Mensun Bound (photo credit: Macmillan Publishers).

This year’s discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, an incredible feat of subsea engineering and specialist expertise, and the recent publication of ‘The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance’ were reasons enough for The Society for Underwater Technolgy (SUT) to invite its author, marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, to speak, in London on 6 December, at their Annual General Meeting.

Book your place now.

(Image credit: Macmillan Publishers)

Falklands-born Mensun Bound, the Expedition Director of Exploration, a Trustee of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, and discoverer of the Scharnhorst of Admiral Graf Von Spee will take part in a ‘fireside chat’ with the SUT’s President, Moya Crawford and take audience questions once the formal procedures at the meeting have been concluded; and be signing copies of the book (published by Macmillan and available for purchase) at the end of the meeting.

Moya Crawford explained: “The timing of the publication of ‘The Ship Beneath the Ice’ is fortuitous; and there could be no better speaker than Mensun Bound to describe the role that subsea engineering and specialist services played in discovering Endurance in March this year. This was over a hundred years after she sank 3,000 metres down in the Weddell Sea in what Shackleton himself called ‘the most hostile sea on earth’.  We are honoured that Mensun will be joining us on 6 December.

“In the book he gives a blow-by-blow account of the two dramatic expeditions, the Weddell Sea Expedition and Encurance22, to find ‘Endurance’. As with Shackleton, Bound too experienced failure and despair, and at time his own ship was on the cusp of being frozen in ice, much like Endurance.

“As one of the world’s foremost experts on the ‘Endurance’ his book includes previously untold stories of Shackleton’s epic survival and fascinating details about his iconic ship. It also includes numerous photos from the original expedition in 1914-17, as well as from the wreck on the seafloor.”

The SUT AGM will be held on the evening of 6 December at the Institute of Physics, in London. Free preferential booking is now open for Members, Non-Members, and SUT Member guests (£30). Those planning to attend are asked how many copies of the book they would be interested in buying in order to ensure that sufficient stock is available.

‘The standard of entries for the SUT’s Gwyn Griffiths Award for Underwater Robotics was extremely competitive this year, and the nominees of high calibre, which challenged the judges to select this year’s winner,’ said Neil Bose, Chair of SUT’s Underwater Robotics Panel, and Vice President (Research), Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador’s University. ‘On behalf of the Panel, the judges and SUT we would like recognise the talent, innovation and qualities of all the entrants working in underwater robotics.’

The Panel is delighted to announce the winner of the GGURA, Rustom Jehangir from Blue Robotics Inc in Torrance, California.

On being informed of the Award, Rustom said, “Wow! I’m honoured and humbled to receive this award bearing Gwyn Griffiths’ name, given all that he accomplished and contributed to the field of marine robotics. ‘I consider this award to be an honour for my whole team.”

Getting to know Rustom we asked:

What inspired your interest in subsea engineering?

I went to school for mechanical and aerospace engineering and was initially interested in drone aircraft. I worked in that field for several years at a start-up company developing a large multicopter helicopter for military applications. While doing that, I stumbled into subsea engineering. At the time (around 2013), a friend and I were both looking for a fun robotics project to do on the weekends and decided that we would make a solar-powered robotic surfboard that could cross the ocean. We thought we could achieve that on a small budget and we dreamt of sending it from California to Hawaii, a trip that would take several months at the slow pace we could maintain with solar power.
We started working on this project and we found all of the components that we needed, like the solar panels, GPS, microcontroller, and satellite radio, but struggled to find thruster motors to propel it. We could only find very inexpensive options that wouldn’t survive for long in the ocean, and very expensive options designed for military-grade applications. We scoured the internet for options and couldn’t find anything, but we did find a lot of other people looking for the same thing. Some of them were on robotics teams and some were hobbyists. At that moment we decided to solve that problem and design an affordable, capable thruster for marine robotics that anyone could use. We were successful and launched Blue Robotics through a Kickstarter campaign in 2014!
So, to answer your question, I was initially inspired by our solar surfboard project and then jumped headfirst into subsea engineering by starting a company. At the time I had no experience with subsea engineering and had to learn quickly! Eight years later, we have made over 70,000 thrusters and have a team of 55 people designing and building a wide range of products that enable marine robotics applications.

How did you become involved in robotics?

I’ve been interested in robotics since I was young. I watched a recorded documentary about the AUVSI International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) many times and dreamed of being a robotics engineer someday. I got actively involved in university when I joined an IARC team. We never actually competed, but it re-sparked my interest and taught me many of the basics.

What advice would you give to someone interested in a career in this field?

Great question! I have a few pieces of advice. (1) Expose yourself to a diversity of experiences and classes to be well-rounded. This is particularly important in robotics because it doesn’t fall into any of the traditional mechanical, electrical, or software paths, but rather into all of them. I took software engineering courses in school and learned electrical engineering on the job and it was critical for my current role. And (2), don’t feel excluded from this industry if you’re not an engineer or scientist – we need people of all different backgrounds and specialties. We have engineers designing our products, but we also have marketing team members, assembly technicians, human resources, graphic design, and many more. All of those skills and expertise are necessary to our business and contribute to our mission.

Any advice on innovation and starting your own company?

Yes, my biggest piece of advice on this is to find a “blue ocean market” in which to start your business. Let me explain that. What I often see with people starting companies is that they look at the market and existing successful companies and they try to imitate them or do things a little bit better than them to capture market share. You shouldn’t be looking for who you want to compete with but, rather, you should look for holes in the market where there is a need but no competition at all. This is a “blue ocean market” and it’s much easier to start a company if you can find a space like that to work in. We found this with our original thruster product. There were no similar products at the time but there were many interested customers. We didn’t have to compete with anyone – we just opened up new market possibilities. I encourage you to try to do the same.

What’s next for you and Blue Robotics?

We’re eight years into our journey and I’m having more fun than ever! I truly believe in our core mission of making affordable, capable components and systems to enable people to do more with marine robotics and we’re going to keep doing that. We’ve learned a lot and we can keep doing it better and better. The ocean is a big place and there’s a lot of room to grow and a lot of opportunities.

WASHINGTON, DC, US AND LONDON, UK — The Marine Technology Society (MTS) and The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) are proud to announce that the 2022 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration has been won by the internationally recognised oceanographer Samantha (Mandy) Joye, a Regents’ Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, USA, whose work has revealed unexpected connectivity between elemental cycles, unanticipated feedbacks between geological elemental and microbial dynamics, and fundamental controls on microbial populations and their activity.

Joye is an internationally recognized educator, deep ocean explorer, oceanographer, and environmental advocate. She is an expert in ocean biogeochemistry and microbial ecology and her work has focused on the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California, and along the North American Atlantic Margin. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on deep water habitats and extreme environments and tracks the cycles and fate of hydrocarbons, nutrients, sulfur, metals, and trace gasses and interrogating the microbial communities that cycle these materials.

For the past two decades, Joye has studied natural seepage and chemosynthetic habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. She has led exploration missions across the Gulf of Mexico to discover and document otherworldly environments, including mud volcanoes, brine pools, and gas hydrate sites. Her research during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill environmental response significantly advanced the understanding of the critical role of microorganisms in degradation of oil and factors that enhance microbial degradation and optimize their environmental response.

Awarded jointly by the Marine Technology Society and the Society for Underwater Technology, this esteemed award is named after American oceanographer, explorer, retired naval officer, and marine policy specialist Captain Don Walsh. Walsh and co-pilot Jacques Piccard were aboard the bathyscaph Trieste when it made its daunting record descent on January 23, 1960 into the deepest point of the world’s oceans – the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. The award recognizes outstanding, sustained, international contribution to the development, application, and propagation of marine technology toward the advancement of ocean exploration.

“I am so incredibly honored to receive the 2022 Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration,” Joye said. “Don Walsh’s contributions to marine technology and ocean science are unparalleled – he is an inspiration to me, and to so many others. I want to thank MTS and SUT for honoring me with this award, and for empowering our community to develop and deploy new technologies that enable ocean discovery.”

“Dr. Joye’s contributions to the advancement of ocean exploration are significant and exemplify the qualities MTS and SUT are proud to recognize with this award. We are excited to see her innovative techniques and application of marine technology continue to impact the ocean community,” said Zdenka Willis, MTS President.

Moya Crawford, SUT’s President, added: “I am particularly struck by the relevance Dr. Joye places on science and its interface with engineering. This form of collaboration is vitally important when working in our global ocean.”

The Award was instigated in 2020 – the inaugural winner was Dr. Edie Widder a MacArthur Fellow, a deep-sea explorer, and conservationist who combines expertise in oceanographic research and technological innovation with a commitment to reversing the worldwide trend of marine ecosystem degradation. This was followed in 2021 by a joint award to Victor L. Vescovo and Patrick Lahey for the 2019 Five Deeps Expedition and further dives of scientific and historical interest in subsequent years.

Agreement Between MTS and SUT

Over the past few years SUT and MTS have begun work to strengthen our collaboration with the goal of enhancing services and benefits to our members. You’ve likely seen the early outcomes of that collaboration—shared publications between the Societies, offering of professional certifications for marine technologists and marine scientists, and launch of the joint Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration.

To support further enhancement of services to the collective membership and to help secure greater visibility for both Societies within the global marine science and technology community, MTS and SUT have entered into a formal Contractual Joint Venture agreement. The agreement solidifies existing collaborations and sets a framework for continued collaboration and partnership, in concert with the individual governance of both societies.

MTS and SUT have a common mission to facilitate the effective development and application of ocean science, underwater technology, and offshore engineering to support exploration, understanding, and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources. Through the collaboration supported by this joint venture, the Societies look forward to continuing to deliver value, impact, and support to our membership and the broader subsea, underwater and marine science, technology and engineering communities.

SUT was there at the start of All-Energy’s history 21 years ago having been its Learned Society Patron since before the first show was held in Aberdeen in 2001. We’d welcome your early (or later) All-Energy memories. View our anniversary page here. SUT’s then newly formed Marine Renewable Energies Committee played, and continues to play, a key role at the UK’s wide-ranging and largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference.

This year’s show (SEC Glasgow, 11-12 May) continues to focus on SUT topics of interest

There’s a day-long conference stream on Marine Renewables (tidal stream and wave) and a full day’s show floor theatre programme to relish too. At the end of the first marine renewables session (11:00-12:30, 11 May), the SUT Lennard-Senior Award will be presented to the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) Managing Director, Neil Kermode.

Offshore wind features heavily with five sessions over the two days, including two on Floating Wind, plus a day of back-to-back presentations in its own show floor theatre, including an insight into the work of the SUT UXO SIG. Catch Marine Scotland’s session on Day 2 too.

Click here to register today and join us there! Make a point of visiting the SUT’s stand (Q03) as well as attending conference sessions. Engineering a Net Zero future.

Photo: Andrew Scott of Orbital Marine Power won the 2019 Lennard-Senior Award (left to right): John Sharp, Chair of SUT’s MREC; Stephen Hall (previous SUT CEO); and recent Lennard-Senior award winners Sue Barr (UK Marine Energy Council) and Tim Cornelius (then CEO, SIMEC Atlantis) flanking winner Andrew.

• Captain Don Walsh at Oi 2022 to present the SUT/MTS Award made in his name to Victor Vescovo and Patrick Lahey in recognition of their contribution to ocean exploration
• Presentation by Vescovo and Lahey – 2021 winners of the SUT/MTS Captain Don Walsh Award
• SUT-moderated session on Women in Industry
• A chance to find out more about making nomination for the 2022 Captain Don Walsh Ocean Exploration Award on the SUT and MTS stands

SUT Contact: Cheryl Burgess [email protected]

MTS Contact: Kristina Norman [email protected]

LONDON, UK — Since it launched Oceanology International (Oi) in 1969, the Society for Underwater Technology has always played a key part in the exhibition and conference. This year is no exception with OI’s partner, the SUT and its members, playing a particularly active role in the conference on opening day (Tuesday, 15 March) at ExCeL London.

Dr Ralph Rayner, Oceanology Conference Chair, a past President of the SUT and a Fellow of the Learned Society, will introduce the Oi opening conference session ‘Ocean Futures – The New Blue Economy’ (10:00-12:15).

As SUT’s Chief Executive, Cheryl Burgess explains:

“The New Blue Economy is a knowledge-based economy, looking to the sea not just for extraction of material goods, but for data and information to address societal challenges and inspire their solution”’.

“The New Blue Economy session Ralph is introducing, with a truly stellar line-up (see https://tinyurl.com/ycku899z) explores how emerging capabilities for acquiring ocean data and delivering actionable ocean information can enable a growing Blue Economy that balances delivering the vast economic potential of the ocean with protecting ocean health and ensuring social equity.

“As the session comes to a close, it will feature a very special moment when the Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration, will be presented by Captain Don Walsh, Moya Crawford, President of the SUT and Zdenka Willis, President MTS to Victor Vescovo and Patrick Lahey.

“The Award is made annually by SUT and MTS and it is a great honour to have Don Walsh with us at Oi this year during the presentations.

Full information on the nomination process for the 2022 Captain Don Walsh Ocean Exploration Award, with its deadline of 31 May 2022, will be on the SUT stand (R550) at Oi; along with information on other awards such as the Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award with its submission deadline of 31 March.

Presentation by the winners of the 2021 Don Walsh Award + Women in Industry

The next presentation in the Ocean Futures Theatre at Oi 2022 will be ‘Into the Abyss: Exploring the Deepest Realms of the World’s Oceans’ when delegates will be invited to join undersea explorer Victor Vescovo and submarine engineer Patrick Lahey, winners of the captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration, as they recount their experiences of making possible dives to the deepest points in each of the world’s oceans.

This will be followed by ’Women in Industry’ chaired by SUT’s Chair, Sue John with a panel of women engineers, scientists, and technologists from the subsea, underwater, and wider marine sector each sharing insights from their career progression, successes, and challenges. A moderated panel discussion will follow the presentations, including audience Q&A where attendees are encouraged to engage with panellists and their peers.

Further information

Further information on SUT its global branches; corporate, individual and student membership; special interest groups; and activities is at www.sut.org and on Oceanology International at www.oceanologyinternational.com/

About the MTS
The Marine Technology Society (MTS) promotes awareness, understanding, and the advancement and application of marine technology. Incorporated in 1963, the international society brings together businesses, institutions, professionals, academics, and students who are ocean engineers, technologists, policy makers, and educators. The Society publishes a peer-reviewed journal — The Marine Technology Society Journal. It has three technical divisions and 31 Professional Committees (technical interest groups). The society hosts several conferences yearly. And, it supports 13 Sections, which focus on events and programs unique to their geographic areas, enhancing networking among local colleagues, businesses, universities and government/military offices. www.mtsociety.org

Feedback on the Society for Underwater Technology’s (SUT) Virtual Subsea Awareness Course and their Virtual Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Course proved so positive that third iterations of both are to be held in March 2022.

As SUT’s Chief Executive, Cheryl Burgess explained:

“Delegates attending from around the world, combined with very positive feedback from them, has led to us planning our third version of both of these online courses

“VSAC is the virtual version of SUT’s highly successful in-person course which has been running for over 20 years and attracted in excess of a thousand delegates. The offshore wind course, developed in association with Cranfield University, was developed specifically for the virtual world and really hit the proverbial spot.

“Both are introductory courses taking delegates back to basics, something that has been greatly appreciated by all who have joined us.

“Presenter names will be announced early in 2022.”

Virtual Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Course

The Virtual Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Course will take place on 2nd and 3rd March over two online interactive 4-hour morning sessions from 09:00-13:00GMT. It will be delivered by Industry and academic experts, with an emphasis on the practical applications and cover:

• Wind and the Net Zero Challenge inc Deepwater Floating Potential
• Planning, Environmental Studies, and Approvals
• MetOcean/Weather: UK and NW Europe Focus including Deepwater for Floating Technology
• Fixed Bottom Offshore Structure Design and Integrity
• Offshore Site Investigation and Seabed Site Foundations
• Construction
• Cables
• Floating Wind Structures
• Completion, Post Installation, and Ongoing Operation
• As well as an Introduction to SUT.

The course is designed for professional non-engineers who would benefit from understanding the offshore wind energy industry; and engineers and technical staff who are new to this sector or making the transition from another industry as part of the energy transition.

Click here for more information and to regsiter.

Virtual Subsea Awareness Course (VSAC)

VSAC, being held over five mornings (15 hours in total) from 28th March to 1st April from 10:00-13:00GMT, is similarly aimed for specific individuals such as new entrants who are already technically qualified but just entering the offshore energy industry and/or the subsea sector; technically qualified experienced personnel undergoing a technology transfer and conversion process into the subsea sector; and non-technical personnel from legal or finance sectors who regularly deal with the subsea sector.

Sessions delivered by industry experts will cover:

• Subsea Production Equipment & Systems
• Flow Assurance
• Pipeline & Risers
• Constructions & Installation
• Metocean
• Renewables and Future Technology Trends
• Operation, Maintenance & Decommissioning

Click here for more information and to register.

Course fees – excluding VAT where applicable

The fee for the Virtual Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Course is £325 for SUT members; and £415 for non-members.

The fee for the Virtual Subsea awareness course is £715 for members and £845 for non-members

Members of EEEGR, OES, IMCA and EIC can enrol for either course at the SUT membership fee.

SUT Individual membership is £76 per year. To join, visit www.sut.org or e-mail [email protected].

Further information

Further information on both courses will be posted in the New Year on the training pages of the SUT website at www.sut.org. Both courses are CPD approved.

This week’s AGM of the Society for Underwater Technology marked the official hand over to new elected officers in all senior posts – President, Chair, Hon Secretary and Hon Treasurer; the announcement of three new Fellows of the Learned Society; and of winners of three Awards, The President’s Award, the Lennard-Senior Award; and the Gwyn Griffiths Award for Underwater Robotics. Once all the formalities were concluded SUT members were treated to a fascinating talk on ‘eDNA: The future of ocean biodiversity monitoring’ by Dr Katie Cruickshanks of NatureMetrics.

The new officers

(L-R) Iain Knight, Sue John, Moya Crawford, Nigel Carey

SUT’s Cheryl Burgess explained:

“By coincidence our Chair, David Saul; our Hon Secretary, Dave Brookes; and our Hon Treasurer Mick Cook had all reached the end of their permitted terms of office at the same time; and our President Judith Patten MBE has also stepped down after her year in office. We thank them all for their sterling service during unprecedented times. Both David Saul and Judith Patten will remain on SUT’s Council

“Moya Crawford is our new President; Sue John our first female Chair; Iain Knight takes on the role of Hon Secretary and Nigel Carey becomes Hon Treasurer – what a team!”

New Fellows of the SUT

Three new SUT Fellows have been elected:

• Simon Hems for services to the London and South of England Branch
• Steve Duffield for services to the Perth (Australia) Branch and SUT’s International Committee
• Rex Hubbard for services to the Perth Branch

Awards

Judith Patten MBE presents the SUT 2021 President’s Award to John Howes

The President’s Award 2021 was presented to John Howes, publisher and editor of UT2, and UV2 at an auspicious time. UT2 has recently reached a major milestone – 75 issues have been published since 2006. As the citation states:

“The President’s Award is made to John Howes, a great friend of the Society, the respected journalist, publisher and expert in the field of underwater technology in recognition of the years of service he has performed with, and for the SUT, its members and the wider industry.”

UT2 was one of the first magazines in the world to be produced for online publication and: “is not only a ‘go-to’ publication for its content, but visually is in a class of its own”. UV2 focuses on underwater vehicles and increasingly has video embedded which can also be found on the Subsea Video YouTube channel. John Howes also publishes old underwater-related photos on LinkedIn a service that has attracted over 17,000 followers and a host of comments which may in time lead to history qualification looking at ‘Subsea 1960 to the present’.

Dr Katie Cruickshanks talks ‘eDNA: The future of ocean biodiversity monitoring’.

The Lennard-Senior Memorial Prize is awarded annually in memory of two of the original members of SUT’s Marine Renewable Energies Committee (MREC) – Don Lennard and Gordon Senior. This year’s winner (nominated by and voted for by members of MREC) is Neil Kermode, Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

Neil won the inaugural award ten years ago in 2011 and “still – perhaps more than ever- deserves this accolade today… EMEC has marine renewables at its core and has extended its reach, to great effect, to encompass hydrogen and energy systems….. Neil is a true champion of enabling the marine energy sector”. His Award will be officially presented at All-Energy 2022 in Glasgow in May 2022.

Attendees at the AGM were also made aware of the winner of the inaugural Gwyn Griffiths Award for Underwater Robotics – Aleksandra Tomaszek, co-founder of 1CSI Ltd (see press release issued 8 November https://tinyurl.com/42y5t8wb)

Full information on the SUT is available at www.sut.org. The Learned Society has both individual, corporate and student members. SUT Individual membership is £76 per year. To join visit www.sut.org/sut-membership/application-for-membership/ or e-mail [email protected].