commercial diving, hyperbaric medicine and hyperbaric testing of subsea equipment. This was followed by a tour of the NHC facility where the group were given the chance to see the hyperbaric test facility and put the presentations into context.

 

The organising committee has also welcomed four new committee members, Lorna Gunn and Aleksandra Zefirova, both from Technip, Nick Swan from BP and Victoria Brumpton from ADIL, who will help to contribute to the group’s activities and events going forward. They join Kieran Reddington, Samantha Murray, Surrinder Retour and Ryan Hosick all from Wood Group Kenny, and Stuart Inglis from Subsea 7.

For further information on events and to sign up to the mailing list, please visit http://www.sutaberdeen.org/sutplus/

Pictured: ClampOn President Trond Olsen and SUT Chair Christopher Curran who are both SUT Fellows.

SUT Houston held its monthly networking event at Carmelo’s on 5 February 2015. The event was sponsored by ClampOn Inc. with a great turnout of 120 industry professionals. The branch appreciates ClampOn’s continual support and we look forward to the next event!

 

 

Congratulations to Dr Graham Shimmield who has been awarded the SUT President’s award 2014.

Graham Shimmield graduated from the University of Durham in Geology in 1981, and received a Ph.D. in Marine Geochemistry from the University of Edinburgh in 1985. He was appointed as Edinburgh’s Lecturer in Chemical Oceanography in 1984, and promoted to Reader in 1995. In 1996, he moved the Scotland’s west coast to become Director of the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) and the NERC-funded Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory near Oban, a post he held for 12 years.

In 2000, Graham was awarded the title of Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1998), and the Society of Biology (1999), and has published over 65 scientific peer-reviewed articles.

Whilst at Dunstaffnage Graham served on the international scientific steering committee of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, and several major UK and European science programmes. He establishing the institution’s reputation in Arctic oceanography through their Northern Seas Programme and was a member of the UK International Polar Year Committee. He also helped establish the University of the Highlands and Islands, and chaired their research programme, and was Chairman of the European Census of Marine Life project from 2004-8.

In March 2008 Graham crossed the Atlantic to join the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, USA, where he holds the positions of Senior Research Scientist, Executive Director and President. Since arriving in Maine, Graham has served on the boards of the Maine Innovation Economy Advisory Board, Maine Space Grant and Maine Sea Grant, and advisory boards for Maine Maritime Academy and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. In November 2011, Graham was named by MaineBiz as one of ten “Nexters” helping to shape the future of Maine’s economy. In February 2013 he was elected to the Board of Trustees for the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.

Graham has served for many years on scientific committees, including the Natural Environment Research Council Science Strategy Board, and he has served as President of the European Federation of Marine Science and Technology Societies of which SUT was a founding institute. He has had significant involvement in marine biotechnology as the Managing Director of the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology, and Chairman of the Board of GlycoMar Ltd, a small biotech start-up.

Close to SUT interests Graham serves as Chair of the INSITE Independent Scientific Advisory Board. INSITE stands for the “INfluence of man-made Structures In the Ecosystem” and is an industry-sponsored project with the overall aim of providing the independent scientific evidence-base needed to better understand the infl uence of man-made structures on the ecosystem of the North Sea.
Graham has indeed been a good friend of SUT over the years, helping to bridge the space between science, industry and academia.

Judith Patten, Member of the SUT’s Marine Renewable Energies Committee has been awarded an MBE “for services to renewable energy” in the recent Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Judith is known by almost everyone in the renewable energy sector and has worked tirelessly for this community over many years.

“Her hard work has driven the All-Energy, Aberdeen event from a small show when it began in 2001 to what has become the most significant renewable energy event in the UK. There is no person I know on this planet who deserves this award more than her” says Bob Allwood CE of the SUT.

Shortly after the announcement was made, the Marine Renewable Energies Committee of the SUT was due to meet. What better excuse than to start the meeting with a glass of Champagne!