2021-06-30-accounts

Society for Underwater Technology nual Report 2020-2021

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Society for Underwater Technology Annual Report 2020-2021

President’s Foreword ..........................................................................................................................................3 Awards 2020-2021 ...............................................................................................................................................4 Council’s Summary of Activity 2020-2021 .........................................................................................................5 Chair’s Report ......................................................................................................................................................7 Officers and Council 2020-2021 and SUT Staff ................................................................................................9

Branch Reports Aberdeen ............................................................................................................................................................10 Australia .............................................................................................................................................................12 Brazil ...................................................................................................................................................................21 China ...................................................................................................................................................................24 Kuala Lumpur .....................................................................................................................................................26 London and South of England ..........................................................................................................................27 Middle East .........................................................................................................................................................28 North of England ...............................................................................................................................................29 Norway ...............................................................................................................................................................30 Singapore ...........................................................................................................................................................31 US .......................................................................................................................................................................33 West Africa .........................................................................................................................................................40 Committee Reports Education ............................................................................................................................................................42 Training ..............................................................................................................................................................43 Educational Support Fund Management .........................................................................................................44 International .......................................................................................................................................................45 Policy Advisory ..................................................................................................................................................46 Publications ........................................................................................................................................................47

Technical Committee Reports Defence ...............................................................................................................................................................48 Diving and Manned Submersibles ...................................................................................................................50 Environmental Forces .......................................................................................................................................51 Marine Environmental Science ........................................................................................................................52 Marine Renewable Energies .............................................................................................................................53 Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics ..................................................................................................54 Salvage and Decommissioning ........................................................................................................................56 International Underwater Vehicles and Robotics Group ................................................................................58 UXO ....................................................................................................................................................................59

www.sut.org

President’s Foreword

ine is a calendar year report rather than a financial year one as I became President in December 2020. I was delighted to be asked, having worked Mclosely with SUT from the first half of the 1980s onwards (primarily on Oceanology International) and been a member of the SUT Marine Renewable Energies Committee (MREC) since its foundation. SUT plays a key role at All-Energy, now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy annual exhibition and conference, which I co-founded with David Stott, creator of Offshore Europe, and a Fellow of SUT. Being on Council and in the Presidential ‘hot seat’ has certainly provided insight into SUT’s aims, objectives and activities. I am only sorry that I am now standing down, as 2022 looks as if it is going to be an exceptionally busy year for me workwise and I cannot commit as fully as I would like to carrying out Presidential roles (especially when we get back to the ‘old normal’ and interaction is no longer confined to virtual meetings) I don’t believe in doing things by half measures!

President: Judith Patten MBE

There have been notable highlights despite the pandemic. Indeed, some are because of it:

• Professional accreditation got off the ground after last year’s pilot scheme. Working jointly with MTS on this important step is a major milestone. Encourage your colleagues to dive into the online application process for Marine Technology Registration; Marine Scientist Registration will follow shortly.

• Virtual courses have been created and held successfully. The long-standing Subsea Awareness Course has been adapted and become the Virtual Subsea Awareness Course; two have been held and attracted delegates from far and wide (a bonus of ‘going virtual’).

• An introductory offshore wind course (two held so far) has proved equally successful. I was delighted to see so many talented women presenting. As I write this, the first virtual course on offshore site investigation and geotechnical engineering course is to be held this month (November 2021).

• Awards: As a long-time admirer of that indefatigable ocean explorer Don Walsh, being involved with the judging process for the Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration (again jointly with MTS) was an honour.

• Educational Awards continue and it was a pleasure to be involved in the selection process

• Bil Loth: The sadness of hearing of Bil’s death was alleviated by an afternoon of memories in his and Dolly’s beautiful garden. You can contribute to his memory htps://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bil-loth

• Podcasts: Now looked after by Andrew Connelly and Emily Boddy, the series will, by the time of the AGM, have chalked up over 30 fascinating podcasts during 2021. There are over 70 to choose from online.

• SUT Plus have continued their programme of free webinars, holding 12 in this reporting period since June 2020 on exciting topics such as Hydrogen, Wave Energy and The Practical use of Programming in Engineering.

Regrets? I’d love to have met members face-to-face but that wasn’t possible... Most of all I would have enjoyed meeting up with other Presidents for a ‘how to do it’ crash course. It’s too late now for regrets.

Instead, I look forward to being an active Council member in the coming year; and continuing to be SUT’s ‘Hon PR’ person in the years to come. I am delighted to be passing the Presidential-baton to another woman, Moya Crawford, and wish her well! I would like to thank my fellow officers of the Society and the talented secretariat team for their support.

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Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Awards 2020-2021

Some of the attendees at the virtual SUT AGM 2020 and our presentation speaker David Mearns

New Fellows

Lennard-Senior Prize

Awarded to Simon Cheeseman at the SUT AGM 2020 in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of Marine Renewable Energy.

Gareth Wood Tim Carrington Andrew Benson

Simon Cheeseman is an experienced Marine Engineer, having worked in both the commercial and public sectors. Simon joined the Catapult in February 2014. Working within their Research and Innovation directorate, Simon is responsible for managing their marine renewables strategy, identifying the Catapult’s wave and tidal technology innovation priorities.

Miguel Pacheco Andrade

Andrew Hunt

NEW Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration

Vahid Walker

Jointly awarded by SUT and MTS (the Marine Technology Society), we are pleased to announce Dr Edie Widder as the first winner of the Captain Don Walsh Award. Dr. Widder is an MTS member, 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.

New Hon Fellow

John Partridge

NEW Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award

SUT’s International Panel on Underwater Robotics are honoured to announce the creation of the Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award (GGURA). The award recognises people in the early to mid-stages of their career who have made outstanding contributions to their field in underwater robotics. The award may be for industry/ commercial, research and/or creative activity in underwater robotics.

Council’s Summary of Activity

2020-2021

Membership

Membership Summary

Overall membership of SUT has held up through the pandemic, lockdown, and the adverse effects on the hydrocarbon industry. SUT membership numbers reflect the experience of other Learned Societies as well as Institutions and Associations around the globe with changes to industry sectors, mergers, acquisitions, as well as contractions. For the SUT shifts with energy transitions, net zero carbon target for 2050 and delivering increased renewable energy along with increased focus on the marine environment, sustainability and protection have brought new members to the SUT. New membership, corporate and individual have come from many sectors including offshore wind, UXO, defence, salvage and decommissioning, marine acoustics, robotics and sensors. The establishment of two new special interest groups on Marine Environmental Science and Unexploded have developed new members from these sectors including new members from the offshore windfarm operators and representation from SMEs and academia.

Corporate Members 146 Individual Membership 1617

Category 2021 2020 Hon. Fellows 14 15 Fellows 107 106 Full members 677 679 Students 128 122 Corporate individuals 691 744 Total 1617 1666

We thank everyone who has renewed their membership, the new members, and the efforts of all who have worked so hard to keep SUT going as the world has continued to live with Covid-19, lockdown and restrictions on face-to-face meetings and travel.

Table 1

To meet these challenges the Business Development Group looked at membership outreach and engagement in early 2021, growing the SUT’s training courses for online delivery and potential opportunities for member participation and benefits with new events. There are now three committees focusing on these areas of development.

Financial Summary Unrestricted Fund (£) Category 2021 2020 Income 318,703 391,023 Expenditure 315,140 440,651 –––––––––– –––––––––– Surplus/ (deficit) 3,563 (49,628) Transfers to - - restricted fund Gain/(loss) on 28,175 6,946 investments –––––––––– –––––––––– Retained surplus/ 31,738 (42,682) (deficit)

Webinars have become a regular offering from Branches, with the Aberdeen SUT+ becoming particularly proactive with their webinar programme. Media content continues to grow on SUT’s YouTube Channel that includes a ‘gadgets and widgets’ section and the archive of webinars

The SUT podcast has grown in grown in popularity and downloads. The download on podcast numbers has exceeded 17,000 in 2021.

The launch of online training has had good take-up from both members and non-members. The well-respected, well-known Subsea Awareness Course was relaunched as a Virtual Subsea Awareness Course (VSAC) which ran twice in 2021 as did our new course for Offshore Wind. In addition, the OSIG committee organised a training course which not only filled delegate places to capacity and created a waiting list. All of these courses will be running in 2022 with new training courses in development to grow this important area of SUT activity. The donation from Past-President Professor Gwyn Griffiths for a new award for technologists in the field of Marine Robotics which was announced last year, received multiple entries this year. From an impressive field of nominations, the 2021 winner was Aleksandra Tomaszek of 1CSI Ltd. Entries for this award are open for 2022.

Table 2

The continued efforts by the Society to attract new sectors will likely take a little while longer to bear the fruit that we hope for, but we are seeing new individuals joining from well-known companies and hope that these will be followed in due course by corporate memberships as well.

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Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Council’s Summary of Activity contd

Finance

A summary of the Society’s accounts and financial statements for 2020-2021 has been included in the Annual Report. Result for the Unrestricted Fund for this year compared with that for the previous year appears on pages 2-8 and 2-9 of the report.

The Unrestricted Fund at 30 June 2021 amounted to £299,814 compared with an amount of £268,076 at the end of the previous year, including donations and legacies, allowing for gains on investments.

Educational Support Fund

A report for the year ending 30 June 2021 from the Educational Support Fund Management is included in this Annual Report. There has been a restatement of the comparatives following a review of the value of the fund which concluded that the only funds remaining were from transfers out of the general fund which meant that the Educational Support Fund was no-longer restricted. (It was reclassified as designated as at 30 June 2018 and transferred back into General Funds.) The impact of Covid-19 restrictions on collections at SUT events to support the Educational Support Fund not taking place is noted in the accounts on page 2-4.

D. Brookes, Honorary Secretary 28 October 2021

Registered Office: HQS Wellington, Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London, WC2R 2PN, UK

Chair’s Report

would like to start by remembering Bil Loth who passed away in August this year, Bil was a much-loved and respected supporter of the Society over four I decades during which time he took on just about all the key positions of council including President (2012-13) and Chairman (1993-95), only stepping back as an active member of council three years ago as his eyesight deteriorated. Bil was also the recipient of the David Partridge underwater technology award (1996) and the President’s Award (2002).

Last year I reported Steve Hall our CEO was moving to a new role based in Wales. Following a rigorous selection process Dr Cheryl Burgess was appointed taking over from Steve in January of this year. Most recently Cheryl was Director General of the Pipeline Industries Guild. Starting during lockdown was certainly a challenge, not least having to arrange a handover with Steve in a train station! I am pleased to say even with all the COVID-related difficulties Cheryl quickly settled into the role and I would to like to take this opportunity to thank her for all her work and support during the year.

David Saul

While COVID-19 is still impacting the work of the Society we have seen the first signs of normality with some face-to-face events returning to many branches. It is however clear that going forward virtual training and events are going to be a core element of how the Society operates.

Prior to the emergence of COVID-19 the Society had been on target to breakeven in 2019-20, I am therefore pleased to report we have been able to reach this important milestone in the 2020-21 financial year. Looking forward for the 2021-22 year we are budgeting for a surplus, which as of November 2021 we look to be on target to achieve. I would particularly like to thank Mick Cook our honorary treasurer for all his work over the last six years to reset the Society’s financial position and update our reporting processes.

Another significant milestone this during the summer of 2021 was the move out of our offices in Aberdeen and London, with Cheryl, Mick Cook and myself clearing the out the last paperwork and computer equipment from the John Street office at the end of August. As it turned out this was my first opportunity to meet Cheryl in person, very much a working meeting with the office on the 3rd floor and no lift. Going forward we have maintained a postal address on HQS Wellington (which many will remember from social events), but all staff are now working from home on a permanent basis.

Council

With the ongoing limits on travel and non-availability of our usual venues we continued to run Council meetings virtually during the year, hopefully as we move into 2022 it will be possible to restart in person Council meetings for those members based in the UK. In addition to finance and membership development two of the key focus areas of council during the year have been on updating the Society’s Articles of Association and agreeing a joint venture agreement with the Marine Technology Society (MTS).

Articles of Association, these were last updated in 2015, with the development of the Society since then, Council agreed to form a sub-committee with the goal or completing an update to be voted on at the 2021 AGM. The majority of proposed changes relate to removal of potentially confusing / conflicting text and most importantly moving to a gender-neutral language approach throughout the document.

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Society for Underwater Technology

Chair’s Report contd.

MTS Joint venture, In April the joint SUT / MTS Exploratory Committee reported back to Council recommending an International Contractual Joint Venture be setup to manage and take forward SUTs ongoing relationship with MTS. Initially this will cover work on the Marine Technologist and Marine Scientist certifications, external activities, the Don Walsh Awards and bringing together the SUT and MTS journals into a single peer-reviewed publication. I am pleased to report that, at the time of writing, these activities are on schedule to complete before the end of December 2021.

Training

With ‘in-person’ training still not an option for most areas the Society operates in, the training and education committee launched virtual subsea awareness and offshore wind courses, both have presented once during the financial year with good attendance. Subsequent to the year end a further virutal session of each course took place, again with good attendance. A third virtual course ‘An Introduction to Offshore Geophysics and Geotechnical Engineering’ is due to be presented for the first time at the end of November 2021. Looking forward we hope the US and UK will rejoin Perth in restarting in-person training in 2022. That said, we expect the demand for virtual training to continue.

Branches

The Society continues to benefit from an extensive UK and International affiliates’ network. While their activities will clearly not be back to ‘normal’ for some time, face-to-face activities are restarting. A good example of this was the UK’s North of England branch and the OSIG SIG ‘Energy in Transition’ seminar which attracted over 100 delegates.

Thanks

I want to thank Cheryl and the other SUT staff, Jane, Jacqui, and Emily, for all their support and hard work throughout the year, recognizing, amongst many other things, the extra work needed in closing the two UK offices, transitioning the SUT to new ways of working, delivering member benefits, administering the many virtual activities, and the challenges of an unexpected VAT inspection.

With this being my final report as Chairman I would also like to express my thanks to the Executive and wider Council for their support over the last three years, particularly Dave Brookes and Mick Cook who are also standing down from Hon Secretary and Treasurer respectively. I would also like to express my appreciation for the support of Past President Ralph Rayner and current President Judith Patten both on the Executive and their additional contributions to SUT initiatives during my time as SUT Chair. Finally, I wish Sue John every success in taking over to become the Society’s first female chair.

Annual Report 2020-2021 Officers and Council 2020-2021

President Judith Patten MBE

Chair David Saul Immediate Past President Prof Ralph Rayner Honorary Secretary David Brookes Honorary Treasurer Mick Cook Secretary to Council/CEO Cheryl Burgess

SUT Staff

SUT HQ

HQS Wellington Victoria Embankment London WC2R 2PN (correspondence address only) t + 44 (0)7947 911992 e [e-mail]

SUT US

e [e-mail]

Members

Dr M A Atmanand Steve Johnson Andrew Connelly Iain Knight Steve Duffield David Kirkley Gwyn Griffiths Frank Lim Terry Griffiths Richard Luff Martin Harley Bob MacDonald Tricia Hill Julie Morgan Sue John Nick Swift

Chief Executive Cheryl Burgess Membership & Finance Officer Jane Hinton

Communications & Publications Officer Emily Boddy

Events Manager Jacqui Adams

Communications Coordinator Araceli Lopez Events Coordinator

Patsy Rhymes

SUT Perth

Office Unit 28, 17 Prowse Street West Perth Western Australia 6005 t [phone] e [e-mail]

Perth Branch Manager Renae Drew

Finance/Membership Administrator Fiona Allan

Events & Marketing Coordinator Kym Shephard

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Branch Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Aberdeen Branch www.sut.org/branch/aberdeen

or the second year in succession, I find myself summarising Aberdeen branch activities that have taken place almost entirely through a laptop screen. Like Fall branches and indeed like public services, businesses, and the public in general, we have had to deal with Covid-19 restrictions that extended far longer than anyone had anticipated. The Society’s mission depends on gathering in the same room; education always works better this way, and it has been difficult not being able to see our audience in person.

For what we were able to mount, Jacqui Adams the SUT Events Manager has been instrumental. She coordinates SUT events not only in Aberdeen but across the UK and the SUT and Aberdeen committee would be lost without her.

We said goodbye to our out-going CEO Steven Hall for his time with the SUT over the last 3½ years and welcomed our new CEO Cheryl Burgess who joined us in January and rapidly started making waves. Her frequent attendance at our committee meetings smooths communication and in the current business environment the appointment of a CEO with industry experience is welcome.

Martin Harley

Committee

Chair Martin Harley Vice-Chair Patrick Duggan Treasurer Jamie Wilson

2020-2021 Branch Activities

Our Annual Dinner and AGM, NASA in Aberdeen, Techfest and our monthly evening seminars at the Robert Gordon University all were cancelled. Perhaps the most difficult loss to the branch was our Subsea Awareness Courses. Last run in March 2020, we had intended to run three more courses in 2020 but the in-person event remains on hold and we are instead assisting with the virtual course run by our colleagues in UK central which has a slightly different content.

Jacqui Adams Keith Anderson Peter Blake Martin Brown Andrew Connelly Campbell Elder Euan Fowler Dr Ibiye Iyalla Tony Laing Andrew MacNamara Jim Mann Katrina McWilliam Prof. Ekaterina Pavlovskaia

• We compensated with the following events which all took place online.

• In November 2020, our annual day-long seminar run in conjunction with The Hydrographic Society of Scotland and the International Marine Contractors Association, ‘‘Sustainability: The Subsea Industry and the Evolution of Energy’ generated revenue streaming entirely online.

• The Schools Christmas Lecture featured contributions from MacDuff aquarium, the RGU MATE ROV competition team, Oceaneering and OceanGate. The lectures are one of the larger demonstrations of the society’s charitable obligations.

• The Business Breakfast in April 2021 covered the subsea market outlook with presentations from Simmons, Rystad and the OGTC.

• We hosted a four-part series of Webinars on the Life Cycle of North Sea Decommissioning Projects. These lunchtime webinars with presentations and Question & Answer sessions charged a fee but still won an audience who listened to lectures from Boskalis, Genesis, Allseas and UK regulator OPRED.

Daniele Petrone Paul Slorach David Warren Graham Whitehead

• Aberdeen committee member Andrew Connelly has taken up the responsibility of hosting the SUT Podcast series which now runs to over 70 podcasts and over 17,000 separate downloads from as far away as Iqaluit, San Carlos De Bariloche, Port Blair and Misawa.

Aberdeen Branch

contd.

address included how to advertise an online event, deciding whether to charge a fee and presenting to camera when waving arms around no longer does any good. Not to diminish the severity of the pandemic, but some good things have come out of the experience.

Aberdeen Committee

We again held elections for places on the Aberdeen Committee. We have voting and non-voting (co-opted) seats and each year we submit a third of our voting seats to vote by the membership. I would like to welcome new committee members Calum Hayton and Paul Slorach to the committee who joined as a result. We will continue elections each year, thus having a mechanism for gradual turnover of the committee personnel. We need to say goodbye to Katherine Ferguson and Kilian Palop, members of the Aberdeen committee who have recently moved to new employment in the Middle East and who’s association with the SUT I know will continue.

Finally, I would also like to express my personal thanks to Patrick Duggan of Apache who has stepped up to the role of Vice Chair and both Katherine Ferguson and Jamie Wilson; Katherine briefly acted as our Branch Honorary Treasurer and with her departure Jamie has replaced her in the role.

Not only are a huge thanks due to the individuals that make up our committee but also their parent companies for allowing their participation. It’s not lost on us that the burden of SUT business is a few hours a month away from their day-jobs; it’s time that we fully appreciate, and we could not do our business without that assistance.

SUT+

In addition to our regular committee, we also have an SUT+ committee in Aberdeen, consisting of new industry entrants and mid-career transitioners. They augment the regular committee and their own events this year have included webinars on Environmental Assessments before Decommissioning and Autonomous Surface Vehicles.

The End of Lockdowns

Whether we speak to you online or for real and in person, Aberdeen remains one of the most energetic branches of the SUT. We have the educational, networking and charitable events and two committees full of ideas and energy. Please keep an eye out for what we get up to as life starts returning to normal, come out to meet us and join in the debates we hold. Nobody can fail to have noticed the changes underway in the underwater world and through our individual and corporate members and events programme, we’re in the thick of it.

It’s reasonable to say we’ve all learned some new skills; not only microphone ettiquette but screen-sharing and arranging our bookcases and living rooms to provide the least distracting background. The new problems we’ve had to

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Branch Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Australia Perth/Melbourne Branch www.sut.org/branch/perth

fter a tumultuous year to 30 June 2020 with the onset of COVID 19 and making plans around an unknown future, the Perth branch finished this Ayear, in front in many ways and built on those decisions made in the previous year.

Perth Branch Committee

Committee members continue to provide enthusiastic, imaginative and creative support to the branch bringing in a fresh outlook with great ideas. We would like to thank all committee members for their efforts in enabling us to reach our goals. We are indebted to the 2020 and 2021 committee groups, and we wish to express our thanks to retiring committee members (noted with an *) who gave very generously their time, knowledge and support. 2020 and 2021 Committee Members are listed on the right.

Steve Duffield

We give special thanks to Rex Hubbard (2019 and 2020 Perth Chair) .

A modest rotation of committee members brings in fresh ideas and enthusiasm which are essential to maintaining a vibrant society; however, it also allows us to retain a core of experience to ensure continuity of our overall vision.

Committee

Chair Steve Duffield Vice Chair Phil Griffin Secretary Nick McNaughton Treasurer Hema Wadhwa

Current Perth Branch Sub-Committees: (bold indicating sub-committee lead)

• Advertising: Mark Casey , Steve Duffield, Phil Griffin

• Annual Dinner: Renae Drew, Leanne Geneve, Pawan Gupta , Nick McNaughton

• AOG 2021: Christian Marocchi, Pawan Gupta, Julie Morgan, Nitin Repalle, Hema Wadhwa

Allen Devlin (new in 2020) Ben Stangoni Brett Phillips (new in 2020) Brian Wardlaw Bukkie Orugun Christian Marocchi James Shorthouse (new in 2020) Julie Morgan Leanne Geneve Mark Casey Matthew Moore Nitin Repalle Paul Farquharson Pawan Gupta Pieter Swart (new in 2020) Rex Hubbard Sarah Elkhatib* Scott McMaster Stuart Higgins Terry Griffiths

• AUT Conference 2023: Steve Duffield, Ian Hobbs , Stuart Higgins, Jeremy Cohen, Peter Baker, Nina Levy, Mark Casey, Andrew Richardson, Kym Shephard

• Branch Support: Brett Phillips, James Shorthouse

• Course Review: Allan Devlin, Rex Hubbard , Hema Wadhwa

• Decom / Salvage: Christian Marocchi , Phil Griffin, Scott McMaster

• Engagement: Leanne Geneve , Bukkie Orugan, Allan Devlin, Paul Farquharson, Peter Clarke, Sahil Aggarwal

• Evening Technical Meeting/AGM: Allan Devlin, Brett Phillips , Scott McMaster, Paul Upjohn, Hema Wadhwa

• Finance: Fiona Allan, Phil Griffin, Hema Wadhwa , Steve Duffield, Nick McNaughton

• Golf Day: Allan Devlin, Renae Drew, Steve Duffield, Scott McMaster , Brett Phillips

• Immerse 2022: Paul Farquharson , Paul Upjohn

• Membership: Fiona Allan, Steve Duffield, Phil Griffin , James Shorthouse

• Mentoring: Mark Casey , Paul Farquharson, Phil Griffin, Nitin Repalle

• Oceans Conference 2024: Hema Wadhwa , Pieter Swart, Terry Griffiths

• OSIG Perth: See overleaf for full 2020/2021 summary.

• Scholarships: Fiona Allan, Nick Bardsley, Phil Griffin, Nick McNaughton , Nitin Repalle, Julie Morgan

Australia Branch

contd.

• Subsea Controls Down Under 2022 Conference: Kym Shephard, Mark Casey, Paul Upjohn , Harry Mackay, Harvey Smith, Norman O’Rourke, Michael Cojin, Julien Levadoux, Ross Hendricks, Minh Vo, Ned Chapman, Stuart Higgins, Derek Thompson

• Subsea Engineering Competency Framework: Mark Casey, Michael Cocjin, Afton Galbraith, Terry Griffiths, Pawan Gupta, Rex Hubbard, Christain Marocchi, Chris Merrick, Julie Morgan, Gabriel Pennock, Ewan Rowell, Chris Saunders, Norman O’Rourke, Ian Wilson

• YES!: Bukkie Orugan, Nitin Repalle

SUT Perth Branch Events

The Perth committee and staff were quite busy during the year. In Western Australia access to face-to-face opportunities came much earlier than elsewhere, and we were able to advantage.

The following events were held during the year:

• 4 x YES! event

• 1 x Conference (AOG)

• 5 x Evening Technical Meetings

• 6 x Courses (Hybrid & Online)

• 5 x OSIGp events

• 3 x Social events (Casual Catchup, Annual Dinner & Golf Day)

Of special note were the activities of the Special Interest Groups, YES and OSIG. They were able to keep a full annual agenda.

Staff were magnificent in ensuring our events complied with the many government requirements that changed regularly. The AGM was held this year at Karstens in Perth. The Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary’s Reports were presented and the new 2021 Committee announced. Sincere thanks were given to the Members, Sponsors, Presenters, Office Bearers, Committee, Sub-Committees and SUT Staff during the year.

Our 2020 Annual Dinner was a sold-out event, held at the prestigious Optus Stadium however due to capacity limitations, attendance was a lower than usual, 160 guests. The event was MC’d by local radio personality Kymba Cahill who will be returning in 2021.

Guests enjoyed a pop-up gin bar and were entertained by a dazzling light show and local magician Robbie T. Subsea Engineering Associates were the event sponsor and we thank them for their continued support throughout a challenging year.

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Branch Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Australia Branch contd.

Conferences

The Subsea Controls Down Under Conference was scheduled to be held in October 2020 however it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic to October 2022.

AOG (Australian Oil & Gas) Conference and Exhibition, 10th – 11th March 2021

Diversified continued the partnership with SUT, Subsea Energy Australia (SEA) and Subsea UK, and to offer the free to attend format for the AOG Conference in 2021.

Courses:

The following training courses were run in the 2020/21 year:

• Subsea Productions Systems – ONLINE 4th August 2020

• Subsea Awareness Course – HYBRID ONLINE/IN PERSON, 31st August - 4th September 2020

• Subsea Awareness Course, 3rd – 7th May 2021

• Offshore Geohazards Couse, 26th May 2021

• Metocean Awareness Course, 1st – 2nd June 2021

Australia Branch

contd.

• ETM: Advancements and Innovations in Subsea Pipeline Design, Operation & Maintenance, 17th February 2021

• Presentations by: Sophie Yin – Woodside, Henri Morand – Technip FMC and Christian Wiebe – Matrix. Sponsored by: Woodside

• ETM: The Marine Environment & Renewable Energy, 21st April 2021

• Presentations by: Terry Griffiths – University of Western Australia, Jana Orszaghova – University of Western Australia (Wave Energy Research Centre) & Matt Allen – Subcon

• ETM: Innovations in Inspection, Maintenance & Repair, 16th June 2021

• Presentations by: Paul Georgeson – A60N, Iain Wylie – Oceaneering & Jason LeCoultre – IAS Group. Sponsored by: Viper Innovations

Full post-event reports on all Evening and Lunchtime Technical Meetings can be found at: www.sut.org/branch/ australia-perth/events/?tribe_event_display=past

The Committee is, as always, grateful to all presenters and ETM chairpersons for their time and efforts in making our Evening Technical Meetings such a success, and for those generous Corporate members who support the evenings with their sponsorship.

Golf Day – 18th September 2020

Lunchtime and Evening Technical Meetings

The following evening technical meetings were held:

• LTM: Catastrophic Electrical Failures in Long Umbilicals 4th August 2020

• Presentations by: Neil Douglas, Viper

• Sponsored by: Viper Innovations

For our annual golf day this year, the SUT once again teamed up with the Society for Petroleum Engineers for a collaborative golf day. After the success of last years event we remained at Maylands Peninsula Golf Course and a fantastic day of golfing and networking was had by all that attended.

Capacity was capped at 100 for the event and 25 teams battled it out on the course, followed by a putting competition, before enjoying post-game food and drinks whilst the prizes were awarded. A great day was had by all. We are very grateful for the sponsors who made this possible including: R&D Solutions and Subsea Engineering Associates.

• LTM: What is CAN? 4th August 2020

• Presentationby Wolfgang Mathis, Neodrill

• ETM: Will Subsea Compression Processing take off in Australian Development, 14th October 2020 Panel Discussion featuring: Tim Nallipogu - Woodside, Yvonne Driessens – Shell, Drew Sage – Aker Solutions, Luca Letizia – One Subsea, Si Huai Yeaw (Moderator)

• Sponsored by: Atteris and Woodside

SUT Perth Sub-Committee Updates

Branch Administration

The 2020-2021 year welcomed new staff member Renae Drew as the Events & Marketing Coordinator, replacing Patricia Slapp who has returned to full time study and continues to assist the Perth branch in a casual capacity.

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Branch Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Australia Branch contd.

Fiona and Renae continued to effectively manage the branch administration and still take great pleasure in coordinating and organising all of our events, initiatives, administration, membership and accounts for the Society from our West Perth location.

Branch Support

SUT Perth put together a sub-committee a few years back for committee members to assist other branches where they can. Due to COVID no attendance to other branches was possible.

Branch Initiatives

During the year, Perth branch continued with new initiatives. These are below:

Subsea Engineering Competency Framework

• 20/21 SECF accreditations for 6 Engineers

Two new Scholarships offered in 2021

• Digital Automation in Engineering sponsored by SEA; and

• Marine Renewable Energy Scholarship sponsored by Aurora Offshore Engineering

ACNC approval

• SUT has been registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not for profit Commission (ACNC) Hybrid Courses now offered.

Branch Strategy

The committee took the opportunity to review the current Strategic Plan. Under the facilitation of Jatin Lodhia, The committee scan the environment, polled our members and then met to determine the strategy and actions required. The Strategic objectives we agreed are:

1. Engage with Tertiary Institutions

2. Diversification of Membership

Australia Branch

contd.

Marketing

Our marketing strategy has remained focused on digital engagement with our members, particularly during 2020/2021. Weekly digital communications have been sent to members encouraging engagement in our online events during the challenges of not being able to run face to face events. There has also been a significant focus from the committee to assist with engagement on social platforms Twitter and Linkedin.

Membership (Perth and Melbourne) as at 30 June 2021:

We finished the year slightly better than we started

• Australian Branch Membership June 2021 June 2020 - Individuals 130 125 - Fellows 12 11 - Corporate - Local and Global 52 52 - Students (fee paying) 61 61

• Remote Members:

• Malaysia, New Zealand; New South Wales; Victoria, South Australia and Queensland

Membership has fallen over time. The substantial change in student membership was as a result of the introduction of fees in the 2015 / 2016 period. All new members are approved by a Membership Sub-Committee. The committee has identified some actions to seek to improve membership numbers.

1. Be more Active in Knowledge Transfer

2. Value for Membership Money

We identified over 43 actions which are now in progress to begin to meet these objectives.

Engagement

The strategy for Engagement for 2020/2021 was -

• Canvass existing legacy members to understand how we can grow and how they can contribute.

• Increased Operator attendance at ETMs, with a stretch to present

• Stretch to grow our regular sponsorship base and increased membership numbers

• Continued Growth in diversification of SUT Perth branch.

• Continued Synergies with ETM, Engagement and Membership Sub-committees

The COVID pandemic impacted some engagement opportunities with less sponsorship available from companies.

Finance

SUT Perth Branch ran at a surplus in the 2020-2021 financial year of approximately $AUD 66,000. This was a great turn around from the prior year loss of $32,000. This was mainly due to:

• Government funding of Job Keeper

• Face-to-face events were able to held for the whole 2020/2021 year

• Running of Subsea Awareness Courses in September 2020 (Hybrid) and May 2021

• Fewer staff costs with no longer having a Branch Manager

An audited Income and Expenditure Statement for the year will be forwarded to Council following the finalization of the audit in November 2021.

Mentoring Programme (SUT-SPE-SEA-PESA-PCWA-ASEG-WISE)

SUT ran the Mentoring programme for the 2020/2021 financial year. The mentoring program is run in conjunction with other similar societies in Perth on a rotating basis. Five events were organized throughout the 2020/2021 year.

OSIG Perth Overview – including OSIGp events

OSIGp stands for “Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics Perth”, which is a special-interest group of the SUT with interests covering the area of the so-called 4G’s: Geology, Geophysics, Geomatics and Geotechnical Engineering.

Established in 2012, the OSIGp Committee currently comprises 15 members from various backgrounds

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Australia Branch contd.

(primarily operators, consultants and academics).

As part of its remit, the committee actively pursues and organises technical and also non-technical activities that are of interest to its network including training courses, seminars, and themed movie nights to name a few. Some of the committee’s events in 2020-2021 include:

Australia Branch

contd.

The Marine Renewable Energy Scholarship is sponsored by Aurora and recognises the applicant with the greatest potential to contribute to the development of marine renewable energy.

• “Evening GeoForum” featuring topics such as Nuclear Power Safety and Seafloor Pockmarks & Submarine Landslides;

• “Lunchtime Technical Meeting” on the topic of leveraging oil and gas subsea expertise into the offshorue renewables industry.

The committee has also contributed in the past, and will continue to do in the SUT Subsea Awareness courses where presentations are given on positioning, geomatics, geophysics, geohazards and geotechnical engineering. The Committee is also actively collaborating with other OSIG groups based in the UK and Houston, for example in establishing technical guidance notes on various 4G-related topics.

Thanks goes to all OSIGp committee members past and present (listed below) for their time, enthusiasm and hard work.

• Bryan Bergkamp

• Myra Keep

• Kevin Day

  • Nichole Fiumana

• Laith Tapper ( Chair )

• Cathal Colreavy

• Raffaele Ragni

• Colm O’Beirne

• Manuel Herduin

• Matthew Kuo

• Reza Gholilou

• Damon Sunderland

• Tim Pugh

• Emma Eltringham ( Secretary )

• Michael Cocjin ( Vice Chair )

Subsea Engineering Competency Framework Project

The sub-committee has completed the framework for subsea engineering competency and agreed a MOU with Engineers Australia (EA) for award of Chartered Professional Engineer in Subsea Engineering [CPEng(Subsea)] and registration on the National Engineering Register (NER) as a Subsea Engineer. The assessment process is led by EA and supported by SUT-nominated SME’s who are CPEng accredited.

An information session about the program was planned for March 2020, however was delayed by the impact of COVID-19 so information was distributed to members via email and website published material. A number of applications have been received and successfully accredited since January 2020, and the information session was run in June 2021

Further information is available here: www.sut.org/branch/australia-perth/subsea-engineering/overview/

YES! (Young Engineers & Scientists) Overview – including YES! Events

YES! was formed in 2013 to build a community of young subsea professionals, promoting collaboration and networking to ultimately drive the future of the subsea industry. The Purpose of SUT YES! Is to:

• Promote awareness of subsea industries and link in with universities

• Provide and support professional development of young professionals, students and scientists in subsea industries

Scholarship Awards

SUT Perth branch has continued with our policy of supporting students studying relevant courses in Australia and displaying a strong interest in continuing into a career or further studies in underwater disciplines. We have now awarded 68 scholarships since 2007.

This year we awarded three scholarships and are pleased at the continued and positive uptake of scholarships by the student fraternity. Scholarship recipients were

SUT Scholarship: Georgia Nester Chris Lawlor Scholarship: Jack Jorgensen Marine Renewable Energy Scholarship: Eric Gubesch

• Provide opportunities for networking and informal mentoring for young professionals, students and scientists in subsea and related fields

The new 2020 YES! committee began the year with a challenge, having only one in-person committee meeting before Covid-19 prompted a transition to virtual meetings. The committee responded well, working together effectively to deliver a virtual event during the lockdown period, and to improve YES!’s virtual presence on social media. One valuable initiative to come from this has been interviews with experienced engineers, which will be posted as articles and/or videos on our social media channels (with the first to come very soon). YES! primarily uses events (virtual and in-person) to engage with members; students and non members. During the year there were three successful events (listed overleaf). Full post-event reports on all events can be found at htp:// www.sut.org/events/?tribe_event_display=past . In addition to events, YES! Committee members have promoted

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Australia Branch contd.

SUT membership and events at universities, supported SUT Mentoring and have a large involvement in the SUT Scholarship program.

YES! currently has two annual sponsors, Woodside (since 2014) and Santos. Many thanks to these generous sponsors.

The YES! sub-committee members’ effort and time has been immense throughout the past year and these committee members are:

2020/21 Committee:

• Tom Hitchmough • Alana Pols ( 2020 Secretary ) ( AMC Student Liaison Officer )

• Nathan Atkinson

• Sotiri Battalis

  • Nitin Repalle

• Jessica Kolbusz ( UWA Student Liaison Officer )

• Jia Xin (Flora) Chiew

• Thomas Russell

• Shannon Dee ( Curtin Student Liaison Officer )

• Liang Ming Lee ( 2020 Programme • Liam Salter ( 2020 Chair ) & Marketing Lead ) • Irina Sankoff ( Murdoch Student

• • Brendon McAlpine Liaison Officer )

• Elena Gerginov ( Vice Chair )

• Joseph Graville

• Sam Hayes

YES! events in 2020/2021:

The Young Engineers & Scientists (YES!) Sub-Committee ran the following YES! Evening events over the last financial year:

• 2020 Panel Discussion – 23 September 2020

Brazil Branch www.sut.org/branch/brazil

n the period July 2020 to June 2021, the activities of the SUT Brazil Branch have been based on online seminars and short-course as described below. I

Seminars on Offshore Renewable Energy

Organized by Human Resources Programs PRH7 and PRH18 from National Petroleum Agency with the support of SUT Brazil Branch.

7 October 2020 - Offshore Renewable Energy: Status and Perspectives Prof. Segen Farid Estefen 442 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

14 October 2020 - Offshore Wind in Brazil: Opportunities and Challenges Prof. Milad Shadman

563 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

21 October 2020 - CFD Application in the Design of Large Offshore Wind Turbines

Dr. Mojtaba Maali Amiri 275 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Prof. Segen F. Estefen

Committee

Chair Prof SF Estefen Secretary Prof M Vaz Treasurer T Netto Executive Manager VC Santos

• 2021 Quiz Night – 18 March 2021

• 2021 Site Visit – 10 June 2021

Year Ahead

Perth branch will be doing a couple of new things in the 2021 – 2022 period in line with their five-year strategy plan 2021-2025:

1. Engage with Tertiary Institutions

2. Diversification of Membership

28 October 2020 - Material and Geometry Properties of Wind Turbine Blade Dr. John Chujutalli 206 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

4 November 2020 - Atmosphere Modeling for Offshore Wind Energy in the Southeast and South Regions of Brazil.

Mr. Luiz Filipe de Assis Tavares 163 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

C Bonfim Silva P Couto E Labanca E Nakagawa C Paulo M Teixeira

1. Be more Active in Knowledge Transfer

2. Value for Membership Money

All of the above new activities will support the growth of the society. In the background our committee members will continue to develop existing and new content, leads and opportunities for collaboration with other societies and engagement with other industries with an interest in underwater technology.

The budget for 2021/2022 has been approved by the Finance Committee with a small surplus expected. The budget assumes that live events can be run. The Perth Branch committee are cautiously optimistic about a general market improvement over the year ahead.

Seminars on Subsea Technology

Organized by Human Resource Program PRH18 from National Petroleum Agency with the support of SUT Brazil Branch.

24 February 2021 - General View of Flexible Pipes: Design, Fabrication and Installation

Mr. Gustavo Gomes 371 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

17 June 2021 - Status and Technological Tendencies for ROVs in the Oil&Gas Industry

Mr. Julio C. H. Rebello 111 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

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Brazil Branch contd

Short-Course: From Reservoir to Refinery

Organized by Human Resources Programs PRH7 from National Petroleum Agency with the support of SUT Brazil Branch.

Talk 1: Regulation and Legislation – 1st June 2021 - Dr. Leonardo Oliveira – ANP

1425 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 2: Oil & Gas Regulation – 2nd June 2021 - Dr. Meg Montana Kede de Luca- Shell Brasil

807 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 3: Opportunities for Innovations in the O&G Industry – 8 June 2021 - Mr. Raimar van den Bylaardt – SG Gestão Tecnologia e Ambiental / PhDsoft Tecnologia

636 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Brazil Branch

contd

Talk 13: General View of Elevation and Flow – 24 June 2021 - Dr. Danielle Monteiro e Dr. Gabriela Chaves – COPPE/UFRJ 354 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 14: Systems of Submerged Centrifugal Pump (BCS) – 28 June 2021 - Dr. Marcos Guimarães - Baker Hughes 477 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 15: NG Process and Oil Refinery - 29 June 2021 - Dr. Alexandre Leiras - COPPE/UFRJ

443 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 16: Process and Refinery - 30 June 2021 - Dr. Patrícia Carneiro - Petrobras

318 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 4: Innovation and the Future Professional – 9 June 2021 - Título: Inovação e o profissional do future - Mr. Leonardo Ramalho Machado - Shell 500 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 5: Petroleum Geology - 10 June 2021 - Prof. Jorge P. Figueiredo - UFRJ/IGEO

551 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 6: Applied Technologies for Formation Evaluation – 14 June 2021 - Dr. David Xavier - Halliburton

606 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 7: Reservoir Studies – 15 June 2021 - Mr. Luz Marina Zabala - COPPE/UFRJ

527 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 8: PVT Analyse / Phase Diagram – 16 June 2021 - Dr. Luiz Amado- BHP

422 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 9: Wells Drilling – 17 June 2021 - Dr. Shiniti Ohara- Barra Energia

461 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 10: Drilling Design – 21 June 2021 - Dr. Naisa Arturo - Shell

497 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 11: Well Completion Engineering – 22 June 2021 - Dr. Benjamin Plavnik - H&C Gestão de Risco Consultoria e Engenharia Ltda

407 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

Talk 12: Drawing Basic Aspects of the Well Completion - 23 June 2021 - Dr. Antonio Ortiz - Baker Hughes do Brasil

386 attendees | Watch here on YouTube

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Frank Lim

Committee

Chair Frank LIM Chair Emeritus DUAN Menglan Sponsor ZHANG Laibin Technical Advisors ZHOU Shouwei ZENG Hengyi CUI Weicheng Secretary SUN Ting Treasurer ZHANG Yu

AN Weizheng (Beijing) BAI Xinglan (Zhejiang) FENG Junkai (Beijing) LIANG Xu (Zhejiang) WANG Chunsheng (Daqing) XIE Peng (Guangzhou) YAN Jun (Dalian) ZHANG Dagang (Qingdao) ZHANG Changzhi (Shenzhen) ZHENG Hao (Changsha)

China Branch www.sut.org/branch/china

UT China branch successfully organized the 9th International SUT (China) Technical Conference & 1st SUT/SEG Marine Resource Exploration and SDevelopment Technology Symposium in Changsha, China from 6-8 January, 2021. The conference was hosted by SUT, SEG, Changsha Research Institute of mining and Metallurgy and China University of Petroleum-Beijing.

Due to the COVID-19, the conference was held both on-site and online.

Ten students were awarded Outstanding Student Presentations in this conference, and the list is shown overleaf.

Future Plans:

The 10th SUT (China) Conference will be jointly held in Dalian, China, from 2225 October 2021. The theme of this technical conference is “Ships and Marine Engineering Equipment”. The conference will be hosted by Dalian University of Technology, co-hosted by China University of Petroleum (Beijing), and supported by universities and research institutions such as Chinese Society of Mechanics, Liaoning Provincial Society of Mechanics, etc. Distinguished experts

China Branch

contd

in the field of offshore engineering will be invited from the UK, Singapore, Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and other foreign countries. Scholars and practicing engineers from China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Harbin Engineering University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, South China University of Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Ocean University of China and Zhejiang Ocean University attended the previous conferences. This conference will be an international and authoritative meeting of domestic and international experts and scholars on key topics such as underwater technology, intelligent manufacturing and monitoring of marine engineering equipment, construction of marine big data platform, and sustainable utilization of future marine engineering equipment and resources.

Committee Meeting during the 9th International SUT (China) Technical Conference

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Kuala Lumpur Branch www.sut.org/branch/malaysia-kuala-lumpur

he KL Branch has once again been in hiatus during this reporting year, as the Chair needed to stand down in 2020 due to work commitments, and Tas arrangements were being made to find a successor the coronavirus pandemic led to a suspension of Branch activities. We thank former Chair Ajan Das for his service and look forward to resuming Branch activities with a refreshed programme of event when it is safe to do so.

London & South of England Branch www.sut.org/branch/london

UT LSE is in rebuild mode after the months of lockdown and social distancing. Although remote webinars, podcasts and distance learning are now all part of SSUT’s remit for disseminating knowledge, another part is the social interaction between our members. We are now in the process of re-invigorating our face-toface events. Initially this will be through social events and will return to a schedule of presentations the new year.

Our thoughts are to run forum events with three to four speakers on a common theme. Our first will be on Carbon Capture and this is scheduled for February 2022. Although the future is “Net Zero” we will inevitably have ups and downs in our energy supply so in January we will return to the City, for a lunchtime presentation on forecasting the infrastructure needed offshore.

Former Chair - Ajan Das

Committee Chair TBA Vice Chair Mr Craig Ferguson Treasurer Dr Ir Jeyanthi Ramasamy Secretary Mr Eka Arora

Mr Shreenaath Natarajan Mr Feisal Alhady Mr Rudisham Marjohan Mr Marian Copilet Mr Roger Gregson Mr David Trees Mr Dino Sidhu Mr Azhar Zain Mr Ravi Kiran Kota Mr Raymond Teo Mr Ng Choon Peng

A lot of work has gone into preparing material for a City Subsea Awareness Course (SAC). Sadly, we have not managed to run this. Getting the right software package for booking, presenting, interacting, and recording the online course was difficult. Our intention, therefore, is run a face-to- face course in March 2022. The aims are for a day (or two half days) course with 2-3 speakers. The online course modules, written with great effort by Mark Murawiecki, represents a valuable tome of work that is still valid for a face-to-face course. The one-day course will also adaptable be to different target markets such as for investors in subsea technology.

SUT+ for our younger members is still vitally important. Encouraging their professional development within subsea technology is an important part of knowledge sharing within SUT. Equally it is hoped that they can be “Ambassadors” within their companies ie SUT catalysts: posting meeting notices and encouraging event attendance etc. We are actively encouraging links between the London and South Coast SUT+ members and also developing ties to other professional groups such as Lloyds U35s.

Summary

We are looking forward to a return to better more social times with Covid-19 tamed if not vanquished! Engaging with existing, and recruiting new corporate members is key to our future. Covid-19 has brought tough times for many of our corporate and individual members. We really appreciate that nearly all are continuing with their membership subscriptions and still enjoying the great value of the SUT.

The LSE branch is indebted to its committee for ideas and the energy to drive us forward. As ever we welcome anyone to the committee who would like to commit some time to see this important technology society grow.

Richard Binks

Committee

Chair Richard Binks Deputy Chair Keith Broughton Hon Treasurer Iain Knight Hon Secretary Graham Taylor Hon Sec SW Phil Johnston SUT Events Manager Jacqui Adams

Alex Argyros Chris Ashcroft Duncan Brown Peter Hayward Simon Hems Joe Hulm Brian Jones Mazin Eltayeb Mark Pickering Mark Murawiecki George Varelis Nigel Underwood

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Adrian Phillips

Committee

Chair Adrian Phillips

Dubai

Graeme Chalmers Ed Bevan Steve Goddard Bob Morgan Nawin Singh Farnaz Ghasemi Bedros Mardikian Anand Menon Ashish Rawal Chris West Ross Anderson Lesya Kramarenko

Abu Dhabi

Richard Richards Bill Hickie Russell Harper Brad Kirkland Spencer Clark Tarek Al Marzouqi John Charalambides Iain Selkirk Mark Thomer Neil Dalziel Ibrahim Fahmy Evgeniya Mitchell Katherine Ferguson

Middle East Branch www.sut.org/branch/middle-east

he seismic events of 2020 continued well into 2021, so we completely rejigged the program of events and have run a series of highly successful online Twebinars. ADIPEC was online so we started planning well ahead of the year and hit the ground running in January 2021 with Nexans 10,000T spread on the Aurora. We ran sponsored events on Conductor Repair with input from Aberdeen, Vessel Certification (a highly topical subject), Composites (growing interest) and finally Subsea Insurance (new topic from the insurance community).

ADIPEC is face to face again in November, but organisers DMG have created a somewhat scaled down Offshore, Marine and Commercial Dive Zone in Hall 14. We will have a stand but unlikely to host the popular X-Talks event where we normally show-case subsea technology.

Middle East continues to be a challenging domain for SUT type activity, with its climactic challenges, transient nature of the expatriate engineering community. Another 35% of the committee has changed jobs or left in the last year. The pandemic has not helped, but we have survived, and the committee has grown. The online momentum has been building and we now have over 1500 subsea professionals in the region with an interest in what we are doing.

We continue to draw the committee from some of the major players in the industry who have all been affected by the pandemic. This year I am proud to say we have all major EPC represented (NPCC, Saipem, McDermott and Subsea 7) and finally ADNOC. Otherwise the committee has representatives from Boskalis, DCN BV, Mermaid, Lloyd Warwick, Connector Subsea, Dolphin Energy, Motive, Pelagian, Prysmian, Baker Hughes, Gulf Marine, Oceaneering, Horizon, Unique, Dolphin, Subtech (James Fisher Offshore), Mermaid, Wood, SPE, Pipeshield and the Tekmar Group. These companies are the subsea industry in the Middle East and all focused-on Aramco, ADNOC and QG (QatarGas) offshore activity in Saudi, UAE and Qatar. I thank all for their continued energy and commitment.

Post ADIPEC we had a full program of events mapped out for 2021/2 under both webinar and our traditional “face-to-face” model, including the EPRS (Emergency Pipeline Repair Systems) event to be hosted by ADNOC in Dec 2021.

All said and done we continue to be at an early stage of our development, without staff, bank account or legal entity but we mark our third anniversary with a return to ADIPEC. We have an outline for a Middle East “Subsea Awareness Course” but looks like SUT has got this online already. It would need a Middle East spin!

North of England Branch www.sut.org/branch/north-of-england

nfortunately due to the impact of COVID the NoE committee were not able to arrange any lectures during the reporting period. However, some of Uthe branch committee were able to participate in a joint event with RINA/ IMAREST.

The committee is actively looking for additional members to strengthen the branch and bring extra diversity of subsea interests from the surrounding areas. The branch will be re-commencing visits and talks soon.

Martin Bingham

Committee Vice Chair & Acting Chair Martin Bingham Honorary Secretary Dr Simon Benson Treasurer Dr Ian Frazer Jacqui Adams Andrew Burton Marguerite Forde John Greenwood Andy Roberts Michael van Zwanenberg Denis Vasiljev Vahid Walker Elizabeth Waterman Michael Williams Nick Wright

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Branch Reports Norway Branch www.sut.org/branch/norway

he Norway Branch in Bergen had been ‘closed’ since the pandemic started. Much like the rest of the world, we experienced lockdown and this meant Tactivity was minimal for the branch. During the summer months of 2020 we had hope for a slow opening but we were hit hard again by COVID in November. Since then almost everyone who had the opportunity has been working from home, Universities and high schools had been closed and are still not open in some regions. This has been the background for the lack of SUT activities in Bergen, Norway. We are now adjusting and moving to more ‘normal’ times. We hope this will mean the reopening of branch activities in 2022.

We had been working closely with GCE Ocean Technology, co-hosts of the UTC conference, which took place online in June 2021.

We hope to plan more activities for the branch in 2021-2022.

Nils Vågen

Committee

Chair Nils Vågen Manager Tom Erikson

O Hagesaether GA Johansen RD Skre I Westervik

Singapore Branch www.sut.org/branch/singapore

his report summarizes the SUT Singapore Branch activities and statement of accounts for the calendar year 2021. T In accordance with the Society’s Singapore Branch Constitution, the main objectives of the Society are to:

• Promote the further understanding of the underwater environment;

• Encourage cross-fertilization and dissemination of ideas, experience and information between workers in academic research, applied research and technology, industry and government;

• Encourage development of techniques and tools to explore, study and exploit the oceans;

• Encourage proper economic and sociological usage of resources in and beneath the oceans;

• Encourage further education of scientists and technologists to maintain high standards in marine science and technology.

These objectives are achieved by organizing regular industry events we term “Technical Evenings” that provide a platform for subsea technology speakers and also the opportunity for industry networking of members and non-members.

Due to the continued global COVID-19 pandemic this year, all public gatherings were not permitted in Singapore. The year started with an invigorated committee that brought new ideas for our sponsorship program and academic out-reach. However, in accordance with Singapore Government social distancing measures, planned physical activities for 2021 have been postponed until further notice. This report has been written and issued by the SUT Singapore Branch Executive Committee.

Activities Report

The AGM was held on the 5th December 2020. In addition, for 2021 there were three regular committee meetings held as summarized here:

• 17th March

• 25th May

James Christie

Committee

Chair James Christie Vice Chair Colin Campbell Treasurer Wendy Lee Secretary Jose Manuel Puig

Xiang Liu Che Keong Lee Mark Colbridge Andy Ching Phillip Thomas Derrick Chow Andrew Blears Petter Nilsen Derek Donaldson Anthony Gleeson

• 8th September

The objective of the committee meetings is to discuss, organize and action the activities of the Society.

Due to the current restrictions, we needed to adapt to the new situation and rather than hold Technical meetings it was agreed that we would host a Webinar on July 29th on Remote Operations and Autonomous Technology. The webinar consisted of 3 x 15 minute presentations and attracted 160 attendees.

• Dr Ioseba Tena, Global Business Manager for Robotics, Sonardyne. Presenting Sonardyne in Robotics and Autonomy.

• Richard Mills, Vice President Marine Robotics, Kongsberg. Presenting Shore to Shore Operations with Robotic Systems.

• Sam Forbes, Director SpAARC, Fugro. Presenting The Future of Remote and Autonomous Operations.

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Branch Reports Singapore Branch contd

While the ambition for the SUT Singapore Branch was well intentioned, the local and regional restrictions hampered us severely into our strategy of progressing activities in the region. Our aim is to possibly hold another webinar to add value for our sponsors in Q4 and address the future and forward strategy of the SUT in the region during the AGM in December.

Branch Committee Members

During the 2020 AGM, Anthony Gleeson and Jose Puig resigned from their positions as Chairman and Secretary respectively, replaced by James Christie and Andrew Blears. Wendy Lee assumed the role of treasurer as Che Keong Lee stepped down. Petter Nilson was added as Committee member.

US Branch www.sut.org/branch/houston

UT-US is comprised by an Executive Committee and six technical committees; Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics (OSIG), Subsea Engineering and SOperations (SEO), Group on Environmental Forces (GEFUS), Robotics & Automation (R&A), and Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC); by three non-technical committees, the Young Professionals, Education, and Women in Industry Committees; and by five students chapters, Texas A&M University (SUTTAMU), the University of Houston (SUT-SES-UH), the Texas A&M University – Galveston (SUT-TAMUG), Rice University (SUT-RICE), and Prairie View A&M. All are active groups that meet regularly, and which have active memberships.

Notable efforts:

• SUT-US approved an Intellectual Property Agreement to protect the SUT-US and its presenters from any IP related issues. This agreement should enable the SUT-US to distribute recorded presentation material upon presenters/ companies consent.

• The SUT-US held its first Marine Autonomous Systems Virtual Technical Conference & Exhibition.

• SUT-US held its first Online Engineering Competition for 1) college students competing with other college student, graduate, and undergraduate students, and 2) young professionals with 0 to 3 years of professional experience. The organization ran from January 11 beginning with applications, until April 9th with the awards. Participation included 4 teams and 1 individual competitor solving problems in subsea carbon capture, remote subsea power systems and offshore renewable energy. This was sponsored by Subsea Shuttle and Sify. The 2022 competition will open for registration on January 17th.

• SUT-US held its first in-person Networking Event since June 2019. All learning programs have been held remotely, including our flagship Subsea Awareness Course.

• Transition to a 501C-3 organization is ongoing.

• SUT-US helped advertise the call for applications for Requests for Technical Support, RFTSs, to support marine renewable energy (MRE) testing and development projects, through the Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research (TEAMER™) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and directed by the Pacific Ocean Energy Trust (POET).

• SUT-US’ staff is comprised by Mrs. Patsy Rhymes who assumes the coordination of in-person events; Ms. Araceli Lopez who is responsible for the coordination of online events and overall communications for the Branch. Audrey Guzman works as a supporting editor and as an accounting assistant.

• A summary of the key activities held at the SUT-US branch for the period of

• 1 July 2020-30 June 2021 is detailed overleaf.

Members at Large Roger Osborne MREC Chair Education Committee Kim Faulk Steven Johnson Chair Christopher Curran Sandra Jakl John Allen Colin Johnston Rodolfo Sancio Maria Ancheril

Tricia Hill

Committee

Hon Chair & President Tricia Hill Hon Treasurer and Training Officer Don Schlater Hon Secretary Jan Van Smirren

OSIG Chair Andrew Hill School Touring Chair Andrew Haigh Robotics and Automation Chair Fathi Ghorbel Young Professionals Chair Patricia Varela Past SUT Chair Mark Siegmund Past SUT Chair Zenon Medina-Cetina SUT-TAMU Student Chapter Chair Connor Boze SUT-Prairie Student Chapter Chair Charles Stewart SUT-UH Student Chapter Chair

Damilola Abe SUT-Rice Student Chapter Chair Issam Ben Moallem

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US Branch contd.

Networking Events & Other

Attendance

1. Virtual Networking Event - August 6, 2020: 18

US Branch

contd.

• June 24, 2021 - Quantifying Ground Conditions from Marine Seismic Reflection Data: Applications for Offshore Renewables Projects by Dr. Mark Vardy, SAND Geophysics o Webinar attendees: 41

• Book Presentation Data Analytics for Engineering and Construction Project Risk Management - August 27, 2020: 15

• Virtual Networking Event - September 3, 2020: 20

• Scholarship Awards Ceremony September 18, 2020: 33

• Virtual Networking Event – October 1, 2020: 18

• Virtual Networking Event – December 3, 2020: 20

• Virtual Networking Event – February 4, 2021: 5

• Virtual Networking Event – May 6, 2021: 14

• In-person Networking Event – June 3, 2021: 15

Upcoming events:

• October 20, 2021 – Webinar Integrated Jack-up Rig Foundation Issues

• November 4, 2021 – Webinar the First Source to Sink Measurements of Turbidity Currents: New Insights for Seafloor Infrastructure

AGM

SUT US’ Annual General Meeting was held on December 4th, 2020. During this meeting, the executive committee introduced the new elected board members:

• Sandra Jackl (Wood)

OSIG’s School Touring Sub-committee has been paused since the beginning of the pandemic. As schools start to re-open this year, the Sub-committee is looking into the possibility of resuming its school visits and/or looking for alternative ways to provide presentations to students (i.e., Youtube). Some of the STEM presentations delivered are: Roving Robots, Geology Rocks, and Are we There yet?

• Rodolfo Sancio (Geosyntech)

• Roger Osborne(Re-elected)

• Steven Johnson (Consultant)

OSIG Committee

OSIG is comprised of the following subcommittees: Short Courses, Student/Faculty Research, Mentoring and Innovation, Learning Seminars & Webinars, School Touring and Communications. 44 active volunteers form OSIG. OSIG’s activities for the 2020/2021 year have included mainly webinars as listed below:

Learning Webinars

• November 19, 2020 – Gas Hydrates: Significance in Marine Site Characterization and Approach to Assessing Presence and Risk by Dan McConnell, Fugro o Webinar attendees: 20

• December 11, 2020 - High-resolution digital surface modeling for geological insight from the deep blue sea to the largest volcano in our solar system by Dr. Bill Haneberg, Kentucky Geological Survey o Webinar attendees: 11

• April 15, 2021 - Monitoring Top-hole Operations for Geohazards from Start to Finish by Richard Weiland, BHP o Webinar attendees: 27

• May 20, 2021 - Submarine Debris Flow Impact on Pipelines by Arash Zakeri, BP America Inc. o Webinar attendees: 25

SEO Committee

The Subsea Engineering and Operations Committee (SEO) has transition to SEO Atlantic. Its membership includes 30 individuals from the US, Canada, Mexico, and the UK: Texas A&M University, NOV, TechnipFMC, McDermott, Wood, CIGoM, 2H Offshore, Subsea7, Intecsea, Saab Group, Husky Energy, Dominion Diving, Double Engineering, Angler Solutions, Fugro, Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company,

SEO Atlantic is meeting monthly with technical presentations and discussing about potential learning programs.

Group on Environmental Forces (GEFUS)

19 volunteers form part of the Group on Environmental Forces (GEFUS).

Learning Luncheons, Webinars, Courses & Conferences

• October 22, 2020 – Eyes in the Deep Ocean – Webinar for Texas A&M Student Chapter by Jan van Smirren, Ocean Sierra LLC

• Webinar attendees: 30

• March 31 – April 1, 2021 - Marine Autonomous Systems Virtual Technical Conference & Exhibition Webinar attendees: 50

• April 27, 2021 - Expanding the availability of Oceanographic Data in the Gulf of Mexico by Bruce Magnell, Woods Hole Group, Inc. and Jan van Smirren, Ocean Sierra LLC Webinar attendees: 24

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US Branch contd.

US Branch

contd.

branches globally, and discussion has started on how to expand university student branches in the U.S. beyond the reach of the Houston centric executive.

Robotics and Automation Committee

The Robotics and Automation Committee (R&A) is chaired by Dr. Fathi Ghorbel, Professor at Rice University, and Director of the Robotics & Intelligent Systems Lab. Individuals from the following organizations committed membership: Schlumberger, SAAB, inRobotics, Kongsberg, Chevron, CANRIG, RBR Group, TAMU, UH CL, and Rice University.

Upcoming learning programs will focus on panel discussions on policy issues, standards, or key challenges in robotics and automation and strategies to address them.

Marine Renewable Energy Committee

Steve Johnson, retired Chevron, Chairs the Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC). Individuals from the following organizations committed membership: Geosyntech Consultants, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Wood Group, Prairie View A&M, Siemens, Fugro, Subsea7, Power Engineers, Element, Chevron, JDR Cables, Integral Consulting Services, and BP.

Learning Luncheons, Webinars & Courses

• October 7, 2020 – Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research Program Webinar attendees: 37

Upcoming learning programs:

• October 19, 2021 – Work Scopes and Vessels needed for Offshore Wind O&M by Siemens Gamesa

Education Committee

Four members comprise the Education Committee, chaired by John Allen. This committee is responsible for reviewing SUT US’ annual scholarship applications.

The 2020 scholarship recipients were recognized during the Scholarship Awards Ceremony on September 18,

1. The selected students by the Scholarships Subcommittee were:

2. Ruby Schaufler, Oceanography, Texas A&M University

3. Tara Rae van Niekerk, Coastal Resources Management, East Carolina University

4. Guillermo Duran, Geotechnical Engineering, Texas A&M University

5. Jack Cadigan, Civil Engineering, Louisiana State University

6. Agno Rubim de Assis, Hydrographic Science, University of Southern Mississippi

7. Oladeji Quadri Siyanbola, Physical Oceanography, University of Houston

Looking to establish clear membership guidelines, the education committee was previously broken down into separate entities, due to size. The board position of Chair for K-12 outreach was created, separating out the University student branch committee as a separate chair. John Allen is requested to assist create university student

Young Professionals Committee (SUT-YP)

Learning Luncheons, Webinars and Networking Events:

• October 28, 2020 – Webinar Delivering a sustainable low-carbon energy future from offshore renewables by Steve Hall, SUT Former CEO

• Attendees: 21

• January 12, 2021 Webinar Autonomous Survey Vehicles: Where we are and where we are going by Christopher McHugh Attendees: 23

• March 2, 2021 – Webinar Digital Data Platforms: A new Way of Working in Oil and Gas Industry by Sachin Mathakari, TechnipFMC Webinar attendees: 17

• May 28, 2020 – Webinar A Renewed Outlook on Renewable Energy: Foundations, Installation, and Future Trends for Offshore Wind in the US by Dr. Victor Taboada, Fugro Webinar attendees: 55

• April 13, 2021 – Webinar Maximizing the Benefits from a Mentoring Program

• Webinar attendees: 20

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Society for Underwater Technology

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Branch Reports US Branch contd.

The SUT-YP have remained active throughout the past years supporting SUT-US fundraising efforts and its mentoring program.

Women in Industry

The SUT-US Women in Industry Subcommittee (WIND) task force was created to cultivate awareness on inclusion, diversity, mentoring and leadership directly from academia and industry professionals. Its goal is to engage men and women equally through the Champagne & Conversation Series, a platform to learn about how the industry has changed over the past years in terms of diversity and inclusion by gathering senior level professionals as well as young professionals from the offshore energy industry, to talk about their experiences and share their experiences and advice

for future industry leaders. WIND is currently led by Luz Zarate, Physical Oceanographer at RPS, and complemented with membership from Chevron, Stress Engineering Services, GEMS, Intecsea, Geosyntech, and KBR.

Champagne and Conversation Series Events:

• May 6, 2021 – Edition 7- Transferable Skills From Oil & Gas to Renewable Energy -Attendees: 50 Link to event recording: htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIi5CJNdKZE

US Branch contd.

Student Chapters

The SUT-US paused activities for 2020-2021 given the conditions of the pandemic. It was difficult organizing events and recruiting membership.

Due to financial limitations, the Branch was not able to provide sponsorships to the Student Chapters. Efforts will be undertaken to help the Student Chapters revamp their activities, and the SUT-US is looking for sponsorship opportunities from companies and universities’ alumni.

The student chapters’ sponsorships help the student communities organize seminars, workshops, meetings, community service activities and competitions throughout the academic year.

In addition to renewable energy, the SUT-US Chair and President, Tricia Hill, envisions the Branch future including virtual meetings as appropriate. Live Learning (workshops and webinars) may remain for a long while. It is a low-cost way to reach more people, particularly people from out of town. The consensus is that hybrid platforms do not provide an equally engaging and satisfying experience for all involved, therefore we expect to have either all virtual or in-person only events.

As for the future of SUT, we see much interest in offshore renewables. Offshore renewables is a broad topic that spans several of our technical committees including OSIG, SEO Atlantic, as well as our newly formed MREC committee. While the subjects vary from seabed preparations in the OSIG committee to carbon capture in the SEO Atlantic committee to supply chain in the MREC committee, the central theme of offshore renewables, particularly fixed and floating wind, are generating more and more interest. We also have recent engagement with academia on the subject including how to transfer traditional offshore O&G skills to offshore renewable jobs. With the downturn in O&G and the uptick interest in offshore renewables, we have started to look at how to help our membership make the career transition and see more clearly how to map their skill set and how to talk about it in a job interview. For perspective, the US goal is 30GW of renewable energy in 2030. The USA currently has 0.032GW of renewable energy in the national grid. Ninerenewable projects in review, all totaling 19GW. Source: Amanda Lefton, BOEM Director.

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Society for Underwater Technology

Branch Reports

Annual Report 2020-2021

West Africa Branch www.sut.org/branch/west-africa

West Africa Branch

contd.

• To stimulate knowledge and understanding all through the energy industry and provide training as required by industry. This may be through the Technical Panels, Working Groups, industry experts and training companies.

David Agazuma

Committee

Branch President David R. E. Agazuma Chair Prof. Francis Ifeayin Anyasi Vice Chair Nwogu Chukwuemeka Nnamdi Vice Chair Dr Anietie Umofia Vice Chair Prof. B. I. Imasogie Honorary Secretary Dr Oloruntoba Daniel Toyin Honorary Treasurer Dr Emmanuel Ufuah Administrative Secretary Nnenna Sandra Njoku Prof. Kingston Nyamapfene Prof. Peter Azikiwe Onwualu Prof. M.A. Akintunde Prof. Mark AdomAsamoah Prof. Esther U Ikhuoria Onuoha Okechukwu Ogbebor Anthony Osagie Celestine Imhanbibi Okonokhua Professor Francis Warings Yao Momade

ike most businesses around the world, SUT West Africa branch activities were adversely impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic. As always, the safety Land wellbeing of our people were the top priorities of the local branch, and we reacted swiftly to implement new ways of working to accommodate the logistical and operational challenges. Our local branch adhered to strict quarantine and testing regimes, while our official meetings exhibited good working practices to satisfy local regulations for social distancing.

These precautions came at a financial cost, but we continue to develop new initiatives and reach out to members while safeguarding the health and safety of our people.

The Branch’s relationship with educational institutions of higher learning continues to be strong, with plans to create the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies special interest group (SIG) in conjunction with Covenant University and the University of Ghana.

The SIG will bring together a group of experts that would consider all technical and safety matters relating to hydrogen, including the environmental impact of the construction and use of hydrogen installations, transmission, distribution, measurement, and utilization. Our plans are to also work very closely with industries locally and internationally in order to effectively deliver the mandate of the committee as regards the generation of Renewable Energy, creation of Hydrogen Economy and the development of Fuel Cell Technologies:

Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Committee’s Objectives and Priorities:

• Debate areas of common interest regarding health and safety, share safety alerts across the fuel cell and Hydrogen industry and develop best practice guidelines for its operations.

• Offer suitable references for public domain fuel cell and Hydrogen statistics.

• Introduce guidance and support to member companies regarding Safety Cases, HAZOP surveys and planning investigations.

• Provide expert input to the fuel cell and Hydrogen quality and regulatory debate.

• To agree technical work plans for the preparation or review of Technical Standards or Guidance.

• To prepare and when necessary, revise fuel cell and Hydrogen Series Standards.

• To review and adopt current European and British legislation and Standards, as well as International Standards, relating to fuel cell and Hydrogen. In addition to provide input through proper channels on draft legislation and Standards.

• To examine important fuel cell and Hydrogen related developments worldwide.

• To maintain an effective liaison with regulating authorities and other industry bodies concerned with the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen industry.

Nkiruka Helen Agazuma Prof. Daniel Obikwelu Prof Kwasi Obiri-Danso Prof. Onwona-Agyeman Prof Osagie Ighodalo Dr. Ahmed Galadima Aminu Prof Ukwuoma Okechukwu

• To expand local knowledge in Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies through the development and effective delivery of the master’s degree programmes in Energy and Green Hydrogen Technologies, Fuel Cell and Clean Mobility Technologies, and Process Safety Engineering.

• To promote research and development in Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles and off grid Fuel Cell Micro power stations.

The West Africa Branch has continued its collaborative engagement with the University of Benin and KNUST Ghana to establish the Centre for Energy Transition & Mobility Technologies in Climate Change. The proposed centre is envisaged to become a dynamic research centre of excellence that will bring together the power of interdisciplinary research to bear on the climate crisis. The centre will be nationally known for its expertise in research, development, applications and demonstrations of clean energy and mobility technologies.

The initiative will build upon the University of Benin and KNUST decades of energy-related research, education, and partnerships from across academia, industry, government, and society to support the collective effort needed to bring about the transition to a low carbon energy system in Nigeria, Africa, and the world at large.

The centre will encourage the formation of renewable hydrogen economies that would offer solutions to many of the social, economic, and environmental issues faced by Nigeria. It will lay out a framework for its vision of the hydrogen economy in Nigeria.

Research Focus:

• Green Port and Harbour Development

• Green and Blue Hydrogen Production

• Energy Transition Systems and Technology Development

• Solid State Fuel Cell Technologies

• CNG/ICE Conversion Technologies

• Energy Systems Governance, policies, and strategies

• Fuel Cell power and Electric Vehicle

• EV Charging, CNG and Hydrogen Stations Design

• Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization Technologies

The committee of the west Africa branch remains strongly enthusiastic, imaginative, and creative. We are strongly seeking more support and sponsorship from member organizations, industry, education and other learned societies, and we are optimistic about getting desired support as the world transit towards the actualization of net zero carbon emissions.

The branch will continue to pursue and encourage academic institutions and energy companies to sign up for SUT membership. Students at the member universities have also been encouraged to sign up for SUT individual membership in that they are the future players in the offshore and renewable energy technology arena

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Committee Reports Education

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

International Training

Sue John

adly, the committee has not met during the reporting period July 2020 - June 2021. We hope to reconvene in 2022, and will be looking into ways the Scommittee can deliver events on careers in the subsea industry, potentially paving the way for a career pathway information library.

The well-loved Christmas Lecture series seems to have ground to a halt, that does not mean that there is no will to run them. However, with the steady return of face-to-face events there could still be hope on the horizon that these popular events might return to London and Aberdeen.

The SUT now offers Marine Technologist Registration and Marine Science Registration. In December 2020 we were happy to announce the first SUT Chartered Marine Technologists -

• Tom Bennetts CMarTech of Sonardyne

• John Houlder CMarTech of Sonardyne

our very successful virtual courses have been delivered over the last year. All courses were well subscribed to and our expert presenters well-received. F The courses also made an excellent money surplus for the Society. More are to be held in the new year with the possibility of new niche courses. These new courses obviously depend on the generous amount of time that our volunteer course developers can donate for the benefit of the Society.

Andrew Connelly and Emily Boddy continue to do an excellent job with the SUT podcast and remain a good point of contact for the possibility of new members. The podcast took a well-earned break over the summer, Andrew and Emily have been preparing plenty more episodes to take us up to the end of the year. Listen out for some really good conversations with Martin Sayer on Scientific Diving, Dave Shaw on the Underwater Stage at Pinewood Studios, Shruthi Sivadasan of SUT+, Michele Stanley of SAMS on seaweed research, and of course Aleksandra Tomaszek - the Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics award winner!

Sue John

• André Rose CMarTech of IMCA

Committee

Chair Sue John

John Allen Emily Boddy Fiona Crouch Jim Grant Dr. Bev MacKenzie Roger Palmer Jonathan Potts Duncan Purdie Tim Slingsby

The Marine Technologist Register is open to everyone who can demonstrate the required high-level knowledge, understanding, and professional competence. There are many routes that can be measured to meet this standard, including a combination of academic awards, vocational qualifications, and experiential learning through work. Competence includes the knowledge, understanding, and skills that underpin performance.

Chartered Marine Scientists are professionals, who harness, exploit, manage, use or apply marine science in the pursuit of wealth creation and/or the provision of services in the marine sector. Chartered Marine Scientists are characterized by their ability to deal with complex issues, both systematically and creatively and can make sound judgments in the absence of complete data to develop solutions to problems and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and nonspecialist audiences.

We encourage applicants and welcome those who would like to know more.to go to www.sut.org/professional-marine-registration/ or to contact [e-mail] .

Six year after it was first published, the ‘Lobster Book’ as it is fondly known, is still selling copies to young (and not-so-young!) people eager to learn about all things subsea. Can a Lobster be an Archaeologist? continues to inspire readers with stories written by SUT members and friends all about our fascinating underwater world. This year we heard the sad news that Bil Loth, the book’s champion, and SUT President at the time of publication, passed away. We are ever-grateful to Bil for aiding us in inspiring and educating the next generation with this fantastic book.

Committee

Chair Sue John

Tony Laing Paul Benstead Charles Reith Graham Whitehead Keith Broughton Rex Hubbard Steve Johnson Jacqui Adams Mark Murawiecki Richard Binks Iain Knight David Brookes

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Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Educational Support Fund Management

he Society for Underwater Technology continues to support high quality students through our Educational Support Fund, and each summer we invite applications for scholarships which attract candidates from Tacross the world. Unfortunately, we are not resourced to be able to award funding to everyone who applies (over 30 applicants this year), but we hope to be able to grow the number of awards we make in future.

As two previously supported students completed their degree programmes, the Society was able to make two new scholarship awards. The recipients of grants from the Educational Support Fund are: Vanda Czene who will be studying Marine Biology with Oceanography at the University of Southampton and Erin Nicolson, studying Ecology and Conservation at University of St Andrews.

While students from all over the world are able to apply for the ESF scholarships, several of our Branches operate their own scholarship schemes with USA Branch raising thousands of dollars of corporate sponsorship to support students from Texas A&M, Rice, and Houston universities for now, with others planned for the future. Perth (Australia) Branch also support scholarships. Our China Branch also hopes to support studentships in the next year or two.

Summary of Undergraduates graduated in 2021

University of New England University of Plymouth

Summary of New/Continuing Undergraduates 2021-2022

Marine Science with Oceanography and Robotics - Scottish Association for Marine Science Marine Science with Oceanography and Robotics - Scottish Association for Marine Science Engineering Science - University of Oxford

Marine Biology with Oceanography - University of Southampton Ecology & Conservation - University of St Andrews

International

he SUT’s international committee met in March with former CEO Steve Hall taking on the duties of Chair, enabling Dr David Kirkley to stand down after Tover 20 years of service in the role. We thanked David, who continues to be a member of the committee, and welcomed Tricia Hill, new Chair of SUT-US and Steve Duffield Chair of Perth branch to the committee.

The committee members preferred to retain the name ‘International Committee’ rather than move to calling themselves Branch Development Committee as had been suggested by some members of Council, feeling that it reflected the heritage and role of the committee, but agreed that their remit does include ensuring that there is a consistent standard that Branches all over the world including the UKbased ones should follow, promoting the core science, engineering, technology, education and policy interests of the Society for Underwater Technology, in particular making sure that all Branches follow the highest standards of probity and ethical behaviour.

Steve Hall

The Committee awaits a report from a sub-group of Council that is exploring how to fairly allocate resources and membership income across the global network, and supported the recommendation from Council Member Steve Johnson, and input from CEO Cheryl Burgess that we go ahead with the development of an Eastern Mediterranean Branch centred on Cyprus. We’ll continue to support the efforts of our members in Canada to set up a Branch there.

Committee

Chair Steve Hall

David Saul David Kirkley Frank Lim Tricia Hill Jim Neffgen Steve Duffield Susan John Laurie Ayling

The Committee accepted reports from all of the current Branches, noting that some have not met for a year due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, and by the time of the next meeting we hope to have heard updates from those who had gone into hibernation awaiting a return to a more normal world.

The Committee is keenly watching developments between SUT and the Marine Technology Society to see how the relationship evolves, and will support Council and the membership in delivering whatever future pathway the Societies choose to follow, initially via the mutual awarding of Chartered Marine Technologist status licensed from IMarEST for those of our members who choose to pursue professional accreditation.

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Committee Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Policy Advisory

he SUT Policy Advisory Committee did not meet face-to-face in 2020/21 due to the global coronavirus pandemic; committee action and communications Twere impeded by changes of committee membership. Responses to enquiries from Parliamentary Committees, government departments, agencies and working groups were disseminated to special interest groups for comment and input. Development of the new special interest groups have broaden the scope for SUT policy engagement in defence, offshore renewables, environmental science and protection.

The Society remains uniquely placed to provide a voice from our members and industry sectors as a learned society helping to inform and educate policy makers about the challenges, issues, solutions, innovations, research, aspects and state of the art underwater technology currently available and in development for future use during the coming decades.

Cheryl Burgess

If members are interested in joining the Policy Committee in 2022, please contact [e-mail]

Committee

Chair Cheryl Burgess

Publications

he last issue of the journal Underwater Technology was published by the Society for Underwater Technology in March 2021. The decision to stop Tpublishing the journal was based primarily on the financial position of the Society but the endpoint was perhaps inevitable considering the state of modernday academic publishing and the ways in which academics are currently assessed. Multinational publishing houses have the resources to support and promote journals in ways that small, learned societies struggle to compete with. Academics are encouraged by employers and funding bodies to publish their research in topical or high-impact journals. Instant open access is now an almost universal requirement even though it can result in significant volumes of research funding going to publishers that make large profits. Whereas rejection from publishing in the higher impact journals used to result in high-quality research re-directing to lower impact journals, there is now the trend of journal “families” that trade based on the high-end family name allowing them to retain the output volume along with the concomitant publication fees. And then there is the impact from the evident corruption of predatory publications that contaminate and erode the academic basis of peer-reviewed publication while generating confusing but competing outputs.

Martin Sayer

Committee

Chair Martin Sayer Secretary Elaine Azzopardi

The last issue can be accessed here: htps://issuu.com/sut7/docs/underwater_ technology_38.1

Emily Boddy Michaelagh Broadbent Prof Gwyn Griffths Dr Ralph Rayner

Volume 1, issue 1 of the journal was published in the spring of 1975; 46 years later, volume 38, issue 1 completed the series. I have been the editor of the journal since 2007 and have had the pleasure of working with some great people during that time, but with special mention to the assistant editors I have worked with recently: Mariam Pourshoushtari, Michaelagh Broadbent, Elaine Azzopardi and Emily Boddy. Although there is sadness with seeing the journal coming to an end, I am looking forward to having more time available in the evenings and weekends. With the closure of the journal, the decision was taken to shut down the Society’s Publications Committee.

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Technical Committee Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Defence

Activities

March Webinar/Presentation

In March a webinar/presentation was held to present the SIG and what it can offer potential members. The meeting was attended by approximately 20 people, from a range of organisations including large prime contractors to SMEs. A questionnaire was sent to the attendees following the meeting to establish the activities that were most of interested; the results of which are shown in the chart below. The areas of most interest are technology based, including generation of white papers and technical workshops. Training and career development are lowest priorities

Ocean Business

The Defence Special Interest Group also chaired and presented a session of Ocean Business event. There were a number of presentation by SUT Defence SIG, which were:

Nick Swift

Introduction to SUT Defence SIG

Committee

Nick Swift gave a brief overview of the Defence SIG and its planned scope.

Chair Nick Swift Deputy Chair Phorcys – An open and secure acoustic communication standard to enable multi- Roland Rogers domain C4 in coalition maritime environments The speakers for the presentation were Alex Hamilton of DSTL and Jon Davies, the Captain Ryan Ramsey senior technical consultant on the project. The presentation included a review of Terry Sloane the recent work done on the open underwater acoustic communication system for Keith Broughton the defence industry, including a technical description of the waveforms and the Matthew Gleed results of recent trials. Ioseba Tena Alan Noble NATO Smart Defence Project Anti-Submarine Warfare Barrier David Maclean The presentation was given by David Burton is the Director of ASW Barrier Smart Defence Initiative (SDI) at NATO and covered NATO’s initiative to build a viable Ian Danbury

The speakers for the presentation were Alex Hamilton of DSTL and Jon Davies, the senior technical consultant on the project. The presentation included a review of the recent work done on the open underwater acoustic communication system for the defence industry, including a technical description of the waveforms and the results of recent trials.

The presentation was given by David Burton is the Director of ASW Barrier Smart Defence Initiative (SDI) at NATO and covered NATO’s initiative to build a viable ASW Barrier Technical Demonstrator (hold at risk) that is enabled by the Allied Underwater Battlespace Mission Network. It described how Maritime Unmanned Systems, working in conjunction with conventional manned assets will deliver underwater capabilities of the future.

Question and Answer Session

The workshop includes a question-and-answer session in which one the key themes was how users engage with industry. The Defence SIG will take this as an action to develop a mechanism for facilitating for such engagement.

Future Plans for the Defence SIG.

Now that life is somewhat returning to normal it is time to reinvigorate the SIG and there are some ideas and activities that will be pursued in the future. These include:

• Defence SIG area on the SUT website, including members only information repository

• Presentation at industry events, including:

• Under Water Defence and Security – May 2022

• Oceanology International (TBC) - March 2022

• Series of workshops

Committee

There are positions available on the committee, so please let me know if you are interested in being involved.

Nick Swift – Presenting the SUT Defence SIG at Ocean Business, Southampton in October 2021

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Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Technical Committee Reports

Diving and Manned Submersibles

he Diving and Manned Submersibles Committee has not met in the past 12 months. The predominant cause was the Covid pandemic, but its activity has Talso been significantly impacted by the death of its chair, Dr John Bevan, in 2020.

It is hoped to reconvene the Committee in 2022 following a review of its structure and purpose.

Martin Sayer

Committee

Acting Chair Martin Sayer Clerk Emily Boddy

Gavin Anthony Cdr Alan Bax Neil Brock Mark Caney Taira Caton Mark Dunkley Paul Evans Oliver Firth Alison James Gerrard Laden Sally Marine Tony Marshall Garry Momber Don Shires Judith Tetlow Graham Wilson

Environmental Forces

he SUT Group on Environmental Forces (SUTGEF) exists to advance and disseminate knowledge on the environmental forces that act on offshore Tstructures. It is the aim of the group to encourage the advance and dissemination of knowledge in those aspects of the atmosphere and ocean which affect the design of offshore and underwater structures, or which affect offshore and underwater operations; also, the mechanisms by which these environmental factors produce forces on structures.

Adapting to the new normal, the SIG has held one online meeting on 25th with two presentations on wave energy by international researchers (Sweden and Australia). This was well-received and attended by 76 people. The SIG hopes to have another meeting in September 2021, whether this is online or face-to-face, or a mixture of both. We are focussed on issues related to offshore renewable energy, to be in line with Net Zero goal of UK and the world.

Qingwei Ma

Committee

Chair Prof QW Ma Secretary AN Moore Prof T Adcock R Addlesee Dr R Ahilan Prof N Barltrop Dr WJD Bateman Prof PW Bearman F Beiboer Dr M Birkinshaw Dr E Buldakov D Carter Prof DM Causon Prof JR Chaplin Dr M Christou RL Davies Dr KR Drake Prof R Eatock Taylor AJ Fyfe Dr R Gibson Prof D Greaves G Grewal

Dr J Hamilton Dr R Sheikh Prof P Stansby A Watson Dr G Jeans Dr E Spentza Prof C Swan W Tan M Johnson Dr J Spinneken Prof P Taylor R Webb I Leggett R Sproson Dr P Tromans Dr G Weymouth Dr A Raby Dr R Standing T van den Bremer Dr J Zang

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Technical Committee Reports Marine Environmental Science

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Marine Renewable Energies

Katie Cross

Chair Katie Cross Secretary Lucy Shuff Events Secretary Nathan Formosa

Ainslie Casson Alison Brand Andy Matkin Cemlyn Barlow Cheryl Burgess Chris Poonian Damien Kirby Edward Wort Gareth MacGlennon Gary Nicol Ian Reach Ian Wilson Idongesit Ikpewe Isabelle Rundle Jack Poleykett Judith Patten Katrien Van Landeghem Matthew Davison Mick Cook Paul Collins Ross Bullimore Ross Compton Ryan Mowat

Sam Strutton Samantha Williams

s the seas and oceans of the world become increasingly used as a resource for a host of activities, more and more attention is paid to the Aenvironmental impacts of such use. So much so that the SUT established a new Special Interest Group specially for marine environmental science – the Marine Environmental Science SIG. The scope of discussion for the group is wide ranging, and the background, and location, of the current members is testament to this. We are however still open to new members, especially those with an environmental interest who work for operators and the regulators.

To date we have held five virtual meetings and are looking forward to holding the first in person meeting in Southampton, on 13 October 2021, a meeting which is coinciding with Ocean Business. To date the meetings have been focused on exploring environmental science topics of interest. Topics are suggested my members of the group. At each meeting we have had one or two expert guest speakers to introduce a topic. Their presentation has been followed by an open discussion. Marine Environmental Science topics to date have been eDNA sampling and analysis, deep sea mining and Marine Protected Areas. The topic for the next meeting is ‘Elephants, seaweed, worms and satellites’ which is to be followed by a discussion on the subject of our current energy landscape.

Moving forward we are aiming to hold a virtual/face-to-face meeting every quarter. By exploring different topics, we hope to identify problems/difficulties within the marine environment and begin to identify solutions which help facilitate us all having a positive impact on the marine environment. There is overlap between the issues and discussion subjects that the members of the MES SIG wish to discuss and develop and we are all therefore looking forward to explore any synergies with other SIGs.

Samuel Stanton Sebastian Volkmann

Stephen Johnson Vere Ross-Gillespie Ute Brönner

he Committee has continued with its usual meetings online with higher attendance due to the need not to travel to London. There has been a Tspeaker at each meeting which has included presentations on OTEC (ocean thermal energy), the Orbital Marine Power O2 tidal energy device, Ocean Power Technologies (wave energy) and Bombora (wave power; and also wave power integrated with floating offshore wind (FOW)).

A report was tabled on non-grid applications of marine renewable energy at the April meeting, with four in progress and a further 13 at the concept or prototype stage. These included production of green hydrogen, desalination and powering oil and gas platforms.

A particular significant event in the last year has been the initiation of the US MREC and there has been input at each UK meeting from its chairman. Two members of the UK committee have also joined the US meetings online. It is encouraging to work with the US Committee as they build up their expertise.

During the year the committee had responded to two different UK consultations. One being the BEIS letter looking for new technologies to be involved in the capacity market, and the other being from the Environmental Audit Committee on tidal range and tidal stream.

The committee reviewed its annual plan at the beginning of the year and highlighted some areas where little progress had been made. This included the need to review the text on the careers part of the SUT web site on marine renewables which was recognised to be out of date and not reflecting the rapid progress that has been made in this field in recent years. This is now in hand.

Considerable progress has been made in floating wind which is now part of the committee’s portfolio and is discussed at each meeting

The Lennard-Senior prize for 2020 was presented at the SUT AGM meeting instead of at All-Energy which was postponed due to Covid. The winner was Simon Cheeseman from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

John Sharp

Committee

Chair Prof J Sharp Secretary C Burgess Clerk E Boddy

D Ayling N Bennett D Brookes K Buckle S Cheeseman J Colby P Davies P Fraenkel J Grant J Griffiths C Hanly J Hulm G James S Johnson D Kerr Dr S Merry N Morgan T Morris M Murphy Dr R Norman J Patten MBE G Plant T Sawyer T Van Der Kammen S Wilson M Wright

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Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Technical Committee Reports Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics

Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics

contd.

Neil Morgan

Committee

Chair Neil Morgan Secretary Tim Carrington Peter Allan Ricardo Argiolas Jon Arthur Paul Baggaley Mike Baker Andy Barwise Andrew Benson Emily Boddy Scott Boyce Michael Brown Nigel Carey Eric Cauquil

he past twelve months have been busy and successful for the OSIG committee. Since March activity has continued with online discussions Tand meetings where possible. In September we had our first meeting with physical attendees and a high online attendance. The key highlights of the past year are summarised below.

Organisation of Committee

In the September 2021 meeting it was agreed that we would reorganise ourselves to be considered as a Special Interest Group. Given the continuing interest in membership and ever-growing list of members it seems more appropriate that OSIG retains a smaller executive committee to attend to administrative matters and concentrate the quarterly meetings on technical matters and industry networking. Smaller working groups will be formed to address particular topics or discussions. We will shortly begin the process of forming an executive committee and working with the new structure.

Short courses for industry and students

A physical event on the theme of “Energy In Transition and the Impacts for Site Investigation and Characterisation” went ahead in Newcastle in September 2021 with over 110 attendees including speakers and sponsors. It was great to see this event go ahead and be so well attended and, with the ongoing COVID situation, the success was down to the hard work and persistence of the organisers.

The annual one-day course for Master’s students at Imperial went ahead in the online format and had over 100 attendees.

Preparation for an online short course to be held in November 2021 is well underway and this will present similar topics to the previously successful two-day courses. The delivery of material will be supported by worked examples to ensure audience engagement and learning.

OSIG Conference

Planning work for the OSIG conference has continued with the development of

conference themes, a scientific committee and keynote speakers in the process of being identified. The conference will take place in London from the 12th to 14th September 2023 with an announcement early 2022. Sponsorship will be a key factor to a successful conference and the process for obtaining sponsorship will soon begin.

Guidance notes and standards

The final version of, ‘Guidance notes for Geophysical and Geotechnical Ground Investigations for Offshore Renewable Energy Developments’ that was published in 2014 has been updated and it is hoped this document can be made available in early 2022. The document presents a considerable update to the previous version published in 2014 and the update is in the final draft stage. We also hope to arrange a physical launch event once the document is ready.

Work on updating the other SUT-OSIG Guidance Notes has also progressed with sub-committees continuing work on the following documents:

• Site Investigations for Marine Pipelines and Subsea Structures

• Work has also commenced on the production of a new guidance note on the shallow gas risk in geotechnical drilling.

Members also continue to actively participate in the following international standards:

• ISO Standard ‘Marine Soil Investigations’

• ISO Standard ‘Geophysical Site Investigation’

• ISO Standard ‘Geotechnical and foundation design considerations’

• OGP-D ‘Guidelines for the Conduct of Offshore Drilling Hazard Site Surveys’

Closing comments

The OSIG committee has continued to work hard on the short courses and guidance notes. It is hoped that physical meetings can continue to ramp up and that online participation in these will continue to be possible.

David Colliard Chris Golightly Tom Lunne Richard Salisbury William Cleverly Kevin Hampson Alisdair MaConochie Roi Santos Mick Cook Aime Harrison Chris Martin Alex Searle David Coursey Majid Hesar Rich Metters David White Michael Cowie Ray Hobbs Neil Morgan Phil Wilson Karen Dalton Dei Huws Simon Oakley Gareth Wood Andrew Deeks A Ivanovic Richard Orren Guangquan Xu Justin Dix Richard Jardine Julian Osborne Alice Maynard Phil Durrant Suzanne Lacasse Miguel Pacheco-Andrade Felix Schroeder Jim Edmunds Thomas Langford John Powell Chris Almond Phil Edwards Peter Larkin Toby Powell Paul West Mark Finch Vincent Latron Oyvind Ruden Anna Ian Finnie Mark Lawrence David Rushton Wolowicz-Trouwborst Scott Gooding Dafydd Lloyd-Jones Rupert Rowland

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Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

Technical Committee Reports

Salvage and Decommissioning

Salvage and Decommissioning contd.

fter another successful year of monthly meetings in the Decom and Wreck Removal (D&WR) sub-committee, with continued growth in numbers Aand interest; and concurrently with the opening of the D’Arcy Thompson Simulator Centre (@D’Arcy) at the University of St Andrews; and also a revamping of the Sensors and Platforms Forum in the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland, with which we work closely, the decision has been made to restart the Marine Salvage and Emergency Subsea Response sub-committee, in order to improve interaction across the marine space. The themes of innovation and technology will be shared equally across the two sub-committees. This is considered to be a very important step in the light of increased focus across all sectors on sustainability, responsibility and ecosystem impact.

A key development has been the formation of the X-COM Working Group, led by Dr Alison Brand. This specialist interest group (sig), within a Specialist Interest Group (SIG) focuses on the use of explosives in the marine space as a cutting technique. Its remit is to create a set of open consistent and transparent metrics to benchmark the respective efficiency and ecosystem impact of various cutting options, taking a holistic, lifetime approach, and time and place into consideration. A focussed effort has been made to achieve a good working interface with the Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) SIG and the Marine Environmental Science (MES) SIG, both of which are also newly formed, with members from the Decom and Wreck Removal sub-committee sitting on both.

Moya Crawford

Committee

Chair Moya Crawford Chair Karen Seath SUT CEO Cheryl Burgess Coordinator Abigail Davies

In terms of the impact of COVID, the annual SUT/MASTS Salvage, Decommissioning and Wreck Removal workshop was held on 8th and 9th October online using the HOP-IN platform; the latter being very ably organised by MASTS’ Hanna LaddJones. The theme for 2020 was, ‘Informing Global Sustainability Challenges’ and the event was well-attended; with the benefit of a virtual meeting being that speakers and attendees who would not normally find the time to travel to Glasgow, being able to attend. This included a significant number from abroad. Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, for the Scottish Government gave the keynote address and Laura DeLaTorre, Deputy Secretary, OSPAR opened the Friday morning session, giving an overview of its strategy. Highly sensitive subjects, such as ‘rigs to reefs’ and the use of explosives were discussed and we even ventured into space with a presentation on ‘A holistic, ecosystem impact approach to satellite launch and rocket recovery, by Alan Thompson, Government Affairs, Skyrora.

Vidar Åhjem Eliana Mercy Araujo Felicity Arthur John Baxter Alison Brand Simon Burney Kevin Campbell Sarah Canning Andrew Chamberlain Nick Donnelly Arnstein Eknes Jim Elliott Mike Elliot Kate Gormley Lee Hanlon Becky Hitchin Hannah Hood Mark James Nigel James

We would very much like to thank Sponsors, Waves Group, Invest in Fife and CessCon for their continued support of the Workshop, as the money they donate literally helps us to bring people with an interest in the underwater marine space together – a key measure of success for the Society, as a whole.

Looking forward, the SPE Offshore Europe exhibition event planned for September 2021, where we have been invited to hold a session in the Decom Zone, has been postponed until February 2022.

Tony Laing Thomas Miller Bill Ritchie Dan Stewart Mark Lawrence Joel Mills Murray Roberts Simon Swallow Hannah Lawson Peter Oliver Sally Rouse Win Thornton Andy Liddell Kilian Palop Erin Sherratt Tom Walters Andy Matkin David Paterson Mark Shields Martin Watts

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Technical Committee Reports

Society for Underwater Technology

Annual Report 2020-2021

International Underwater Vehicles and Robotics Group

or the SUT/ECOR Panel on Underwater Robotics, our online meetings have continued twice yearly Fthrough the pandemic, although we missed the chance to meet face-to-face at the IEEE OES AUV 2020 conference hosted by Memorial University from 30 Sep-2 Oct, 2020. Our meeting was held alongside the conference on 28 September 2020 and was open to all conference attendees. The Chair, Dr. Mario Brito, Co-Chair, Dr. Neil Bose, and 16 attendees from the UK, USA, Canada, Norway, Australia, and Portugal met to discuss the advancement in AUV technology and the republishing of the Polar AUV Best Practices Guide. We met again on 31 May 2021 where we attempted to expand our group by inviting younger AUV professionals and researchers leading to new participants from Singapore, Sweden, and China.

Mario Brito

Neil Bose

Committee

Chair Neil Bose Co-Chair Mario Brito Secretary Bo Thanyamanta SUT CEO Cheryl Burgess

The SUT Polar AUV Guide website is now ready to be linked to the SUT website as we expect more hands-on AUV Case Studies from our members. We recommended to SUT Council the first winner of the Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award (GGURA 2021) which aims to recognize people in the early to mid-stages of their career who have made outstanding contributions to their field in underwater robotics. GGURA 2022 is now open for nominations and will be awarded later in 2022 You can submit a nomination Bo Thanyamanta via the SUT website at www.sut.org/gwyn-grifthsunderwater-robotics-award-ggura/ . We also initiated a speaker series of various marine robotics related topics ranging from operations, designs, and field trials. Our next meeting will be held virtually later in 2021. We are planning to meet face-to-face again in Singapore at the IEEE OES AUV 2022 conference.

Luke Alden Brian Claus Nathan Ehrenholz Shuangshuang Fan Alex Forrest Gwyn Griffiths David Hopkin Alex Johnson Chris Kaminski Bill Kirkwood Florie Mancel Richard Mills Alex Phillips Supun Randeni Rolly Rogers João Sousa Ivan Stenius Maxine von Eye Anna Wahlin Bungy Williams Jingjing Xu Wen Xu Yanwu Zhang Fumin Zhang Ting Zou Mingxi Zhou

Future Direction

• Continue to include the option to meet virtually to ensure we maintain a true international engagement.

• Continue to add to the diversity of our members.

• Focus on increased diversity in the nominations for the GGURA.

• Track the future latest developments in underwater robotics.

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)

he inaugural Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Special Interest Group (SIG) was held virtually on 5th February 2021. The SIG was set up after approaches to TMick Cook from several personnel working in the offshore wind industry who expressed concern about the inconsistency in approach to UXO issues within this burgeoning sector. The primary intent of the SIG is to identify and to address such issues and to eventually seek to provide guidance and education to practitioners. Initial membership has been confined to offshore windfarm developers and representation is provided by Orsted, Tennet, Shell, SSE, Vattenfall, Innogy (RWE), Energinet, Equinor, Scottish Power, Amprion, EDF, BT and Guernsey Electricity. At an appropriate point in the future, membership will be opened-up to all stakeholders.

The SIG is very much an international group including representatives from the UK, USA, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France and The Netherlands.

Mick Cook

Since February 2021, we have held four very successful online meetings with 10-15 people in ‘attendance’. At each meeting we have had presentations from members on a range of topics and each meeting has had 2+ discussion topics.

Committee Chair Mick Cook Events Secretary Dorthe Reng ErbsHansen

We are currently in discussions with two other SUT SIGs - Defence and Decommissioning - about how we can share knowledge.

We have just begun planning a full-day workshop open to all that we hope to run in conjunction Oceanology International in March 2022.

Andy Barwise Kevin Clements Eric Cauquil Sally-Ann David Anja Drews Michael Hahn Lucy Malou Henningsen Christian Herrisson Richard Hill Simon Hviid Deanne Hargrave Benoit Jouy Rasmus Juncher Andrew Kirkland Robert Koens Matthew Le Maitre Eoin McGregor Julian Osborne Dave Sharp Frank Steinhoff Soren Stricker Mathiasen Wolfgang Thiessen Annelies Vanstraelen Helge Vosberg

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