Society for
Underwater
Technology
Annual Report
2021-2022
Society for Underwater Technology
## Contents
- 3 President’s Foreword
- 5 Awards 2021-2022
- 6 Council’s Summary of Activity 2021-2022
- 8 Chair’s Report
- 10 Officers and Council 2021-2022 | SUT Staff
## Branch Reports
- 12 Aberdeen
- 13 Australia Perth/Melbourne
- 22 Brazil
- 23 Canada | Eastern Mediterranean _(New Committees)_
- 24 China
- 26 London and South of England
- 27 Middle East
- 29 North of England
- 30 Norway
- 31 Singapore
- 33 US
- 43 West Africa
## Reports from Committees of Council and Special Interest Groups
- 45 Education
- 46 Educational Support Fund Management
- 47 International Training
- 48 International
- 49 Policy Advisory
- 50 Defence
- 51 Diving and Manned Submersibles
- 52 Environmental Forces
- 53 Marine Environmental Science
- 54 Marine Renewable Energies
- 55 Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics
- 57 Salvage and Decommissioning
- 59 International Underwater Vehicles and Robotics Group
- 60 Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)
www.sut.org
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## President’s Foreword
am writing from Húsavik, in the north-east of Iceland, known to many as the setting for the Netflix’ film, _Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga_ . Its random I mixture of Victorian ‘wrinkly tin’ and traditional style modern houses give the harbour huge character. There is snow on the jagged hills across the fjord and an icy chill in the air, but despite the date - 18th November - winter has not yet properly set in, despite the co-ordinates, 66.04° N, 17.34° W.
I am very conscious of this position, not least because I am reading Mensun’s Bound’s latest book, ‘ _The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance_ ’. He will be speaking about finding Shackleton’s _Endurance_ in 3000 metres of water, under the Antarctic ice, at the SUT’s Annual General Meeting in December. In a busy life, this brief spell away from home has given me the opportunity to plunge into this inspirational account. It is a nice touch to place the noon position of the icebreaker, SA Algulhas II at the end of each captivating chapter. This brings three worlds together; the expedition ship and its charter party, comprising scientists, the Falkland Maritime Heritage Trust search team with leading edge technical support from Ocean Infinity; the ill-fated _Endurance_ and her crew; and that of the reader.
**President: Moya Crawford**
As he traces his journey, I soon reach a point when the Algulhas and I are sharing the same latitude, 23rd January, 2019, 66° 13.028’ S, 060° 21.165’ W. The beginning of each chapter summarizes its content: ‘The death of Shackleton’s dogs’; ‘Attempt once more to reach Larsen ‘ice shelf’; ‘Blocked by fast moving sea ice’. This difference in our environmental conditions could not be more stark. Mensun in conditions of icebergs, ice floes and ice ridging and rafting. Me, writing in the warmth of the Explorers’ Hotel on a crisp, but beautiful evening – not a piece of sea ice in sight, courtesy of the North Atlantic Drift. This is food for thought indeed and brings home to me the need to fundamentally understand the heat engine, that is the oceans’ circulation system. Satellite data gives us a marvellous insight to what happens on the surface, but in terms of volumetric movement, and ‘ground-truthing’ coupled models with what happens in the great depths and under ice, we need to do much, much more.
As President of the SUT, this gives me huge impetus to press on and make positive change in how we interact with each other; the areas that the SUT covers – perhaps dispensing with a few old ones and bringing on some new - but most of all introducing nature in terms of bio-diversity, environment, sustainability and resilience into what to date has been the focus on the delivery of engineering function and not operational ecosystems impact.
Yes, we also have much to do in the wake of the COVID pandemic to restructure ways of working and, in particular, review the way we support members in what will remain a distributed way of working. To me, this means seeking to expand activity in the ’Provinces’, as they were once quaintly called. In many areas in which the SUT does not have a branch, there is a huge amount of activity going on in science, offshore wind (fixed and floating) and defence. We must reactivate the societal element of what we do, in terms of having fun and meeting people, as well as seamlessly working across the ‘quadruple helix’ of community, industry, academia and government; an endeavour to which we aspire but have not yet cracked. This means renewing our efforts to be more relevant in the decision-making processes relating to the ‘Blue Economy’, as a whole, as a key initiative with a view to helping deliver positive local impact.
There is a lively debate within several of the SUT’s special interest groups as to whether the timeline and scale of expansion being promoted by the UK and devolved governments is at all achievable. Good – we should be at the centre of such discussions, bringing in expert opinion and experience wherever relevant.
Many suggest that the ‘Energy Transition’ we have embarked upon is unprecedented,
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Society for Underwater Technology
## President’s Foreword
## _contd._
I would demur. We only have to look back to the rapid expansion of the UK merchant fleet, in particular, from the 1830s onwards. With the dual shift in vessel design from sail to steam, and wood to iron, design worlds, shipyards, ‘supply chains’ and operational and maintenance skills were all hurtled into the unknown. Yet, the maritime sector developed processes, including the commercial tools of assurance and insurance to reduce uncertainty, address risk and all importantly provide finance. Especially with the trend moving to offshore floating wind – which, like mobile offshore drilling units, are considered to be ships for insurance purposes – we have literally centuries of experience and even applicable commercial instruments available to us in the City of London, and I would genuinely like to see the presence that the SUT has there, being expanded and shared across all our branches. For the technology may and does change, but human nature with all its weaknesses and strengths remains the same. I suspect that there are few gambits that are entirely new.
It is this huge potential that makes me very positive for our future as a Learned Society. Achieving our shared ambitions will be a challenge, yes and the magnitude of the task is significant, but what Mensun’s book and the survival of the Endurance both bring home is the importance of working as a team – with all its imperfections. With the body of Members we have, the talent in Council and the Branches and the dedication of permanent staff, I know that we are up to playing as significant a role in ushering in the chapter of energy transformation and storage in the Big Blue Space, as we were ushering in offshore hydrocarbon exploration, when it was at the leading edge of societal and economic development over fifty years ago. Our strengths and skills are just as relevant, but we do need to lift up our heads from an all too focussed portfolio and be more adventurous. Let’s see where this rekindled spirit takes us.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Awards 2021-2022
_(above) Attendees at the SUT AGM 2021 and our presentation speaker Dr Katie Cruickshanks on The Future of Ocean Biodiversity Monitoring_
_(left) The newly-elected officers of SUT Council, (back row L-R) Iain Knight, Sue John, Nigel Carey, (front row) Moya Crawford._
_(right) Retiring SUT_ **New Fellows** _President Judith Patten presents the President’s_ Steve Duffield _Award to John Howes, editor of UT2 and_ Simon Hems _Underwater Robotics Magazines._ Rex Hubbard
## Lennard-Senior Prize
Awarded to Neil Kermode, Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, at AllEnergy 2022 in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of Marine Renewable Energy.
Neil won the inaugural award ten years ago in 2011 and, perhaps more than ever, deserves this accolade today. EMEC has marine renewables at its core and has extended its reach, to great effect, to encompass hydrogen and energy systems. Neil is a true champion of enabling the marine energy sector.
## President’s Award
Awarded at the AGM to John Howes, publisher and editor of _UT2_ , and _Underwater Robotics Magazine_ . _UT2_ had recently reached a major milestone - 75 issues published since 2006. John Howes is a great friend of the Society, a respected journalist, publisher and expert in the field of underwater technology. The award was presented to John in recognition of the years of service he has performed with, and for the SUT, its members and the wider industry.
## Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration
Jointly awarded by SUT and MTS (the Marine Technology Society), we are pleased to announce winners Victor Vescovo and Patrick Lahey were presented with this award by Captain Don Walsh at Oi 2022 in recognition of their contribution to ocean exploration.
## Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award
Awarded to Aleksandra Tomaszek, COO and Co-Founder of Aberdeen-based 1CSI. Aleksandra’s achievements, drive and business acumen make her a most worthy winner. What stands out is her strong background in offshore project engineering and management, coupled with a mind tuned to the sometimes elusive combination of technology and business innovation.
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Council’s Summary of Activity 2021-2022
## Membership
Overall membership of SUT has held up through 2021-2022 as the continued effects of the global pandemic continued to affect people, industries, businesses, and charities, as well as the shifts from hydrocarbons to renewable energies production, potential and growth effect SUT members and sectors of activity. 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, growth as well as contraction. For the SUT energy transition, net zero carbon target for 2030 as well as 2050 and delivering increased renewable energy along with greater attention 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, offshore site investigations and geotechnics, unexploded ordnance, defence, salvage and decommissioning, marine acoustics, robotics and sensors, hydrocarbons as well as aquaculture. The establishment of two new special interest groups on Marine Environmental Science and Unexploded Ordnance have developed new members from these sectors including new members from the offshore windfarm operators and representation from SMEs and academia.
The Council of the SUT 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 changed reducing and restricting face-to-face meetings and travel.
The Society has looked to meet these challenges with membership outreach and engagement throughout the year, growing the SUT’s training courses for online delivery and potential opportunities for member participation and benefits with new events.
Webinars have become a regular offering from Branches, with the Aberdeen SUT+ becoming particularly proactive with their webinar programme. SUT+ webinars regularly attracting significant attendee numbers. In addition, media content continues to grow on SUT’s YouTube Channel ( _**youtube.com/@SUTMedia**_ ) that includes a ‘gadgets and widgets’ section and the archive of webinars.
The SUT podcast (hosted at _**sut.buzzsprout.com**_ ) has grown in grown in popularity and downloads. The podcast downloads exceeded 20,000 by the end of June 2022.
The launch of online training from the UK has established the ongoing need and interest in training from both members and non-members. The wellrespected, well-known Subsea Awareness Course was relaunched as a Virtual Subsea Awareness Course (VSAC) in early 2021 ran twice in 2021 and early 2022, as did SUT’s new course for Offshore Wind. In addition, the OSIG committee organised a training course which filled delegate places to capacity and created a waiting list. All of these courses will be running in 2022-2023 with new training courses in development to grow this important area of SUT activity.
The Gwyn Griffiths Award for Underwater Robotic, launched with a donation from Past-President Professor Gwyn Griffiths for a new award for technologists in the field of Marine Robotics received numerous high-quality entries in 2022.
## **Membership Summary**
|**Corporate Members**|**Corporate Members**|146|
|---|---|---|
|**Individual Membership**1558|||
|**Category**|**2022**|**2021**|
|Hon. Fellows|14|14|
|Fellows|101|107|
|Full members|622|677|
|Students|96|128|
|Corporate|||
|individuals|725|691|
|Total|1558|1617|
**Table 1**
|**Financial Summary**|**Financial Summary**|**Financial Summary**|
|---|---|---|
|**Unrestricted Fund (£)**|||
|**Category**|**2022**|**2021**|
|Income|275,416|318,703|
|Expenditure|270,940|315,140|
||––––––––––|––––––––––|
|Surplus/
(defcit)|4,476|3,563|
|Transfers to|||
|restricted fund|
-|-|
|Gain/(loss)
on|(11,501)|28,175|
|investments|||
||––––––––––|––––––––––|
|Retained|||
|surplus/
(defcit)|(7,025)|31,738|
**Table 2**
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Council’s Summary of Activity _contd._
From an impressive field of nominations, the second winner of the GGUR Award for 2022 winner was Rustom Jehangir, of Blue Robotics. For more information on Rusty and Blue Robotics: _**https://bluerobotics.com/**_ . Entries for this award are open for 2023 via the SUT website.
The continued efforts by the Society to attract new sectors remains. The Society are seeing new individuals joining from well-known companies and academia. The Society persist in engaging non-members (both individual and corporate), hoping that these contacts and communications will be followed by corporate memberships as well and long-term participation in membership, Branch and SIG activities.
## Finance
A summary of the Society’s accounts and financial statements for 2021-2022 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. SUT Honorary Treasurer, Nigel Carey, will present The Report and Financial Statements at the Society’s AGM.
The Unrestricted Fund at 30 June 2022 amounted to £292,789 compared with an amount of £299,814 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 2022 from the Educational Support Fund Management is included in this Annual Report. The financial statement regarding the Educational Support Fund appears on page 2-4 under Financial Review.
I. Knight, Honorary Secretary 27 October 2022
Registered Office: HQS Wellington, Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London, WC2R 2PN, UK
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Chair’s Report
**Sue John**
n my first report as SUT Chair I have had to look backward over the last year of the Society’s activities as well as to the future. COVID has changed the world, Iand how we work. Through the everyday use of Zoom and Teams conference calls; podcasts; webinars and virtual training courses the Society has become more engaged and globally accessible.
Facing differing COVID-related restrictions, our international affiliates (known within SUT as Branches) have been working hard to build their communities and activities. Some have been able to carry on as normal, delivering in-person training and events, while others were under severe restrictions. This has been reflected in the differing levels of activities and in collected income. Our events were also hit by the high level of uncertainty of different travel restrictions around the world. But, at last, I can report that nearly all of the SUT is back engaging with members, delivering events, activities and meeting in person.
During the ‘working from home’ period of COVID the UK training committee put together a set of virtual courses. These included our popular Subsea Awareness course from the UK, now available as an online training course, the creation of the new Offshore Wind Renewable Energy course and a revival of the Introduction to Offshore Geophysics and Geotechnical Engineering. These courses were wellreceived by the delegates from the UK and internationally. I am pleased to report that numbers of delegates for SUT training have surpassed pre-COVID numbers. These courses deliver valuable information, education and training to member and non-member workforces as well as providing income to the SUT. Course numbers also demonstrate the ongoing interest and need for training across SUT sectors and industries. My thanks to all the volunteer members who participated in the organisation, presentation and delivery of these courses.
Perth, Western Australia, held a very successful annual Golf Day with over 100 delegates in near perfect weather conditions. The Golf Day is one of many social and technical events Perth was able to run over the last year. Houston Branch were able to carry on as normal delivering social, technical and educational programme to students and members. Meanwhile, Singapore held their first technical evening in two and half years.
I am also pleased to report that all affiliates with existing educational support programmes and commitments were able to continue to deliver these through their financial Educational Support commitments.
In order to raise awareness of the Society and also further its educational aims, SUT attended Ocean Business Exhibition 2021 at Southampton. We will have a stand at this year’s event in April 2023. Please come and visit if you are in Southampton.
We had a very successful Oceanology International Conference, 15-17 March 2022, at the ExCel, where the Captain Don Walsh award was presented to Victor Vescovo and Patrick Lahey. Preceding the conference Don, Victor & Patrick were the main event at the Royal Institution, London, speaking on Into the Abyss: Exploring the deepest realms of the world’s oceans.
The 2022 Don Walsh Award was presented jointly with the Marine Technology Society (MTS) The award is part of a joint working agreement with MTS. This also includes the joint publication of _UT2_ , & _Underwater Robotics_ , and delivering the opportunity for SUT and MTS members to apply for certification on the Marine Technologist and Marine Scientist Registers under licence from IMarEST.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Chair’s Report _contd._
2023 sees the Society at Ocean Business, Offshore Europe, supporting Oceanology Americas, AOG, and ADIPEC. The 9th International SUT OSIG Conference, Innovation Geotechnologies for Energy Transition will take place in London in September 2023. I hope you are able to join us at this major calendar event.
The SUT continues to focus on increasing both our corporate and individual membership. If you know of any lapsed members, please encourage them to re-join us and become involved in one of our many special interest groups.
Members of the Society are also our volunteers, all of you this last year have been the backbone of the SUT. I would like to thank the all the members of the SUT who volunteer: Executive, Council, Branches, Special Interest Groups and Committees. On behalf of the myself and The Society I would like to thank the SUT staff in the UK, US and Australia for all of your hard work keeping the Society going.
I look forward to meeting and hearing from more members in the future.
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Officers and Council 2021-2022
President
_Moya Crawford_ Chair _Sue John_ Immediate Past President _Judith Patten_ Honorary Secretary _Iain Knight_ Honorary Treasurer _Nigel Carey_ Secretary to Council/CEO _Cheryl Burgess_
## Members
_Dr M A Atmanand Andrew Connelly Steve Duffield Sarah Elkhatib Terry Griffiths Martin Harley Tricia Hill_
_Frank Lim Richard Luff Bob MacDonald Julie Morgan Prof Ralph Rayner David Saul Nick Swift_
## SUT Staff
## SUT HQ
HQS Wellington Victoria Embankment London WC2R 2PN (correspondence address only) t + 44 (0)7947 911992 e info@sut.org
## SUT US
e communications@suthouston.com
## SUT Perth
Office Unit 28, 17 Prowse Street West Perth Western Australia 6005 t +61 (0) 8 9481 0999 e perth@sut.org
Chief Executive _Cheryl Burgess_ Membership & Finance Officer _Jane Hinton_
Communications & Publications Officer _Emily Boddy_ Events Manager _Jacqui Adams_
Events Coordinator _Patsy Rhymes_ Communications Coordinator _Cas Benge_ Supporting Editor _Audrey Guzman_ Graphic Designer _David Dooley_
Branch/Finance/Membership _Fiona Allan_ Events & Marketing Coordinator _Jade Melville_ Marketing & Events Assistant _Suzanne Thien_
10
Branch
reports
••e
Society for Underwater Technology
## Aberdeen Branch www.sut.org/branch/aberdeen
## **Martin Harley**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Martin Harley _Vice-Chair_ Patrick Duggan _Treasurer_ Jamie Wilson _SUT+ Chair_ Shruthi Sivadasan
Jacqui Adams Keith Anderson Paul Benstead Peter Blake Phil Bremner Martin Brown Andrew Connelly Sylvain Denniel Campbell Elder Euan Fowler Martin Harley Calum Hayton Dr Ibiye Iyalla Andy MacNamara Jim Mann Ekaterina Pavlovskaia Daniele Petrone Paul Slorach David Warren Graham Whitehead
irst of all, I need to express my thanks to Jacqui Adams the SUT Events Manager who has been instrumental in keeping SUT activities running not Fonly in Aberdeen but across the UK.
Also my personal thanks to Patrick Duggan of Apache, our Vice Chair and Jamie Wilson our Branch Honorary Treasurer who help steer our activities. The individuals that make up our committee and their parent companies for allowing their participation, also deserve recognition. Our Aberdeen SUT+ committee augments the regular committee and they have mounted an impressive schedule of regular monthly events.
Successfully scheduling events as the world started to turn again after the pandemic has happened only in fits and starts. Several of our flagship live events were cancelled due to the difficulty of generating a sufficient audience with people reluctant to attend in-person events; the business breakfast and schools lectures didn’t take place and neither did our annual event in conjunction with IMCA and the Hydrographic Society.
## 2021-2022 Branch Activities
We are about to start running our in-person Subsea Awareness Courses again, with one scheduled for September 2022 and most likely Spring 2023 subsequent to that. However the virtual Subsea Awareness Courses run from London had significant Aberdeen input, though a slightly different content.
The main committee held the following live events in 2021-22:
- Gadgets and Widgets evening seminar in April 2022 was our first live, inperson event since the end of pandemic restrictions and event attendees were clearly pleased to be out and about once more, reviewing some of the new underwater tools and techniques available.
- Subsea Inspection Operations in June 2022 covered diving, inspecting through coatings and in restricted access locations and semi-autonomous navigation with machine learning.
- Subsea Inspection Operations in June 2022 covered diving, inspecting through coatings and in restricted access locations and semi-autonomous navigation with machine learning.
Aberdeen committee member Andrew Connelly continues to do sterling work on the SUT Podcast series which now runs to over 70 episodes and over 20,000 separate downloads from as far away as Panama, Omsk and Guam.
The SUT+ committee fared considerably better with online and live events in 2021 covering floating solar (August) and wave energy (November) with additional social events covering a quiz & job-seeking. They picked up again in 2022 on subsea batteries (January), acoustics (February), direct-current fibre optics (March), hydro-pneumatic storage (April), micro-habitats (May) and wind farm foundations (June) and as if that was not enough, in-between those were site visits to the National Decommissioning Centre, the RGU DART simulator and the Balmoral subsea test centre.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Australia Perth/Melbourne Branch
## www.sut.org/branch/perth
ith the continuation of COVID-19, the SUT Committee has implemented changes to continue to deliver its programs and core services for the Wduration of this outbreak as far as practicable. The financial statements for SUT Perth Branch for the year ending 30 June 2022 have been negatively impacted by the cessation of Government subsidies for COVID, and the continuation of travel bans, and limits to gatherings at facilities.
## Perth Branch Committee
SUT Perth 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 2021 and 2022 committee groups.
**Steve Duffield**
## **Committee**
_Chairman_ Steve Duffield _Vice Chairman_ Bukkie Orugun _Treasurer_ Leanne Geneve _Secretary_ Anand Jyothi
Matthew Allen Michael Cocjin Mark Casey Steve Duffield Leanne Geneve Jagjeet Ghillen Farjana Jahan Anand Jyothi Philip Manfield Christian Marocchi Mark Musarra Bukkie Orugun Brett Phillips Anurag Saxena Paul Upjohn
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
We give special thanks to Steve Duffield (2021 and 2022 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.
## **Current Perth Branch Sub-Committees:** (bold indicating sub-committee lead)
- Advertising: **Anand Jyothi,** Steve Duffield
- Annual Dinner: Bettina Silvert, Leanne Geneve, **Farjana Jahan**
- Branch Support: Steve Duffield, **Paul Upjohn**
- Course Review: Liam Salter, **Jagjeet Ghillen** , Anurag Saxena; Leanne Geneve; Phil Manfield; Matt Allen
- Decom / Salvage: **Christian Marocchi** , Brett Phillips; Leanne Geneve; Jagjeet Ghillen; Farjana Jahan; Alasdair Gray
- Engagement: **Leanne Geneve** , Matt Allen, Christian Marocchi, Farjana Jahan, Michael Cocjin
- Evening Technical Meeting/AGM: **Brett Phillips** , Paul Upjohn; Bukkie Orugun, Michael Cocjin, Jagjeet Ghillen; Matt Allen; Mark Musarra
- Finance: Fiona Allan, Anand Jyothi; **Leanne Geneve,** Steve Duffield, Bukkie Orugun
- Golf Day: Steve Duffield, Scott McMaster, **Brett Phillips**
- HSE: Steve Duffield; Bukkie Orugun; Brett Philips
- Immerse 2025: Paul Upjohn, Steve Duffield; Leanne Geneve; Brett Phillips
- Membership: Steve Duffield, Bettina Silvert
- Mentoring: **Matt Allen;** Michael Cocjin; Christian Marocchi
- Scholarships: Liam Salter; **Nick McNaughton** , Julie Morgan
- Subsea Controls Down Under 2022 Conference: Mark Casey, **Paul Upjohn** , Harry Mackay, Harvey Smith, Norman O’Rourke, Michael Cojin, Julien Levadoux, Ross Hendricks, Minh Vo, Ned Chapman, Derek Thompson
- Subsea Engineering Competency Framework: Mark Casey, Afton Galbraith, Terry Griffiths, Rex **Hubbard** , Chris Merrick, Julie Morgan, Gabriel Pennock, Ewan Rowell, Chris Saunders, Norman O’Rourke, Ian Wilson; Senthen Mani; Trent Broadway
- SUT International Commitee: Steve Duffield; Terry Griffiths; Julie Morgan
- Curtin Uni Industry Advisory Commitee – Christian Marocchi
- WA Societies: Bukkie Orugun; Bettina Silvert; Matt Allen
- SUT Council Steve Duffield; Terry Griffiths; Julie Morgan
## 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:
- 5 x Evening Technical Meetings
- 5 x Courses (in person)
- 4 x YES! events
- 5 x OSIGp events
- 1 x AGM
- 3 x Social events (Casual Catchup, Annual Dinner & Golf Day)
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
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.
Our 2021 Annual Dinner was held at the prestigious Ritz Carlton with 212 people attending. Wood and Subsea Engineering Associates were the event sponsors, and we thank them for their continued support throughout a challenging year.
## **Conferences**
With COVID travel restrictions _etc._ all conferences were delayed to future years. The AOG (Australian Oil & Gas) Conference and Exhibition normally held in March was also cancelled.
## **Courses**
The following training courses were run in the 2021/22 year:
- 2 x Subsea Awareness Course – in person Oct ‘21 and May ‘22
- 1 x Flexi Risers Couse - Nov ‘21
- 2 x Materials and Corrosion – in person July ‘21 and June ‘22
## **Evening Technical Meetings**
The following technical meetings were held:
- **August 2021 ETM: Defence and Autonomous Systems**
- Speakers: Norman Ballard, Scott, Hamid Yeganeh, Bernie Phelps,
- Sponsored by Blue Zone Group
- **October 21 ETM: Innovative Subsea Applications and Technology**
- Federico Noera, Olivier Royet, Adam Czajko,
- Sponsored by: DNV and Petrovalves
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
- **February 22 ETM: Offshore Hub UWA - Advances in Floating Vessel Response Predictions** Ian Milne & Matt Zed, Wenhua Zhao & Ian Milne (UWA), Hugh Wolgamot (UWA) & Yuriy Drobyshevski Sponsored by: UWA (TIDE)
- **April 22 ETM: Decommissioning**
- Chris Wilson, Dianne McLean, Michael Lewis
- Sponsored by Woodside
- **June 22 ETM: Proposed Marine Growth Issues**
- Harvey Smith, Brett Phillips & Mark De Castro, Peter Maidment
The SUT Perth Committee is, as always, grateful to all presenters and ETM chairpersons for their generous 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 – September 2021**
For our annual golf day, the SUT once again teamed up with the Society for Petroleum Engineers for a collaborative golf day. After the success of last year’s 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 22 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 - Subsea Engineering Associates and Energy Agencies.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
## SUT Perth Sub-Committee Updates
## **Branch Administration**
The 2021-2022 year welcomed new staff member Kym Shephard as the Events & Marketing Coordinator on a part time basis but she left in May ‘22 to pursue full time work. Renae Drew went on Maternity leave for a year from Jan ‘22. This resulted in hiring Jade Melville as Events & Marketing Coordinator and Suzanne Thien as the Marketing and Events Assistant.
These event staff along with Fiona Allan who continued to effectively manage the branch administration, still take great pleasure in coordinating and organising all of our events, initiatives, administration, membership and accounts for the Perth branch of 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 minimal attendance to other branches has been possible.
## **Branch Initiatives**
During the year, Perth branch continued with the following initiatives:
- Subsea Engineering Competency Framework (21/22 SECF accreditations for seven Engineers)
- Three Scholarships offered in 2022
- ACNC approval - SUT has been registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC)
- Hybrid Courses and Events can now be offered.
## **Branch Strategy**
The committee regularly review the current Strategic Plan (2021-2025) with the Strategic objectives being:
1. Engage with Tertiary Institutions
2. Diversification of Membership
3. Be more Active in Knowledge Transfer
4. Value for Membership Money
## **Engagement**
The strategy concentrates on continued engagement with our existing members to ensure we remain relevant whilst having a stretch target to engage two-three more organisations. The focus points include:
- 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
- Provide training to companies who are employing graduates / less experienced personnel
- 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
- Engagement with retired members/members looking for work (how can they contribute / benefit from)
The COVID pandemic continues to impact some engagement opportunities with less sponsorship available from companies.
## **Finance**
SUT Perth Branch ran at a deficit in the 2021-2022 financial year of approximately ($AUD 46,000). This was a turnaround from the prior year surplus of $66,000. This was mainly due to:
- A decrease in Government COVID funding
- No Conferences held in the 2021/2022 financial year
- A decrease in course numbers for Subsea Awareness Course
- A cancellation of some courses due to insufficient attendees
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
An audited Income and Expenditure Statement for the year will be forwarded to Council following the finalization of the audit in October 2022.
## **Marketing**
Since March 2022, we’ve implemented a fresh new look to our branding across all of SUT-Perth’s social media platforms (LinkedIn and Twitter) to engage with targeted audiences in the professional subsea field. This is also carried across to SUT’s monthly eNews and all email campaigns to ensure consistency in our messaging and branding. With regular weekly postings, coupled with assistance from committee members to actively ‘share’ and ‘re-post’ on our social channels, we aim to boost the number of followers, as well as the extent of our reach to other audiences in the subsea sector and to a wider audience.
## **Membership (Perth and Melbourne) as at 30 June 2022:**
We finished the year slightly worse than we started which would be impacted by COVID. Free hardship membership was offered (had to meet certain criteria) but few took this up.
|**Perth Branch Membership**|**June 2022**|**June 2021**|
|---|---|---|
|Individuals|96|117|
|Fellows|12|12|
|Corporate - Local and Global w rep here|43|43|
|Students (fee paying)|55|55|
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.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
300
PERTH SUT MEMBERSHIP
250 Individual (incl
Fellows)
Corporate
200
Students
150
100
50
0
JUN - J U N - J U N - J U N - J U N - J U N- J U N- J U N- J U N- J U N- J U N- J U N- J U N-
10 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Mentoring Programme (SUT-SPE-SEA-PESA-PCWA-ASEG-WISE)**
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
SUT ran the Mentoring programme for the 2020/2021 financial year with their final event being held in July 2021. It is now to be run by PESA. (The mentoring program is run in conjunction with other similar societies in Perth on a rotating basis.)
## **OSIG Perth Overview and 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 14 members from various backgrounds (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 with the committee’s events in 2021-2022 including:
- Lunchtime Technical Meeting July ‘21 on the topic of Suction Caissons and the Influence of Drainage Regime
- OSIGp Movie Night August ‘21
- OSIGp Prize Evening Sept ‘21
- OSIGp Geoforum Nov ‘21
- OSIGp Recent advances in offshore geotechnics – select outputs from the OFFshore Hub at UWA May ‘22
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 the 2021/2022 OSIGp committee members for their time, enthusiasm and hard work.
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
## **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 71 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:
Chris Lawlor Scholarship to the Most Outstanding Candidate: **Tahlia Bassett**
Marine Renewable Energy Scholarship sponsored by Aurora Offshore Engineering: **Jack Crawford** A Digital Automation in Engineering Scholarship sponsored by SEA: **Paula Cartwright**
## **Subsea Engineering Competency Framework Project**
The initiative by SUT (Perth Branch) in conjunction with industry is for Subsea Engineering to be recognised as an Area of Practice (AoP) by Engineers Australia (EA)
SUT provides the basis for technical assessment in the AoP of Subsea Engineering and supports EA with the technical assessment of submissions for recognition in the AoP of Subsea Engineering.
The benefits are a career planning tool and personal recognition as a competent subsea engineer, which is recognised in Australia and Internationally. The Launch for this programme was held in June 2021 (photos below). For 21/22, seven engineers were accredited under this programme.
## **YES! (Young Engineers & Scientists)**
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
- Provide opportunities for networking and informal mentoring for young professionals, students and scientists in subsea and related fields
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Australia Branch
## _contd._
During the year the subcommittee successfully held the following events:
- YES! Networking event Sept ‘21
- YES! Bowls event in collaboration with SPE Nov ‘21
- YES! PIANC Breakfast Mar ‘22
- YES! Quiz Night Jun ‘22
In addition to events, YES! Committee members have promoted 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 and Santos. Many thanks to these generous sponsors. The YES! sub-committee members’ effort and time has been immense throughout the past year and we thank them for that. The current YES! committee members are:
## The Year Ahead
The Perth branch of SUT will continue with their five-year Strategy plan 2021-2025:
1. Engage with Tertiary Institutions
2. Diversification of Membership
3. Be more Active in Knowledge Transfer
4. 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 2022/2023 has been approved by the Finance Committee with a small surplus expected. The budget assumes that events can be run with minimal impact from the pandemic. The Perth Branch committee are cautious about a general market improvement over the year ahead with possible declining graduate numbers and hence a likely decline in course participants.
Sincere thanks were given to the Members, Sponsors, Presenters, Office Bearers, Committee, Sub-Committees and SUT Staff during the year.
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Brazil Branch
## www.sut.org/branch/brazil
**Prof. Segen F. Estefen**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Prof SF Estefen _Secretary_ Prof M Vaz _Treasurer_ T Netto _Executive Manager_ VC Santos
C Bonfim Silva P Couto E Labanca E Nakagawa C Paulo M Teixeira
n the period July 2021 to June 2022, the activities of the SUT Brazil Branch have been based on online seminars and a panel, as described below. I
**I - Seminars on Offshore Renewable Energy Organized by GERO (Offshore Renewable Energy Group) in collaboration with the Programs PRH-18 and PRH07 from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).**
- Seminar 1: Offshore Renewable Energy: Status and Perspectives, 4 August 2021 Prof. Segen Estefen – COPPE/UFRJ Online - Atendees: 371
- Seminar 2: Renewable Energy in the Brazilian Electricity Matrix, 25 August 2021 Prof. Maurício Tolmasquim – COPPE/UFRJ Online - Attendees: 454
- Seminar 3: Renewable Energy, Environment and Climate Change, 15 September 2021 Prof. Emilio Lebre La Rovere – COPPE/UFRJ Online - Attendees: 124
- Seminar 4: Geosciences: From Renewable Energy to Health, 6 October 2021 Prof. Luiz Landau and Prof. Luiz Paulo Assad Online – Attendees: 147
- Seminar 5: Hydrogen: A Turning Point for Renewables?, 27 October 2021 Prof. Paulo Emilio Miranda – COPPE/UFRJ Online - Attendees: 132
- Seminar 6: Renewable Energies and Socio-Economic Impacts, 17 November 2021 Prof. Marcelo Colomer – IE/UFRJ Online - Attendees: 82
- Seminar 7: Tidal Energy in Brazil, 8 December 2021 Prof. Osvaldo Ronald Saavedra - UFMA Online - Attendees: 792
## **II - Seminars on Oil Economics and Environment Organized by ANP PRH-7 in collaboration with SPE Brazil Section**
- Seminars 1 and 2: Oil Economics 1 and 5 July 2021 Dr. Rosemarie Broker Bone – UFRJ, Dr. Natan Battisi - Harbour Energy Online - Attendees: 634
- Seminars 3 and 4: Environmental Impacts 6 and 7 July 2021 - Dr. Jacqueline Mariano - UFRJ, Dr. Cristiane Monteiro - Seabed Geosolutions Online - Attendees: 578
## **III - Panel on Professional Opportunities in the Offshore Industry Organized by ANP PRH-7**
- 8 December 2021 Dr. Vanessa Guedes - TotalEnergies, Dr. Fernanda Zilber - Trident Energy, Dr. Aline Benjamim – Moove, Dr. Nayana Porto - Modec. Online - Attendees: 105
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## _New Committees_
## Canada
ollowing the easing of COVID restrictions activities in the Canada Committee are slowly recovering with the committee reconvening and Fmaking plans for end of 2022 and 2023. For members who are not tracking news in the subsea and underwater sector in Canada, I would draw your attention to the newly-sanctioned, deep-water oil and gas project being led by Equinor, a blue hydrogen project in the works on the west coast of Newfoundland that will provide CHG to Germany and a newly announced laydown yard in the port of Argentia that is designed to service the USA east coast offshore wind industry.
We are also seeing a resurgence in cold water and artic research from Memorial University $300 million dollar Core Science facility and Holyrood Marine Base.
An interesting variety of industry conferences will be taking place in Canada in 2023 including numerous Offshore Wind in multiple cities, Ocean and Polar Engineering (Ottawa), Future of the Environment (Montreal), Subsea Engineering and Applications (Montreal), Canadian Underwater Conference and Exhibition (Halifax); demonstrating the wide and diverse interests in the underwater sectors in Canada.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Paul Ryan
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Committee** _Chair_ Paul Ryan
I would be delighted to hear from members interested in SUT activities in Canada.
## Eastern Mediterranean
**Dan Hayes**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Dr Daniel Hayes _Treasurer_ Alexis Kadis _Marketing_ Enrajda Cakalli _ViceChair / Secretary_ Dr Nicolas Droushiotis
John Charalambides Matteo Alessandrini Natalia Neocleous
UT East Med will aim to include subject matter experts, outreach and education experts, policy and business stakeholders interested in underwater Stechnology activities in countries bordering the Eastern Mediterranean (such as Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon).
Our areas of interest will be technologies of energy transition and decarbonization, offshore energy, underwater robotics and vehicles, offshore aquaculture, and the related outreach, education and training are priorities for enriching our membership and event offerings. We are interested in promoting cross-border, cross-sector sharing of knowledge and ideas on any appropriate underwater technology of interest to our members.
In the period July 2021 - June 2022, we had four online meetings with the new East Med committee, and contributed to EMCC 2021 giving presentations about the SUT. We have plans to support and be a part of more events in the Eastern Med region in the coming months and hope the new branch will gradually start to gain momentum and SUT member interest.
We hope that the work of the committee will promote marine technologies through events and connecting professionals and the industry in the region.
SUT East Med has the target to educate the new generation of marine technologies and concepts that support the process of the energy transition. We also aspire to promote cross-border across industry collaborations, sharing of knowledge and ideas.
If you are interest in getting involved with the SUT Eastern Med Committee, please contact us at _eastmed@sut.org_ .
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Society for Underwater Technology
## China Branch
## www.sut.org/branch/china
## **Frank Lim**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Frank LIM _Chair Emeritus_ DUAN Menglan 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_ ) WAN Decheng ( _Shanghai_ ) CHANG Yuanjiang ( _Qingdao_ ) YANG Zhixun ( _Harbin_ ) FU Guangming ( _Qingdao_ )
UT China branch successfully organised the 10th International SUT (China) Technical Conference in Dalian, China, during 22-25 October 2021, in Sconjunction with China University of Petroleum (Beijing). The conference was hosted by Dalian University of Technology.
A total of 85 presentations were made during the conference. On October 23 2021, invited keynote presentations were given by:
- DUAN Menglan of China University of Petroleum (Beijing)
- CUI Weicheng of West Lake University
- WANG Wentao of China Agenda 21 Management Centre
- WANG Zhen of Dalian University of Technology
- FU Shixiao of Shanghai Jiaotong University
- Andrew LIPMAN of ABS Subsea and Mining Operations
- YU Xichong of CNOOC Research Institute
- SHEN Yijun of Hainan University
- Svein SAVIK of Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
- WEI Jianwu of China National Petroleum Corporation
- XU Liangbin of CNOOC Research Institute
- KANG Rongyu of CNPC Offshore Engineering Co
- HU Zhiqiang of Newcastle University, UK
- Shreenaath NATARAJAN of 2H Offshore, Malaysia
- Rob MARTENS of 3D Strategies, Netherland
- Murilo VAZ of University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The second day of the conference was devoted to engineers, teachers and students sharing their latest research achievements in four technical sessions.
At the Conference banquet, SUT China honored individuals who have made special contributions to the field of underwater technology and SUT in China over the past 10 years:
- Special Contribution Award - DUAN Menglan
- Technical Achievement Award - CUI Weicheng
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## China Branch
## _contd._
- Young Scientists – CHANG Yuanjiang & ZHANG Yu
- Outstanding Organizer Award - Gu Qingmei
The 2021 SUT China branch annual general meeting was held on October 24, 2022.
Future Plan
The 11th SUT (China) Technical Conference will be held in Qingdao, China, from October 28 to 31, 2022.
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Society for Underwater Technology
## London & South of England Branch www.sut.org/branch/london
## **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
he London & SE branch has had many successes since it was first formed. It has held many popular and distinctive events to inform and engage our Tmembers. It has also created a bridge between those involved in the technical side of the subsea industries and those working in the city (insurance, financial, legal, loss adjusting). We are indebted to our committee members (current and ex) who have supported the branch since its inception.
However, COVID and the post-COVID drag has hit us and we have not bounced back as we would have hoped (we are not the only branch to face this problem).
From the events we have held this year, such as the webinar on offshore wind and the evening at Beazley on Carbon Capture and Sequestration Strategies, it is obvious that we can attract a crowd and that there is a need for what we can provide in bringing different communities together. However, we need to be highly focused on what we want to do and be realistic in what we can achieve based on our volunteer effort.
In a recent meeting of our Exec committee, we discussed how we can reboot the branch and get back to serving our members and having fun.
We propose the following in terms of our activities:
1. As a branch we will focus on holding live events only (other parts of the SUT are already providing webinars).
2. To hold a sustainable number of evening events (four to six); these shall be a mix of traditional evening meetings with technical presentations, social events and larger events specifically targeted at the city community and the subsea industry hubs in the home counties.
3. To hold city-based lunch and learns for the city community.
4. We are supportive of training courses, but we do not have the means to plan or deliver courses at this time and will leave this to SUT HQ to arrange.
5. We will provide a positive financial return on our activities, but our priority is holding events to attract new and retain existing members.
To do this, we propose that we rationalize and focus our effort with roles shared amongst active committee members. We have polled members for support and believe that we will be able to renew the committee with active new blood, supported by the veterans. We aim to have shadows for the Exec roles in the next year so that they can take over in the year following. We will merge SUT+ back into the main committee as part of a concerted effort to attract Early Careers members to the branch and overall SUT. In recent years we have struggled to have access to regular cost effective venues for meetings but are pleased that we now have a selection of venues both independently and within client offices.
We remain positive about the future of the London and SE Branch of the SUT and hope this fresh start will allow it to continue to thrive.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Middle East Branch
## www.sut.org/branch/middle-east
UT Middle East exists to provide a voice in the Middle East, which is a growing and key subsea domain ableit shallow water. The Middle East is, in Smany ways, a technology follower, so our events are often built around what is happening in other parts of the world.
The branch is UAE-based, which is the hub of much regional O&G activity, attracting a global workforce from the immediate region, India, Philippines, Africa and Latin America. The manufacturing and service base has been highly UAE focused but this is changing with calls for increasing localisation in KSA at least.
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development has now begun. This is one of our topics that needs a champion for 2023. We had an opportunity to get this started with Oceanology Internationals’ first event in the Middle East in 2021, but sadly this was cancelled.
We had hoped COVID-19 related restrictions would be fully lifted by the start of 2022, but the Omnicron variant reared its ugly head, and the region remined in various states of lock-down. That affected our much-anticipated EPRS first faceto-face event in January which was postponed to April, September and finally December. At the same time, the offshore installation phases of many delayed projects exploded in Q1 and ADNOC, Aramco and Qatar Gas released a stream of high value projects. Driven by a steady increase in oil prices as the world came out of the pandemic and falling global capacity (renewable attracting investments) and then rocketing gas prices over Ukraine. The committee as such were illusive but did however manage one successful revenue-generating online event in July 2022 on USV/AUV sponsored by RT Sys and Unique.
We worked with Reed on their first Oceanology International event in the Middle East, which was cancelled before a much scaled down ADIPEC in 2021. It is face-to-face again in November this year, albeit still scaled down and no Offshore, Marine and Commercial Dive Zone. We will have a stand in the media zone but will not attempt to host the popular X-Talks, show-casing subsea technology without theatre availability.
Middle East remains a challenging domain for SUT-type activity, with its projects surge, climactic challenges, transient nature of the expatriate engineering community. Another 25% of the committee has changed jobs or left in the last year. The post-COVID bounce has kept everyone very busy, and the committee in constant flux. We proved we could run online revenue generating events in 2021/22 and now have over 1700 subsea professionals in the region with an interest in what we are doing. There are four local corporate members (Rovop, HFI, Horizon & Fugro).
We continue to draw the committee from major players in the industry; all major EPC (NPCC, Saipem, McDermott and Subsea 7) and former Aberdeen members brought a voice from ADNOC. Otherwise, the committee has representatives from Ashtead, Boskalis, DCN BV, Mermaid, Fugro, Lloyd Warwick, Dolphin Energy, Motive, Pelagian, Prysmian, Baker Hughes, Global Marine Services, Oceaneering, Horizon Geo, Unique, Dolphin Energy, Subtech (James Fisher Decom), Kent 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 continue to thank all for their continued energy and commitment.
Post ADIPEC we hope to return to our traditional ‘face-to-face’ model, including the EPRS (Emergency Pipeline Repair Systems) event at Khalifa University with a
## **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 Sarah Hutcheon
## _**Abu Dhabi**_
Richard Richards Bill Hickie Russell Harper Brad Kirkland Spencer Clark Tarek Al Marzouqi John Charalambides Iain Selkirk Mark Thomer Evgeniya Mitchell Katherine Ferguson Anthony Quick Scott Steven Kilian Palop Ross MacFarlane
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Middle East Branch
## _contd._
visit to Dolphin’s facility in KIZAD in Dec 2022. Thereafter a Decommissioning event is lined up for January 2023 followed by AC/DC for offshore power and subsea survey.
We continue to be at an early stage of our development, supported by SUT HQ but we mark our fourth anniversary in region at ADIPEC.
28
Annual Report 2021-2022
North of England Branch www.sut.org/branch/north-of-england
he North of England Branch meets on a bi-monthly basis. Over the last year no events were held due to COVID restrictions. Typically the branch would Torganise five technical sessions, seven planning sessions and a Student Event over the period.
The technical sessions in the past have been well supported with average attendance being 40 knowledgeable students and subsea practitioners. The audiences have been, without exception, enthusiastic in their questions and comments – a testament to the breadth and depth of experience and enthusiasm residing in the North of England.
The branch continues to be hosted by Newcastle University’s School of Marine Science and Technology. Our aim for the coming year is to re-build the programme of events which have been so successful previously.
## Committee
This year at the AGM Martin Bingham handed over the reins of leadership to Vahid Walker, Technical Director at Walker Subsea Engineering. The role of treasurer has gone from Ian Frazer to Jon Greenwood of OSBIT.
Committee members Michael Williams, Elizabeth Waterman and Denis Vasiljev have also decided to step down from the committee.
I, and the rest of the committee would like to express our gratitude to Martin and Ian for their work as Chair and Treasurer, and to Michael, Elizabeth and Denis for their service.
## Finances
The North of England Branch finances are reported through the Aberdeen Branch P&L account. Our activities have been funded by membership fees and branch sponsorship received from local companies throughout the year.
## **Vahid Walker**
**Committee** _Chair_ Vahid Walker _Honorary Secretary_ Dr Simon Benson _Treasurer_ Jon Greenwood Dr Ian Frazer Martin Bingham Andy Roberts Michael van Zwanenberg Nick Wright
With this climate in mind, the contribution from our local sponsors is particularly acknowledged; Baker Hughes, a GE Company, IHC Engineering Business, MODUS Seabed Intervention, Newcastle University, OSBIT, PDL Solutions, Soil Machine Dynamics, TechnipFMC and RED Engineering.
## Future Plans
This year the aim is to reinvigorate the branch. We plan to:
- Hold a series of evening meetings featuring challenging talks and topics
- Find new committee members
- Introduce new SUT corporate members
- Re-start SUT+ North East
- Continued collaboration with other local societies to further the cross-pollination of ideas and technologies along with some joint events.
The branch will exist to enthuse those already in the industry, inspire others to join it and spread the word to a younger generation about the opportunities and excitement of the sector.
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Norway Branch www.sut.org/branch/norway
uring this reporting period, the Norway Branch, based in Bergen, has finally been able to adjust to more ‘normal’ times since the pandemic. D After working closely with GCE Ocean Technology, co-hosts of the UTC conference, in 2021, we continue this relationship and have been planning an SUT Subsea Awareness Course for Autumn 2022. We hope the momentum for Norwaybased events keeps up and will plan for another SUT Subsea Awareness Course in Spring 2023. Thank you to the committee members for their hard work in getting the branch and training courses back on track.
## **Nils Vågen**
**Committee** _**Chair**_ Nils Vågen _**Manager**_ Tom Erikson O Hagesaether GA Johansen RD Skre I Westervik
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Annual Report 2021-2022
Singapore Branch www.sut.org/branch/singapore
n accordance with the Society’s Singapore Branch Constitution, the main objectives of the society are to: I
- 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 as all public gatherings were not permitted and then became permitted but with a lot of restrictions in Singapore. However, in accordance with Singapore Government social distancing measures, planned physical activities for 2021/2022 were postponed until such time where we could gather again in groups.
## Activities Report
The AGM was held on the 5th December 2021. In addition, for 2022 there was a committee meeting held on 31st March 2022.
The objective of the committee meetings is to discuss, organize and action the activities of the Society.
The committee had decided to start the new program of events slowly, with a Technical session to be held on 29th September 2022, followed by an end of year social event on 17th Nov 2022. The schedule for the Technical seminar is as follows:
## **James Christie**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ James Christie _Vice Chair_ Colin Campbell _Secretary_ Andrew Blears Xiang Liu Che Keong Lee Mark Colbridge Andy Ching Phillip Thomas Derrick Chow Petter Nilsen Derek Donaldson Anthony Gleeson
- Jeremy Colombel, Technical Sales Manager APAC. SBG Systems - GNSS / INS post processing for hydrography: Qinertia software.
- Petter Nilson, Managing Director, Asia Offshore Solutions – Case Study – Ballast tank inspection using micro ROV.
- Thom Payne, Head of Offshore Energy Services, Westwood Energy – APAC Energy Market Update
Looking ahead, it seems that Singapore is now releasing the restrictions which allows us to refocus and implement a full program of events for 2023.
## Branch Committee Members
Wendy Lee has resigned as Treasurer with immediate effect due to relocation. We will therefore be calling an additional committee meting in Q4 to address this, together with any other committee issues.
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## Singapore Branch _contd._
SUT Technical Evening and Networking
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## US Branch www.sut.org/branch/houston
UT-US is governed by an Executive Committee and includes six technical committees; Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics (OSIG), SSubsea Engineering and Operations Atlantic (SEO Atlantic), 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 (SUT-TAMU), the University of Houston (SUT-SES-UH), the Texas A&M University – Galveston (SUT-TAMUG), Rice University (SUT-RICE). All are active groups that meet regularly, and which have active memberships.
Notable efforts:
- The SUT-US branch has finally achieved 501(c)3 status meaning we are a taxfree charitable organization.
- SUT-US will be holding the 2nd Online Engineering Competition for 1) college students competing with other college student, graduate, and undergraduate students; 2) young professionals with 0 to 3 years of professional experience, and 3) 4-10 year experience professionals in a shark tank, bring your own problem competition. Cash prizes. Running from August 22nd till November 11th.
Featuring the contest topics -
Subsea O&G Wells
Submarine Underwater Rescue in Shallow Water
Underwater Thermal Garments Bring your Own Problem - “BYOP Shark Tank” Underwater Service Robots
- SUT-US continues to hold in-person Networking Events on the first Thursday of the month.
- We held our first in person Subsea Awareness Course in Houston, Texas September 12-15th 2022, with ten registrations from ExxonMobil, Bp, Shell, and others.
SUT-US staff is comprised by Mrs. Patsy Rhymes who assumes the coordination of in-person events; Cas Benge 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.
Below is a summary of the key activities held at the SUT-US branch for the period of 1 July 2021 – 30 June 2022.
## Networking Events & Other
## **Tricia Hill**
## **Committee**
_Chair & President_ Tricia Hill
_Treasurer and Training Officer_ Dr. Rodolfo Sancio _Secretary_ Dr. Xiaoyan Long
**Members at Large**
Kim Faulk (WIND) John Allen (Education) Sandra Jaki Rodolfo Sancio Roger Osborne Steven Johnson (MREC) Zenon Medina-Cetina Maria Ancheril Colin Johnston Jan van Smirren (GEF) Sam Guo Jon Halliburton Alison Toth
- Networking Event – October 7, 2021
- Networking Event – February 10th, 2021
- Networking Event – April 7th, 2022
- Networking Event –May 5th, 2022
- Networking Event – June 2nd, 2022
- Online Events
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Society for Underwater Technology
## US Branch
## _contd._
## AGM
SUT US’ Annual General Meeting was held on December 10th, 2021.
## Elected Branch Leadership
**Tricia Hill, SUT-US Chair and President**
Tricia Hill is a Georgia Tech graduate with a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering degree. Tricia has been in the offshore oil and gas industry for almost 25 years with substantial experience in flexible pipe design, analysis, testing, manufacturing, and commercial operations. In 2021, Tricia joined NOV Fiberglass Systems where she is Sales Director for the Marine and Offshore markets. Tricia has been a member of the Society of Underwater
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## US Branch
## _contd._
Technology since 2015, a Fellow member since 2019, and President and Chair of the US branch starting in 2021. With her leadership, SUT-US started a mentorship program, launched the 1st on-line engineering competition for college students and young professionals, and developed the Women in Industry special interest group.
After 20 years of service from Jan van Smirren and Don Schlater, we now have a new Secretary and Treasurer: Dr. Xiaoyan Long and Dr. Rodolfo Sancio.
**Dr. Rodolfo Sancio Treasurer**
**Dr. Xiaoyan Long Secretary**
## OSIG-US Committee
OSIG-US is comprised of the following subcommittees: Short Courses and Learning Seminars and Webinars. The committee is comprised of 38 active Full and Associate members. The Officers are Andrew Hill (Chairperson) and Logan Brant (Secretary).
OSIG-US’s activities for the 2021/2022-year have included mainly webinars as listed below:
## **Completed Learning Webinars:**
- September 9, 2021 – Seabed Mobility, Scour and Seabed Disturbance for US Offshore Wind Development by Nina Stark, Joe Tom, John Harris, David McLaurin and Sarah Courbis | Webinar attendees: 67
- October 20, 2021 – Integrated Jack-up Rig Foundation Issues by Robert Jack, Andy Hill, David Menzies and Mike Dowdy | Webinar attendees: 24
- November 4, 2021 – The First Source to Sink Measurements of Turbidity Currents: New Insights for Seafloor Infrastructure by Mike Clare | Webinar attendees: 59
- May 19, 2022 – Accelerated Layout and Design Decisions for Offshore Windfarms through Integrated Geo-Data Management by Kathryn Rovang, Fugro | Webinar attendees: 32
- July 28, 2022 – Vibratory Installation of Bucket Foundations for Fixed Offshore Wind Turbines by Charles Aubeny, Texas A&M | Webinar attendees: 32
- September 22, 2022 – Geotechnical Characterization of an Offshore Frontier in East Africa by Rodolfo Sancio, Geosyntec | Webinar attendees: TBC
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## US Branch
## _contd._
## **Upcoming Learning Webinars:**
- TBD – Integrated Marine Geotechnics by Ryan Beemer, UMass Dartmouth
- TBD – Ocean Initiatives: Seabed 2030 and UN’s Decade of Ocean Science 2021- 2030 by David Millar
## **Technical Presentations Delivered During Past OSIG-US Committee Meetings:**
- January 14, 2022 – An Overview of Some Key Issues Regarding Global Warming and Climate Change by Ed Clukey
- August 19, 2022 – Advances in Technology: The Gambia Geohazard Baseline Review by Christian Noll, BP
OSIG-US committee maintains liaisons with most other SUT-US committees, including WIND, Marine Renewables, Group on Environmental Forces and School Visiting.
The two most recent committee meetings were held with both in-person and remote attendance options. OSIG-US committee is working on a complete revamp of the Integrated Marine Site Characterization short course, with the target of completing the course content development and offering the 3-day course in Q1 2023.
## SUT-SEO Atlantic (& Europe) Committee
The Subsea Engineering and Operations Committee (SEO) has transitioned 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 and other subsea services, and consultancy organizations.
**Charlie Reith MSc Dr. KP Shukla** SEO Committee Chair SEO Committee Vice Chair
SEO Atlantic is meeting monthly with technical presentations and discussing about industry topical themes and potential learning programs. A significant focus has been in the Energy Transition and the Net Zero Technology Centre challenges driven from UKCS North Sea, Aberdeen, Norway and US sectors with topics of carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, ROV AUV and digital twin projects, among others.
## **Activities include:**
Terms of Reference for the SEO Atlantic Committee was finalized by Charlie & KP after discussions/inputs from the committee members
## **Presentations and Meetings:**
- April 27th: Mr. Nikunj Patel (Vice President, Oceaneering) - Remote subsea inspections, Freedom AUV, e-Liberty Resident ROV Technology (TRL 6)
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## US Branch
## _contd._
- Participation in the Floating Energy Forum by Mr. Charlie Reith - Aberdeen 18th May – Presentations shared with the Committee
- May 26th: Ms. Julie Ingram (Director, McDermott) – The Journey to Net Zero Subsea – Case Study
- June 29th: Mr. Steve Johnson - Offshore Renewables SUT Awareness Course supporting Oil & Gas Operations
- Selected Technical Presentations from the Underwater Technology Conference (UTC) in Bergen, June shared with SEO Committee
- July 27th: Mr. Shashikant Sarada (Director, WSP) - Offshore Wind: Potential vs Reality
- August 31st: Mr. Stuart Duncan (Manager, DOF)- DOF Subsea of Floating Offshore Wind- Subsea Surveillance and Installation Work Offshore Norway on Equinor Hywind-Tampen Floating Offshore Wind Project
Nikunj Patel, Oceaneering Julie Ingram, McDermott Shashikant Sarada, WSP Stuart Duncan, DOF
## **Future Presentations and Meetings:**
- Robotic Electrification across the energy transition, Carbon Capture North Sea Licensing Blocks, Equinor Northern Lights CC Subsea, ESG impact level, much more to come in later months
- Digital Twin including Subsea Live Data Centre from One Subsea-SLB
- Subsea Robotics, Nautic US Robotics (joint SEO & Robotics group meeting)
- Discuss how to increase the participations in the meetings and webinars and share information on the employment opportunities
The subsea equipment, technology aspects are progressing at pace. However, there are significant gaps in the industry People Skills with an ageing subsea and marine sector workforce. The STEM Initiative program in the UK has been very proactive at schools creating an interest for the next generation in subsea engineering and operations as a career choice. There have been declining numbers in Universities and Colleges over recent years. So, still plenty to be done by the SUT Learned Society efforts in collaboration with other organizations such as the IMarEST, IMT and the Global Underwater Hub to make it a wider international career path and to bring through more young professionals into the operational support sectors across this Energy Transition Zone and the Blue Economy opportunities.
Photos courtesy of the Global Underwater Hub, Aberdeen, UK.
Making subsea engineering, operations more interesting for the younger generation
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Society for Underwater Technology
## US Branch
## _contd._
## Robotics and Automation Committee
The Robotics and Automation Committee (R&A) is chaired by Faisal Yousef, P.E., Engineering Consultant / API Lead Auditor. Individuals from the following organizations committed membership: Schlumberger, SAAB, inRobotics, Kongsberg, Chevron, CANRIG, RBR Group, TAMU, UH CL, and Rice University. The committee had seven meetings over the last 12 months and had the following presentations:
- Wave Powered Seafloor Robot – by Chris Roper from SAAB Group (2021 10 15)
- VADER – Robotic Tank Inspection by David Frazer from Chevron and Damien Goodyear from IPOZ (2021 11 19)
- Marine Robotics – By Adrian Thorn from Sonardyne (2022 01 25)
- OI Freedom AUV – By Jami Cheramie from Oceaneering (2022 03 22)
- Snake Robotics by Morten Bjerkeholt from Eelume (2022 04 21)
- HUL Skater Robot by Adam Stuchlik (2022 05 26)
- Contributed to the Online Engineering Competition with a Robotics Challenge - (Dr. Fathi Ghorbel at Rice University)
Working on two upcoming Fee-Based Webinars to be scheduled for later this year or early next year:
- **Robotics Assisted Offshore Oil Platform Operations and Inspections by Dr. Zheng Chen – Assistant Professor in The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston.**
A webinar about some key technologies which enable Robotics Assisted Inspections and Operations such as:
- Smart Touch Technology to detect bolt looseness of flanges in pipelines.
- Door Opening Tool which allows a lightweight service robot to open and close a watertight ship door.
- Valve Inspection and Operation Tool which allows the service robot to operate and inspect a valve remotely.
## **• Canrig Robotics by Hifzi Ardic – Advisor**
A Webinar about Canrig Robotics which provides automated tubular and tool handling modular systems that are applicable in onshore and offshore applications. Will discuss full robotic drilling system on the drill floor, such as:
- Electric Drill Floor Robot
- Electric Robotics Roughneck
- Multi-Size Elevator MSE-350
- Electric Robotic Pipe handler
## Marine Renewable Energy Committee
Steve Johnson, retired Chevron, chaired the Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC) June 2021 thru June 2022. Individuals from the following organizations committed membership: Geosyntech Consultants, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Wood Group, Siemens, Fugro, Subsea7, Power Engineers, Element, JDR Cables, Integral Consulting Services, and BP.
## **Webinars & Presentations**
- August 3, 2021, GoToWebinar - Offshore Wind in the US - Supply Chain Requirements for a Developing Market, presented by Zach Skelton of Seaway 7
- August 16, 2021, MREC OTC Reception sponsored by Integral Consulting Services.
- September 9th, In person MRE presentation to Society of Professional Women in Petroleum (SPWP).
- September 10th, Virtual quarterly committee meeting held.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## US Branch
_contd._
- November 3rd, GoToWebinar Engaging with the Blue Economy: Fisheries/Aquaculture presented by Torbjørn Eggebø of Ocean Aqua Farms.
- November 8th, In person MRE presentation to TAMU.
- January 7th, Virtual quarterly committee meeting held.
- March 24th, In person MRE presentation given to TAMU.
- April 26th, GoToWebinar Introduction to offshore hydrogen generation from offshore wind presented by Quentin Egly of DNV.
- May 2nd, MREC reception at OTC, sponsored by Integral Consulting Services.
- May 12th, Virtual quarterly committee meeting held.
## Scholarship Committee
Six members comprise the Education Committee, chaired by Jon Halliburton. This committee is responsible for reviewing SUT US’ annual scholarship applications.
The 2022 scholarship recipients were recognized during the Scholarship Awards Ceremony on September 9, 2022. The selected students by the Scholarships Subcommittee were:
- Sara Stewart, Fishery Biology, Texas A&M University
- Dominic Bush, Maritime Archaeology, East Carolina University
- Lindsay Wentzell, Maritime Studies, East Carolina University
- Peter Komolafe, Hydrographic Science, University of Southern Mississippi
- Izzy Wang, Oceanography, Texas A&M University
- Ashley Herrmann, Marine Biology & Marine Fisheries, Texas A&M University Galveston
2022-2023 Scholarship Awards Event Attendees
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Society for Underwater Technology
## US Branch
## _contd._
## Young Professionals Committee (SUT-YP)
## **Learning Luncheons, Webinars and Networking Events:**
## **September 1st, 2021**
**YP and MREC Webinar:** Floating Offshore Wind Turbines - Comparing Floater Types and Designing Mooring Systems; Kai-Tung (KT) Ma, National Taiwan University
## **April 7th, 2022**
**YP Seminar/Webinar:** Flow Assurance and Impact on Major Capital Projects Design; Dr. Carlos Avila, Assured Flow Solutions
## **May 4th, 2022**
**SUT Supports OTC: Y** oung Professionals: Conquering Career Challenges in Offshore Energy; SUT-US YP Supported the round table topic discussions
## **Accomplishments of our Members**
OTC Emerging leaders program recognizes young professionals who are making key contributions to the offshore energy sector in their field of work, service to the industry, innovation, and focus on safety.
- Patricia Varela, Chair, recipient 2021
- Ajay Shastri, Professional Organizations Liaison, recipient 2022
Patricia Varela and Roneet Das moderated a session on the 4th International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG 2020) in Austin, TX.
## **Mentoring Program Update**
- 26 mentees have enrolled - 8 Young Professionals, 18 Students – U of H, Prairie View, University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University
- Positive feedback from mentors and mentees
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## US Branch
## _contd._
## 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, Enterprise Architect at RPS, and complemented with membership from Chevron, Stress Engineering Services, GEMS, Intecsea, Geosyntech, and KBR.
## Champagne and Conversation Series Events:
## **April 28, 2022**
**Champagne & Conversation Series Edition 9: “From Law to Leading the Strategic Growth of Fugro in the Americas,”** where we heard from Céline Gerson on her career evolution, Fugro’s recently appointed Group Director for the Americas region.
Sponsors included RPS, NOV, Sify Technologies Limited and Endeavor Business Media. Hosted by Andy Hill, BP
## **Women in Industry September 30, 2021**
**Champagne & Conversation Series Edition 8: Table Discussions, focused on diversity, leadership and career development.**
Table Leads and Topics
- Erica Auguillard - Regional Head of Human Resources, Fugro Americas - **Dimensions of Diversity**
- Anthony Caridi – Director, January Search - **Knowing your value**
- Patricia (Trish) Murison, Assurance Risk and Interface Manager, Gulf of Mexico, Chevron - **Unconscious bias**
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Society for Underwater Technology
## US Branch
## _contd._
- Julie Dehne, Business Development and Digital Transformation Manager – Americas, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, Inc. - **Leading with authenticity**
- Dr. Zenon Medina-Cetina, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University; Former SUT-US President - **Uplifting others**
Hosted by Amber Sturrock, Chevron & SUT-WIND
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## West Africa Branch
## www.sut.org/branch/west-africa
he West Africa Branch of the SUT had not been active in the period from 2021-2022. The committee welcomed some new members and thanked past Tmembers for their service to the branch. It is hoped that 2023 will bring more opportunities to engage with local members and other international SUT branches.
## **David Agazuma**
## **Committee**
_President_ David R. E. Agazuma _Chair_ Professor Francis Ifeayin Anyasi _Vice Chair_ Dr Anietie Umofia _Vice Chair_ Prof. Emeka Emmanuel Oguzie _Honorary Secretary_ Dr Oloruntoba Daniel Toyin _Honorary Treasurer_ Adagba John Agama
## _Administrative Secretary_
Nnenna Sandra Njoku _International Executive Committee_ Neffgen James Michael _Business Development Executive_ Chiamaka Favour Ezeh-Agazuma Prof Jackson Gunorubon Akpa Engr. Aloysius Oseghale Prof. Peter Azikiwe Onwualu Engr. Romeo Eghenokhian Agazuma
Prof. Mark Adom-Asamoah Prof. Esther U Ikhuoria Charles Uchenna Ezeh Engr. Chidimma Emmanuela Ohanele Celestine Imhanbibi Okonokhua Professor Francis Warings Yao Momade Prof Kwasi Obiri-Danso Prof. Onwona-Agyeman
43
## Reports from Commmittees of Council and Special Interest Groups
Annual Report 2021-2022 Annual Report 2021-2022
## Education
ducation is at the heart of the SUT. Sharing knowledge, educating members, non-members, the general public and politicians, access to support for Estudents through the Educational Support Fund (ESF), organising and participating in events aimed at students at large conferences and exhibitions on the subject of Ocean Careers as well as student focused webinars from SUT+. Opening the world of career opportunities to children, schools and teachers is part of the SUT’s education objectives as well as showcasing the importance of careers in underwater, subsea and marine science, technology and engineering now and in the future.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to run the Christmas Lecture for schools in its established face-to-face format in 2021 with the ongoing and changing Covid restrictions. We look forward to reinstating this on the SUT calendar in 2023 whether as an in-person, online or hybrid event. Potential sponsors for the schools and Christmas lecture are encouraged to contact me or CEO, Cheryl Burgess for information on the organisation of these events and sponsorship opportunities.
When elected Chair of SUT Council last December, it was agreed I would retain the position of Chair of the Education Committee. If you are interested in the subject of education and becoming involved as a volunteer on the Education Committee, please contact me including a short summary or your areas of expertise and relevance.
## **Sue John**
**Committee** _Chair_ Sue John
In addition to the ongoing success of the ESF fund, covered elsewhere in the Annual Report, and education-oriented webinars run by SUT, the SUT podcast delivered by Andrew Connelly and Emily Boddy continues to engage both members and the public. Listen to episodes at _**sut.buzzsprout.com/**_ . I encourage you to check out the podcast series.
Additionally, the SUT’s YouTube Channel ( _**youtube.com/@SUTMedia**_ ) provides informative content to all those who may be interested not only in the SUT, but the Society’s areas of expertise with content from webinars and presentations in the Special Interest Groups.
Next year we have plan for a career-focused webinar on what SUT members do in their ‘day jobs’. If you have an unusual role, a job about which you are passionate, or a career which you would like to talk about and think pupils, students and schools will be interested; please contact us via _events@sut.org_ .
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## Educational Support Fund Management
he Society for Underwater Technology continues to support students through our Educational Support Fund. Each summer we invite applications for scholarships which attract candidates from around the world. TUnfortunately, the Society is not resourced to be able to award funding to everyone who applies (over 25 in 2021), but we hope to be able to grow the number of awards we make in future. The Society thanks all those who donate funds for this purpose.
In 2021 the Society was able to make two scholarship awards. The recipients of grants from the Educational Support Fund were: 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. Bartol Sikora, Engineering Science, University of Oxford continues to receive ESF support.
While students from all over the world are able to apply for the ESF scholarships; several of the SUT 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.
The Educational Support Fund has been limited to supporting undergraduates and Masters students. From 2023 SUT Council have agreed to support a Doctoral student with the Bil Loth Memorial Grant. The timetable and process of application will align with the existing ESF processes.
## Summary of Undergraduates graduated in 2022
Marine Science with Oceanography and Robotics - Scottish Association for Marine Science Marine Science with Oceanography and Robotics - Scottish Association for Marine Science
## Summary of New/Continuing Undergraduates 2022-2023
Engineering Science - University of Oxford
Marine Biology with Oceanography - University of Southampton
Ecology & Conservation - University of St Andrews
MSc Marine Environmental Protection - Bangor University
MSc Engineering Fluid Mechanics for the Offshore, Coastal and Built Environments - Imperial College
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## International Training
ith Sue moving into the SUT Chair role, she asked me to take over the lead for the SUT’s international training committee which I was happy Wto accept. From the training perspective the 2021-22 year has been one of growth with importantly the return of branch face-to-face training re-starting. These have included materials and flexibles courses in Perth, flow assurance and subsea foundation design. The US Branch has worked to offer training available in Houston
An Introduction to Offshore Geophysics and Geotechnical Engineering was held as a virtual, online course by the OSIG committee. Aberdeen Branch will run its first face-to-face training course in September 2022 which will include site visits to several Aberdeen-based companies. The Norway Branch have scheduled face-toface training in October 2022 in Bergen, which will also included site-visits. More courses, virtual and face-to-face are planned for 2023.
The International Training Committee has reformed bringing together Branches who deliver training as well as individual members interested and active in the field of training.
## **David Saul**
**Committee** _Chair_ David Saul
Moya Crawford Leanne Geneve Robert Luff Bob MacDonald David Newman Ralph Rayner Charlie Reith Paul Ryan Nick Swift
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Society for Underwater Technology
## International
## **Steve Hall**
**Committee** _Chair_ Steve Hall
Australia – Steve Duffield Brazil – Segen Estefen Canada – Paul Ryan China – Frank Lim Eastern Mediterranean – Daniel Hayes or Nicolas Droushiotis Kuala Lumpur - vacant Middle East – Adrian Phillips Norway – Nils Vaagen Singapore – James Christie United States – Tricia Hill West Africa – David Agazuma, Jim Neffgen CEO SUT – Cheryl Burgess Chair SUT Council – Susan John Past Chair SUT Council – David Saul Plus Chair London, North of England (Vahid Walker) and Aberdeen Branches by invitation
he International Committee focuses mainly on the development, regulation and governance of SUT’s family of international branches, and with the TUK network of Branches to ensure that all of the SUT works in an aligned manner as regards our interactions with members and stakeholders, upholding high ethical and professional standards, and helping provide access to training and online materials.
The International Committee reports directly to SUT Council, and has representation on Council via both individually elected members, and through the Chairs of our USA and Perth, Australia Branches.
Over the last two years many Branches struggled while the COVID pandemic closed so much of the face-to-face interaction that a Learned Society requires to thrive and be relevant to members. The close-down of activities slowed down progress in opening our two newest Branches, Canada and Eastern Mediterranean, but both are now ready to formally launch and I expect by the next Annual Report we’ll have activity to report from both of them.
Sadly, while new Branches get ready to launch, some of our long-established Branches have found it hard to get through the changes imposed both by COVID and changing commercial realities. Our Kuala Lumpur Branch is currently inactive pending a new Chair and Committee, and we have not heard from the Chair of our Brazil branch at the International Committee for some time.
To better reflect the views and needs of the global network of Branches we have changed the make up of the International Committee this year, it is now comprised of the Chair of the Committee, SUT CEO, SUT Chair and immediate past-Chair, and the Chairs of the International Branches. This enables each Branch to be able to report directly on how things are going, and feed information directly to the CEO and Chair of SUT, who are able in turn to feed back what they need to know to ensure the smooth, consistent running of the Society as a whole.
We aim to meet three times per year, and work closely with other SUT committees where relevant.
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Policy Advisory
he SUT Policy Advisory Committee reformed with new committee members in 2021 following its quiet status in 2020 during the global coronavirus Tpandemic. Now chaired by CEO, Cheryl Burgess and including SUT President Moya Crawford, the committee has begun to meet virtually. With the breadth of the Society’s interests and activities, and the new special interest groups (SIGs) now part of the SUT, the committee is looking to develop policy statements from these SIGs. Requests for responses to enquiries from Parliamentary Committees, government departments, agencies and working groups were disseminated to special interest groups for comment and input.
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. The Society is multi-disciplined and unbiased as well with membership able to views from the historic to current and development of policies for the future: offshore and marine renewable energy, environmental science, protection, and forces, education and training for workforce development and much more.
## **Cheryl Burgess**
**Committee** _Chair_ Cheryl Burgess
The Policy Committee admits members by request and after review. If members are interested in joining the Policy Committee in 2023, please contact _info@sut.org_ .
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Defence
## **Nick Swift**
he Defence Special Interest group were involved in number of events this year, including: T
## **Ocean Business**
A defence session was held to this year’s ocean business event. Speakers from the Ministry of Defence, NATO and industry discussed collaboration and the importance of standards in the underwater battle space domain. This included a presentation by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (DSTL) on Phorcys – An open and secure acoustic communication standard that enables multi-domain C4 in coalition maritime environments, and a presentation by NATO on the importance of collaboration between marine autonomous systems and the trials work that is being undertaken by NATO to explore potential solutions.
## **Oceanology**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Nick Swift _Deputy Chair_ Roland Rogers
Captain Ryan Ramsey Terry Sloane Keith Broughton Matthew Gleed Ioseba Tena Alan Noble David Maclean Ian Danbury
The Defence Special interest group hosted a session to present the Royal Navy’s initial, high-level requirements for Seabed Warfare. The session included presentation by stakeholders in the Royal Navy and some examples of industries capabilities to address these. This session considered Critical National Infrastructure on the Seabed (SBCNI), protecting the SBCNI, the threats, and impact of the threats. The Royal Navy and industry experts presented on this important and considered what are the current challenges the ways forward and the requirements for the future in the defence sector.
## **Combined Naval Event**
SUT sponsored the Combined Naval Event, held in Farnborough. This included a presentation about the SUT and how it can facilitate the exchange of technologies and information between defence and non-defence domains.
We are planning a workshop to be held on the 8th February 2023 at the Battlelab Dorset. The defence user community will propose some capability gaps and the SUT membership will be invited to present potential solutions.
The group is considering how current and future underwater technologies can be developed to:
- support the defence domain – considering none defence technologies, techniques and solutions can be applied to solving some of the problems face by defence and maritime security organisations;
- exploit defence derived technologies in the non-defence environment;
- introduce non-defence organisations to the research and development programme funded by the defence industry; and to
- foster research and development collaboration between defence and nondefence organisations.
The Defence SIG hopes to identify key capability gaps from emerging threats from international members and organisations that can be addressed by the worldwide SUT community
We are looking to welcome some new members in order foster collaboration and increase access to defence R&D funding. If you are interest in joining, please contact _defence@sut.org._
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## 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 Thas also been significantly impacted by the death of its chair, Dr John Bevan, in 2020.
It is hoped to reconvene the Committee in 2023 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
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Environmental Forces
**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
he SUT Group on Environmental Forces (SUTGEF) held five events since Feb 2021, three online and two hybrid. T The event (119th Meeting) was held online on 25 Feb 2021. Two presentations were made. One was given by Dr. Jana Orszaghova (University of Western Australia) on ‘Dynamic instabilities in wave energy converters’. The other was given by Dr. Jørgen Hals Todalshaug and Dr. Hannah Buckland (CorPower) on ‘wave loads as cost and performance drivers for the C4 wave energy converter of CorPower Ocean’.
The 120th meeting was also held online on 30th Sept 2021. There were also two presentations made. One was given by Prof Alison Raby (University of Plymouth) on ‘wave loading on rock lighthouses’. Another was given by Prof Alessandro Antonini (TU Delft) on ‘A Bayesian inverse dynamic approach for impulsive wave loading reconstruction: Theory, laboratory and field application’.
The 121st meeting was again held online on 10th Feb 2022. There were again two presentations made. One was given by Dr Harrif Santo (Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine, Singapore) on ‘TCOMS Ocean Basin facility’. Another was given by Prof Wouter Mostert (University of Oxford) on ‘Physics-informed modelling of the statistics of energetics, bubbles and droplets generated by ocean wave breaking’.
The 122nd meeting was the first hybrid meeting held (in-person hosted by Oxford University and online) on 25th May 2022. Two presentations were made. This one was jointly organized with the meeting of the EPSRC project led by Prof. Ling Qian (MMU) on floating offshore wind system. Each of the work packages of the project reported their achievements.
The latest event (123rd meeting) was also hybrid (in-person hosted by Imperial College) on 21st Sept 2022. Two presentations were invited and made. One was given by Prof. Zhiqiang Hu (Newcastle University) on ‘Software-in-the-Loop combined Artificial Intelligence Method for Dynamic Performance Analysis of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines’. Another was given by Dr. Mark McAllister (University of Oxford) on ‘Wave breaking in highly spread and crossing seas’.
SUTGEF continues to provide a forum for vigorous debate between members and guests from academia and industry. The meetings were well attended. All the invited speakers were awarded a certificate.
COVID-19 forced us to make significant and positive changes: (1) we can now organize hybrid events, in-person and online; (2) we can now invite international speakers to give talks, and (3) international audience can attend the events, and so we have seen much larger audience (sometime we see more 100 registered and more then 60 attended) in our events than before. These changes give us opportunity to extend the boundary of impact of the events.
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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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Marine Environmental Science
he MES SIG has held meetings every quarter over the last 12 months, two of which have been hybrid events (Southampton and London). We are having Tanother hybrid event in October in London. We have welcomed a number of speakers, both external and members, to our meetings covering topics including:
- Is Oil & Gas dead? And what are the environmental implications?
- Environmental considerations of a Floating Offshore Wind project;
- Defining the Thresher shark nursery within the Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere;
- Bombora Wave Power Solution to Clean and Sustainable Power Generation;
- Digital twins.
We also held a small social at Oceanology back in March. Looking forward to the next 12 months we will continue to hold meetings every quarter, with the aim of these being hybrid. As this is a SIG which was established during lockdown, there is definitely a fall back of holding only virtual events, but as the Chair of the SIG I would like to see more members attend in person in future so that we can really explore the networking that being a member of a SIG gives you.
At the meeting last October, the current skills gap within the marine environmental science sector was discussed. It was identified that there is a lack of knowledge in the job opportunities available to those who are studying a marine environmental science subject. As a consequence, we have established an Education Subcommittee who have been tasked with trying to improve this. We acknowledge that this ais a large topic and is not something that will be resolved overnight. Prior to Oceanology in March, we reached out to a number of universities, whom we knew were attending with student groups and offered student tours of the exhibition area. Those that attended these commented on the benefits and is something that we would promote at any future conferences which are known for a _student day_ .
Looking forward to the next 12 months the SIG and the Education Subcommittee will continue to develop. I am hoping that we will be able to hold more in person quarterly meetings with a greater number of members in attendance. To reiterate what I said last year, by exploring different topics at these meetings, 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.
## **Katie Cross**
_Chair_ Katie Cross _Secretary_ Lucy Shuff _Events Secretary_ Nathan Formosa
Adam Chambers Ainslie Casson Alison Brand Andy Matkin Bethan Owens Benjamin Lincoln Cemlyn Barlow Cheryl Burgess Chris Poonian Claire Hinton Daisy Chamberlain & Team from Thomson Damien Kirby Deborah Morgan Edward Wort Elena Rainey
|Gareth MacGlennon|Inge Smith|Michael Thompson|
|---|---|---|
|Gary Nicol|Isabelle Rundle|Mick Cook|
|Gillian Allen|Jack Poleyket|Nicola Harris|
|Gordon Watson|Jill Schwarz|Paul Collins|
|Helena Sherman
Ian Hendy|Judith Paten
Karen Prat|Phoebe Chadwick
Rhiannon Alger|
|Ian Reach|Katie Cross|Ross Compton|
|Ian Wilson|Lucy Shuf|Ruth Barnich|
|Idongesit Ikpewe|Marja Aberson|Ryan Mowat|
Sam Strutton Samantha Williams Samuel Stanton Steve Johnson Sue John Ute Brönner Vere Ross-Gillespie
53
Society for Underwater Technology
## Marine Renewable Energies
**John Sharp**
**Committee** _Chair_ Prof J Sharp _Clerk_ E Boddy
D Ayling N Bennett D Brookes K Buckle S Cheeseman J Colby P Davies P Fraenkel S George J Grant J Griffiths C Hanly J Hulm G James S Johnson D Kerr R Lesemann Dr S Merry N Morgan T Morris M Murphy
he Committee has decided to continue with its regular meetings online enabling higher attendance due to the need not to travel to London. There has Tbeen a speaker at each meeting which has included presentations on EMEC (Neil Kermode), Offshore Wind Flow Cluster (Simon Cheeseman), Skua Marine (Liam Warren) and Greenbackers investment (Andrew Smith). Floating wind is now an active part of the committee’s portfolio and is discussed at each meeting
International developments in marine energy are reviewed at each meeting. During the year we have worked closely with the recently formed US MREC, with representatives from each committee contributing to both meetings.
During the year the committee responded to one UK consultation; this was the BEIS draft Policy Statement for Energy Infrastructure. The MREC contribution included support for both tidal stream and tidal range technologies.
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 update the careers part of the SUT web site on marine renewables; some progress has been made in updating this but there is further work to do.
The committee contributed to and helped organise the conference sessions on wave and tidal energy at “All Energy “ held in Glasgow in May 2022. At this event the Lennard-Senior prize for 2021 was presented. The winner was decided by Committee members and was Neil Kermode, Managing Director of EMEC (European Marine Energy Centre), awarded in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of Marine Renewable Energy.
Neil won the inaugural award ten years ago in 2011 and, perhaps more than ever, deserves this accolade today. EMEC has marine renewables at its core and has extended its reach, to great effect, to encompass hydrogen and energy systems. Neil is a true champion of enabling the marine energy sector.
Dr R Norman J Patten MBE G Plant
T Sawyer L Warren A Smith S Wilson T Van Der Kammen M Wright
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics
he past twelve months have been busy and successful for the OSIG committee. Online meetings have continued and some smaller groups of people have Tmet to attend meetings. The key highlights of the past year are summarised below.
## Events and short courses for industry and students
A fully online short course was successfully held in November 2021 with an attendance of 51, exceeding expectations. The presentations were supported by worked examples and sessions to keep audience engagement. Feedback received included “Highly engaging and relevant to my area of work - particularly liked use of practical activity (as with all other days) to practice/use concepts spoke about in presentations”. After the course all feedback was reviewed and next time a similar course is run this will be taken into account.
MSc Master Class went ahead at Imperial on the 9th June. Overall, the day was well received and attended (50 in room and 25 online). Thanks were received from Richard Jardine to those who helped to organise the event, sponsorship and the presenters
An in-person event in the South West went ahead with more than 100 people attending. Presentations were made by from Dave White, from Wessex Archaeology and Will Hodgson on synthetic CPTs.
## OSIG Conference
Planning work for the OSIG conference has continued and this is now confirmed to be held in London at Imperial College from the 12th to 14th September 2023. The conference dinner will be held at the Natural History Museum. Good progress has been made on sponsorship and paper abstract submissions have been high. Furthermore, keynote speakers have been identified. All the essentials for a great conference with global attendance are coming into place!
More details on the conference can be found here: _**9th International SUT OSIG Conference “Innovative Geotechnologies for Energy Transition” | SUT | Society for Underwater Technology.**_
## **Neil Morgan**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Neil Morgan _Secretary_ Tim Carrington Peter Allan Chris Almond Ricardo Argiolas Jon Arthur Paul Baggaley Mike Baker Andy Barwise Andrew Benson Emily Boddy Scott Boyce Michael Brown Nigel Carey
|Eric Cauquil|Scot Gooding|Mark Lawrence|Oyvind Ruden|
|---|---|---|---|
|David Colliard|Chris Golightly|Dafydd Lloyd-Jones|David Rushton|
|William Cleverly|Steve Hall|Tom Lunne|Rupert Rowland|
|Mick Cook|Kevin Hampson|Alisdair MaConochie|Richard Salisbury|
|David Coursey|Aime Harrison|Chris Martin|Roi Santos|
|Michael Cowie|Majid Hesar|Alice Maynard|Alex Searle|
|Karen Dalton|Ray Hobbs|Rich Meters|Felix Schroeder|
|Andrew Deeks|Dei Huws|Neil Morgan|Paul West|
|Justin Dix|A Ivanovic|Simon Oakley|David White|
|Phil Durrant|Richard Jardine|Richard Orren|Phil Wilson|
|Jim Edmunds|Suzanne Lacasse|Julian Osborne|Anna|
|Phil Edwards|Thomas Langford|Miguel Pacheco-Andrade|Wolowicz-Trouwborst|
|Mark Finch|Peter Larkin|John Powell|Gareth Wood|
|Ian Finnie|Vincent Latron|Toby Powell|Guangquan Xu|
55
Society for Underwater Technology
## Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics
## _contd._
## 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 is now available for _**FREE download to SUT Members**_ . The document presents a considerable update to the previous version published in 2014.
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.
56
Annual Report 2021-2022
## Salvage and Decommissioning
he Decommissioning and Wreck Removal Committee is part of the SUT’s wider TInternational Salvage and Decommissioning Committee. Alongside its partner, the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology (MASTS), it has been running a yearly Salvage, Decommissioning and Wreck Removal Workshop that coincides with the MASTS’ Annual Science Meeting. Due to the range of disciplines involved, including scientists, engineers, salvors, fishers, policy makers, insurers and lawyers, this is a lively event, very much fulfilling the SUT’s societal role.
> As this financial year, we have been preparing for **Karen Seath** our tenth Workshop, it seems appropriate to have a retrospective look at the topics that we have tackled and, indeed, how we have contributed to debate on **Anthropogenic Matter, Material, Object, Structures and Substances (AMMOSS) in the marine ecosystem, taking a holistic, lifecycle approach** .
Our collaboration with MASTS first started back in 2013. Over the years we have looked at the differing approaches to decommissioning around the world, e.g. comparisons between the highly regulated North Sea, with its OSPAR requirement to remove practically everything, and the Gulf of Mexico which regularly practises the rigs to reef approach. In relative terms, Asia Pacific and Australia regions are at the start of their decommissioning journey, and are looking to more mature markets for lessons learned. Indeed a few of us in our committee are helping the Australian Institute of Marine Science, part of the Australian Government, with a horizon scan of key questions that need to be addressed to ensure scientifically robust and transparent decision-making regarding the fate of decommissioned offshore oil and gas infrastructure.
A key area of interest and focus, right from the start, has been the impact of manmade infrastructure and structures such as wrecks, on the marine environment – asking whether removal (whether full or partial) was indeed the right thing to do? A number of these structures have been in the environment for many years, and are themselves now part of the ecosystem, supporting an abundance of marine life – so is it the right things to remove them? This is quite an area of debate from all perspectives, whether academic, industry, or regulatory.
The start of our workshops actually coincided with the launch of INSITE, an independent science programme examining the effects of man-made structures on the ecology of the North Sea. And a number of our committee members are part of the projects which it funds. It has been exciting to see and hear its progress.
In 2018, we introduced the topic of the use of explosives for decommissioning and
**Moya Crawford**
## **Committee**
_Chair_ Moya Crawford _Chair_ Karen Seath _SUT CEO_ Cheryl Burgess _Coordinator_ Abigail Davies
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
Tony Laing Thomas Miller Bill Ritchie Mark Lawrence Joel Mills Murray Roberts Hannah Lawson Peter Oliver Sally Rouse Andy Liddell Kilian Palop Erin Sherratt Andy Matkin David Paterson Mark Shields
Dan Stewart Simon Swallow Win Thornton Tom Walters Martin Watts
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Society for Underwater Technology
## Salvage and Decommissioning _contd._
removal purposes – “To blow or not to blow” being a key question! We had a fascinating panel session that year, with marine scientists, explosives experts and policy makers – all with differing views. Due to the level of interest, we have now set up our XCOM Special Interest Group, which provides a platform for the various perspectives and views to be discussed and debated.
Showcasing and discussing state of the art technology has always been a key interest area for us – addressing the Underwater Technology element. More recently simulation and visualisation has really come to the fore, where we have had the most amazing demonstrations from members. This technology is now so advanced it now routinely informs decision making, which is crucial for reducing risk.
A topic very close to my heart is the circular economy, that is the reuse through to recycling of infrastructure and materials. We started looking at this topic in earnest in 2019. For those of us who work in this area, it is frustratingly, in practice, highly challenging, not least because the key driver is economics.
And this leads us rather nicely onto a much discussed topic which has impregnated every aspect of our lives in the last few years – the global impact of climate change. From reduced resource consumption through the reuse of materials, to trying to understand the greenhouse gas emissions released from sectors operating in the marine environment. As my friend and colleague Moya Crawford has said, this is just one leg of a long, tough relay race, and boy, do we have a long way to go!
And on that challenging note, the preparation of our 10th workshop, ‘ **Navigating the Blue Economy through the Climate Emergency** .’ How do we achieve joined up thinking and improved decision making? This will be held in early November, 2022.
Our first session focuses in on the use and impact of Energy infrastructure and the need for better decision making. We take a look at the energy transition and global marine policies, asking are we really transitioning and is it time to rethink? We also hear about these afore-mentioned circular economy challenges from both the oil & gas and renewables perspectives.
In Session 2, we look at the marine ecosystem itself from varying perspectives, including a Master Mariner’s, a salvage and a scientific perspective, asking what are we protecting it for, and looking at the need to think differently.
We then take a deep dive into the exploration and removal of wrecks and offshore structures, with a particular focus on the technology and data need. Excitingly we will hear about the latest expedition to the Titanic which took place this summer, as well as legacy wrecks off the Finnish coast, and how innovative and state of the art technology can help inform decision making.
Our final session, takes a look at one of the tough topics we’ve tackled over the years – the use of explosives as a tool for decommissioning, and how having the right toolbox can drive efficiencies. One of our experts also discusses the difference between explosives and UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance).
We will then finish with a look at how the strength of the partnership between the SUT and MASTS can help continue to drive challenging and at times difficult topics forward.
This workshop, as in previous years, has been put together to stimulate thinking and to prompt discussion. Interaction is key. It is only made possible by the year-round support of our Committee members, for which I would like to say a very sincere thank you.
_Report by Karen Seath, Chair of the Decommissioning and Wreck Removal Committee_
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Annual Report 2021-2022
## International Underwater Vehicles and Robotics Group
he SUT/ECOR Panel on Underwater Robotics has international membership and online Tcommunication and meetings have continued. A meeting was held on 13 April 2022 at which 19 attended from Canada, USA, UK and China (about seven of whom were early to mid-career). A short face-to-face check in with a few members attending the IEEE OES AUV 2022 will be held in Singapore on 22 September 2022. An online meeting will be planned later in 2022 or early 2023.
The SUT Polar AUV Guide website has been brought up to date and is linked to the SUT website. A recommendation for the second Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award (GGURA) was made to the SUT Council. This award aims to recognize people in the early to mid-stages of their career who have made outstanding contributions to their field in underwater robotics. The winner of the inaugural award (2021) was Aleksandra Tomaszek - Cofounder & COO at 1CSI. The SUT team interviewed Alex for the Underwater Technology Podcast. Listen at _**htps://www.buzzsprout.com/1000288/9598806**_ Congratulations Alex!
**Mario Brito**
Some members of the panel are attending the bienial IEEE OES AUV 2022 in Singapore in September.
**Bo Thanyamanta**
The panel is supporting John Howes, editor of online publications _Underwater Robotics_ and _UT2_ ; an article on the polar AUV guide will be published shortly.
The panel has been working on collating pre-recorded lectures on underwater robotics topics for linking to the panel website.
## **Neil Bose**
**Committee** _Chair_ Neil Bose _Co-Chair_ Mario Brito _Secretary_ Bo Thanyamanta _SUT CEO_ Cheryl Burgess
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
59
Society for Underwater Technology
## Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)
## **Mick Cook**
Committee _Chair_ Mick Cook _Events Secretary_ Dorthe Reng ErbsHansen
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
fter its inauguration on 5th February 2021 the UXO SIG has now experienced its first full year of activity. The primary purpose of the SIG is to identify Aand to address marine UXO issues within the burgeoning offshore wind and to seek to provide guidance and education to practitioners.
Membership is currently confined to offshore windfarm developers and representation is provided by Ørsted, Tennet, Shell, SSE, Vattenfall, RWE, Energinet, Equinor, ScottishPower, Amprion, TotalEnergies, EDF, BT, 50 Hertz, Ocean Winds, 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, but we are always looking to expand our geographical reach; particularly in SE Asia.
In the early stages of the SIG, we met monthly but have subsequently reduced meetings to quarterly as the Group matures. To date, all meetings have been virtual except for March 2022 when those members attending Oceanology International met for a couple of drinks at a nearby hotel. For many of us, this was our first face to face meeting and exemplified the benefits of such personal contact. Our plan henceforth, is to meet four times a year with one-two such meetings being face to face; ideally arranged around an industry event.
It had been our intention to hold a full-day workshop open to all at Oceanology International in March 2022. However, due to the impact of COVID on people and businesses, particularly in Europe, this led us to deferring the workshop until the situation had returned to normal. We will be working on plans to hold such a workshop in 2023 to discuss the issues around marine UXO and its impact on the offshore wind industry.
Should you have any questions about the business of the UXO SIG, please do not hesitate to contact me: Mick Cook, _mick@mickcook.com_
60
**Society for Underwater Technology (The) Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022**
**Company Number 00932590 Registered Charity 256659 Scottish Charity Number: SC043942**
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **Index**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Page
Legal and Administrative Information 1
Chair’s Report 2-1
The Report of the Council including Strategic Report 2-3
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Council 2-7
Statement of Financial Activities 2-8
Balance Sheet 2-9
Notes to the Financial Statements 2-10
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **Legal and Administrative Information**
The Council Members, who are the Trustees for the purpose of Charity Law, and also the Directors and Members for the purpose of Company Law, present their Report together with the Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022.
President: M Crawford Chair and Vice President: S John Hon Treasurer: N Carey Hon Secretary: I Knight Chief Executive (CEO): C A Burgess Registered Office: HQS Wellington Victoria Embankment London WC2R 2PN Registered Charity: 256659 Company Number: 00932590 Independent Examiner: Nunn Hayward LLP 2-4 Packhorse Road Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire SL9 7QE Principal Bankers: Barclays Bank plc and Bank of Scotland plc Solicitors: Gordons Partnership 22 Great James Street London WC1N 3ES
1
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Chairman’s Report 30 June 2022**
In my first report as SUT Chair I have had to look backward over the last year of the Society’s activities as well as to the future. Covid has changed the world, and how we work. Through the everyday use of Zoom and Teams conference calls; podcasts; webinars and virtual training courses the Society has become more engaged and globally accessible.
Facing differing Covid-related restrictions, our international affiliates (referred to within SUT colloquially as Branches) have been working hard to build their communities and activities. Some have been able to carry on as normal, delivering in person training and events, while others were under severe restrictions. This has been reflected in the differing levels of activities and in collected income. Our events were also hit by the high level of uncertainty of different travel restrictions around the world. But, at last, I can report that nearly all of the SUT is back engaging with members, delivering events, activities and meeting in person .
During the ‘working from home’ period of Covid the UK training committee put together a set of virtual courses. These included our popular Subsea Awareness course from the UK, now available as an online training course, the creation of the new Offshore Wind Renewable Energy course and a revival of the Introduction to Offshore Geophysics and Geotechnical Engineering. These courses were well received by the delegates from the UK and internationally. I am pleased to report that numbers of delegates for SUT training have surpassed pre-Covid numbers. These courses deliver valuable information, education and training to member and non-member workforces as well as providing income to the SUT. Course numbers also demonstrate the ongoing interest and need for training across SUT sectors and industries. My thanks to all the volunteer members who participated in the organisation, presentation and delivery of these courses.
Aberdeen’s hard work and perseverance, paid off in September 2022 with the successful first delivery of an in-person Subsea Awareness course that could be held in the UK since 2020 with 10 delegates.
Perth, Western Australia, held a very successful annual Golf Day with over 100 delegates in near perfect weather conditions. The Golf Day is one of many social and technical events Perth was able to run over the last year. Houston Branch were able to carry on as normal delivering social, technical and educational programme to students and members. Meanwhile, Singapore held their first technical evening in two and half years.
I am also pleased to report that all affiliates with existing educational support programmes and commitments were able to continue to deliver these through their financial Educational Support commitments.
In order to raise awareness of the Society and also further its educational aims, SUT attended Ocean Business Exhibition 2022 at Southampton. We will have a stand at this year’s event in April 2023. Please come and visit if you are in Southampton.
We had a very successful Oceanology International Conference, 15-17 March 2022, at the ExCel, where the Captain Don Walsh award was presented to Victor Vescovo and Patrick Lahey. Preceding the conference Don, Victor & Patrick were the main event at the Royal Institution, London, speaking on Into the Abyss: Exploring the deepest realms of the world’s oceans.
The 2022 Don Walsh Award was presented jointly with the Marine Technology Society (MTS) The award is part of a joint working agreement with MTS. This also includes the joint publication of UT2, & Underwater Robotics, and delivering the opportunity for SUT and MTS members to apply for certification on the Marine Technologist and Marine Scientist Registers under licence from IMarEST.
2023 sees the Society at Ocean Business, Offshore Europe, supporting Oceanology Americas, AOG, ADIPEC. The 9th International SUT OSIG Conference, Innovation Geotechnologies for Energy Transition will take place in London. I hope you are able to join us at this major calendar event.
The SUT continues to focus on increasing both our corporate and individual membership. If you know of any lapsed members, please encourage them to re-join us and become involved in one of our many special interest groups.
Members of the Society are also our volunteers, all of you this last year have been the backbone of the SUT. I would like to thank the all the members of the SUT who volunteer: Executive, Council, Branches, Special Interest Groups and Committees. On behalf of the myself and The Society I would like to thank the SUT staff in the UK, USA and Australia for all of your hard work keeping the Society going.
2 - 1
I look forward to meeting and hearing from more members in the future.
## **S John Chair of the Council**
## **27 October 2022**
2 - 2
**Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report 30 June 2022**
## _**STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**_
The Society's governing document is the Memorandum and Articles of Association and its full name is the Society for Underwater Technology Limited. The Society is a registered company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.
## **Council Members and their Interests**
The Members serving on the Council throughout the year were as follows:
Dr A M Atmanand T Griffiths R MacDonald D A Brookes (resigned 31 Dec Prof Gwyn Griffiths (resigned 31 Dec D M Saul 2021) 2021) N Carey (appointed 6 Dec 2021) S John N J Swift M R Cook (resigned 31 Dec S Johnson (resigned 31 Dec 2021) Dr J Morgan 2021) A Connelly Dr D W Kirkley (resigned 31 Dec 2021) J A I Patten M Crawford (appointed 6 Dec I Knight Prof R F Rayner 2021) S Elkhatib (appointed 6 Dec R Luff 2021)
None of the Members of the Council has any financial interest in the Society that requires disclosure under the Companies Act 2006. For Related Party transactions please see notes 11 and 20.
Council Members are appointed for three years by a ballot among members of the Society (members comprising the classes of Fellow, Individual Member and Corporate Member), and are drawn from among these Members. Candidates must be proposed and seconded by any two other Members. Ballot forms must be sent to Members twenty-eight days before the election, which is by simple majority, and this shall take place seven days before the Annual General Meeting. Those elected shall hold office from the conclusion of this Annual General Meeting. At the end of three years, a Council Member may stand for re-election, but no Member of Council may serve for more than six consecutive years.
New Council Members are not provided with a formal induction pack following their election but, are briefed verbally at the first meeting.
## **Organisational Structure**
A Board of Trustees (The Council) of up to or similar to 18 members, who meet quarterly, administer the Society. A Chief Executive (CEO), who’s not a trustee, is appointed by The Council to manage the day-to-day operations of the Society.
Branches of the Society are established under the authority of Council in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of the Society. They will have their own organising committee with elected officers.
The results of branches of the Society whereby the UK charity either has control, or the branch is not deemed to be administratively autonomous are consolidated in the Financial Statements.
Details of remuneration of key management personnel are disclosed in note 11. Remuneration levels for key management personnel and other employees are set by the Executive Committee, whose members are set out on page 1. The overall gross salary allowance as presented in the budget is then ratified by the full Council.
## _**OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES**_
The Society is principally engaged in the promotion of awareness in all aspects related to underwater technology. Its Mission and Strategic Vision are described as follows:
## _**Mission**_
The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) is an international body actively promoting the development, dissemination and exchange of ideas, information and technology arising from or related to the underwater environment.
## _**Strategic Vision**_
2 - 3
To maintain and develop SUT as the foremost society worldwide focusing on underwater technology, building on a reputation for high standards in publications, conferences and training courses; having a growing membership in the UK and abroad; and having significant influence with government and industry in relevant policy areas, and encouraging people to attain suitable qualifications and enter the field of underwater technology.
2 - 4
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2022**
## **Public Benefit**
In keeping with the Charity Commission's key principles that there must be an identifiable benefit to the public or a section of the public, the Society has undertaken the following activities during this financial year:
- It has supported 5 undergraduate students on relevant courses at a total cost of £10,000 (2021: £8,000).
- Provided free of charge, to both members and non-members, the most highly acclaimed on-line magazine in the field of underwater technology and sub-sea engineering, entitled UT[3] .
- The Society would usually provide a free Christmas lecture programme for schools. Once again, in 2021 this has not been possible because of the restrictions in place due to the Covid19 pandemic.
- Provided high quality subsidised training courses for industry.
## **Grant Making Policy**
Grants are awarded to high-quality students at either undergraduate or postgraduate (one-year taught MSc) level undertaking courses relevant to the area of interest of the Society with the aim of encouraging more entrants to the marine disciplines.
## _**STRATEGIC REPORT**_
## **Achievements and Performance**
We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities.
The Unrestricted Funds of the Society were reduced by £7,025 after allowing for £11,501 in losses on investments and £12,450 expended for grants and awards. Please also refer to the Chairman's Report.
## **Financial Review**
## _Reserves Policy_
Free reserves are established and reviewed to ensure that the Society retains a level of funds to meet its forward obligations and to ensure it can reasonably maintain a level of service in line with its objectives. The Council Members consider this to be approximately 50% of average annual expected expenditure.
## _Educational Support Fund_
At events organised by the Society collections are taken-up in favour of the ‘Educational Support Fund’ which was a historic fund, now expended, used to pay grants to under and post graduates. All monies collected in the name of this fund during a given year are fully expended on grants made within that financial year and, therefore, there is no balance sheet reserve in this name.
## _Investments_
There are no formal restrictions on the investments made by the Society.
## **Plans for Future Periods**
Please refer to the Chairman's Report for future plans and developments.
## **Principal Risks and Uncertainties**
The Council Members actively review the major risks which the charity faces and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the significant risks.
## _Operational Risk_
These systems are being put into a more formalised structure and are designed to reduce the likelihood of the risk and to lessen the impact on the Society should those risks materialise. Key risks at present are assessed as being associated with the Society's necessary global expansion and the concomitant development of IT structures to support this. However, no reason is seen to amend further the Reserves Policy as detailed above.
2 - 5
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2022**
## **Principal Risks and Uncertainties continued**
## _Financial Risk_
The Members remain cautious in terms of the Society's investment strategy and are satisfied they have taken appropriate steps to ensure that reserves are not placed at any undue risk. During the period and at the Balance Sheet date, the majority of balances held at bank were held in either current or deposit accounts with High Street banks. The make-up of fixed asset investments is given in note 14 of the Financial Statements. The majority of these investments are placed in two Charities Official Investment Funds.
## _Going concern_
The Council Members have given due consideration to the ability of The Society to continue as a going concern.
FY2022 has returned a small deficit which has arisen due to the unrealised loss on the revaluation of the investments. 30 June 2022 was the low point during the year for the investment value. By 23 August it improved and there was an unrealised gain of £18,221 on the investment.
After unrealised losses on investments have been calculated the net assets of The Society decreased by £7,025 to £292,789.
The Society’s core income streams have all continued to recover after the impact of the COVID19 pandemic; with individual and corporate membership income increasing together with that of conferences and seminars. As was expected the donations received have decreased due to a large one-off donation having been received in FY2021.
The Society has successfully managed its costs in FY2022. Other charitable expenditure in note 8 has been reduced by £47,950.
We expect the upward trend on core income to continue and The Society continues to meet its minimum reserves policy of holding fifty percent of the expected next year’s expenditure in reserves
The Members are, therefore, satisfied that the going concern basis remains appropriate.
## _**FUNDS HELD AS CUSTODIAN TRUSTEE ON BEHALF OF OTHERS**_
No funds are held as custodian trustee on behalf of the others.
## _**STATEMENT OF COUNCIL MEMBERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES**_
The Council Members are responsible for preparing the Report and the Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company Law requires the Council Members to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Council Members have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Council Members must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Society and of the surplus and deficit of the Society for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Council Members are required to:
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Society will continue its activities.
The Council Members are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Society’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Society and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Society and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
2 - 6
## _**STATEMENT AS TO DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO INDEPENDENT EXAMINER**_
So far as each person who was a Council Members at the date of approving this report is aware, there is no relevant information of which the Society’s Independent Examiner is unaware. Additionally, each Council Member has taken all the necessary steps that they ought to have taken as a Council Member in order to make themselves aware of all relevant information and to establish that the Society’s Independent Examiner is aware of that information.
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2022**
This report has been prepared having taken advantage of the small companies exemption in the Companies Act 2006.
## **On behalf of the Council**
**S John N Carey Chair of the Council Honorary Treasurer Dated: 27 October 2022**
2 - 7
## **Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Society for Underwater Technology (The) 30 June 2022**
I report on the accounts for the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Society for Underwater Technology for the year ended 30 June 2022 as set out on pages 2.8 to 2.20.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the charity trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (the Act); the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## **Independent Examiner's statement**
The Society’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- The accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
- The accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- The accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Tom Lacey FCCA Nunn Hayward LLP Chartered Accountants 2-4 Packhorse Road Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire SL9 7QE
Date:
2 - 8
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Statement of Financial Activities (Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account) For the year ended 30 June 2022**
|Not
e
**Income**
Donations and legacies
2
_Income from charitable_
_activities:_
Memberships, conferences
and events
3
_Income from other activities_:
Other incoming resources
5
Investment income
6
**Total income**
**Expenditure**
_Expenditure on charitable_
_activities:_
Charitable activities
7
**Total expenditure**
**Net income**
**before gains / (losses) on**
**investments**
Net gains / (losses) on
investments
14.
3
**Net income / (expenditure)**
Transfers between funds
**Net Movement in Funds**
**Reconciliation of funds**
**Total**
**funds**
**brought**
**forward**
**Total**
**funds**
**carried**
**forward**|Unrestricte
Funds
2022
2,583
263,460
1,909
6,142
£274,094
269,618
£269,618
4,476
(11,501)
(7,025)
(7,025)
299,814
292,789|Restricte
1,322
3,905
263,460
1,909
6,142
1,322
£275,416
(1,322)
270,940
£270,940
4,476
(11,501)
(7,025)
(7,025)
299,814
292,789|53,554
195,357
63,820
5,972|
|---|---|---|---|
||||£318,70|
||||315,140|
||||£315,14|
||||3,563
28,175|
||||31,738|
||||31,738
268,076|
||||£299,81|
Net income is derived from continuing operations for the above two financial years.
All gains and losses recognised in the year are included above.
2 - 9
The notes on pages 2-10 to 2-20 form part of these financial statements
2 - 10
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Balance Sheet As at 30 June 2022**
||Note||2022||2021|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|£|£|
|**Fixed assets**||||||
|Tangible assets|13||1,354||2,614|
|Investments|14||207,866||219,367|
||||─────||─────|
||||209,220||221,981|
|**Current assets**||||||
|Publications stock|15|9,850||9,985||
|Debtors|16|51,336||34,869||
|Cash at bank and in hand||45,473||62,692||
|||─────||─────||
|||106,659||107,546||
|**Creditors: Amounts falling due**||||||
|**within**||||||
|**one year**|17|(23,090)||(29,713)||
|||─────||─────||
|**Net current assets**|||83,569||77,833|
||||─────||─────|
|**Net assets**|||£292,789||£ 299,814|
||||═════||═════|
|**Funds of the charity:**||||||
|Unrestricted income funds|||292,789||299,814|
||||─────||─────|
|**Total charity funds**|||£292,789||£ 299,814|
||||═════||═════|
Total funds as stated above include a Fair Value Reserve of £166,101 (2021: £177,602) (see note 14.3).
The Council Members acknowledge their responsibilities for:
- (a) ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006; and
- (b) preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of each financial year and of its profit or loss for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements so far as applicable to the company.
The company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies for the year ended 30 June 2022.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2022 in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.
Approved by the Council on 27 October 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
**S John Chair of the Council Company Number: 00932590 Registered Charity Number: 256659**
**N Carey Honorary Treasurer**
2 - 11
The notes on pages 2-10 to 2-20 form part of these financial statements.
2 - 12
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **1. Accounting policies**
## **Company information**
Society for Underwater Technology (the charity) is a private company limited by guarantee and domiciled in England and Wales. The charity’s registered numbers and registered office address can be found on page 1 of these accounts. The company does not have a fixed place of business, all employees work remotely.
The principle accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
## a) **Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), Charities Act 2011, Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019.
Society for Underwater Technology meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).
The legal and actual status of affiliated operations is periodically assessed by the charity. As a result the charity concludes that the operations in Perth (Australia), Houston (USA), Melbourne (Australia), West Africa, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Singapore and Beijing (China) do not qualify as subsidiaries under the Companies Acts 2006 or as branches under the guidance laid out by the Charities SORP (FRS 102). The detailed review of the constitutions and operations concluded that they are administratively autonomous and should therefore not be consolidated. The Society for Underwater Technology Norway NUF was established as a Norwegian branch of a foreign enterprise (NUF). The constitution of this operation varies from those mentioned above and it qualifies as a branch under the Charities SORP (FRS 102) as a result is treated as a subsidiary. The Society has taken advantage of the exemption from preparing group accounts as per SORP FRS102 S.24.6 Appendix 3 A.11.
The presentation currency is £ Sterling rounded to nearest £1.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
## b) **Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis**
The Council Members have given due consideration to the ability of The Society to continue as a going concern.
FY2022 has returned a small deficit which has arisen due to the unrealised loss on the revaluation of the investments. 30 June 2022 was the low point during the year for the investment value. By 23 August it improved and there was an unrealised gain of £18,221 on the investment.
After unrealised losses on investments have been calculated the net assets of The Society decreased by £7,025 to £292,789.
The Society’s core income streams have all continued to recover after the impact of the COVID19 pandemic; with individual and corporate membership income increasing together with that of conferences and seminars. As was expected the donations received have decreased due to a large one-off donation having been received in FY2021.
The Society has successfully managed its costs in FY2022. Other charitable expenditure in note 8 has been reduced by £47,950.
We expect the upward trend on core income to continue and The Society continues to meet its minimum reserves policy of holding fifty percent of the expected next year’s expenditure in reserves.
2 - 13
The Members are, therefore, satisfied that the going concern basis remains appropriate.
2 - 14
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **1. Accounting policies – cont’d**
## c) **Fund accounting**
The principles of fund accounting, as described in the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities: the Charities SORP (FRS 102), have been applied in the preparation of these financial statements.
Funds held by the Society are either:
## _Unrestricted general funds_
These are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Trustees.
## _Designated general funds_
The Society has designated general funds which it applies to the provision of the awards made to students. Monies that are designated by the Council Members can be moved back within the unrestricted general funds should the Council Members so decide.
## _Restricted funds_
These funds can only be used for this purpose within the objects of the Society. The Society’s restricted funds were all fully expended during the year and, therefore, there is no fund analysis relating to balance sheet values at the year end.
## d) **Tangible fixed assets**
Assets are capitalised at cost when the economic benefit of ownership will spread over a number of years.
Depreciation is provided on tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset evenly over its expected useful life as follows:
Office furniture and equipment Computer
20% reducing balance 33% straight line
## e) **Publications stock**
Stock is valued at the lower of net realisable value and cost. Cost is valued on a first in first out basis.
## f)
## **Investments**
Investments are valued at the prevailing market price as at the Balance Sheet date. Realised and unrealised gains (or losses) are reflected in the Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which they occur. No distinction is made between realised and unrealised gains in the Statement of Financial Activities as the Trustees consider that the disclosure of total gains/losses show a truer and fairer view.
## g)
## **Debtors**
Debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due less any provisions for doubtful debts.
Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid, calculated on a month-by-month basis.
## h) **Creditors**
Creditors are recognised where the Society has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are normally recognised at their settlement amount.
## i) **Voluntary income**
Voluntary income is recognised on receipt.
- j) **Events Income**
Events income is included when receivable.
2 - 15
## k) **Subscriptions**
Membership subscriptions are accounted for on a receivable basis.
2 - 16
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## 2.
## **Accounting policies – cont’d**
## l) **Grants Payable**
Grants payable are charged against income upon approval of the grant, in so far as the grant is payable from current resources.
## m) **Expenditure**
Charitable activities represent all costs incurred by the Society in meeting its charitable objectives.
Governance costs are incurred in connection with the management and administration of the charity. These include central management and administration costs, organisational costs and costs incurred to ensure compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.
Each natural category of costs is considered individually and allocated on a percentage basis by function.
## n) **Operating Leases**
Operating lease rentals are charged to the profit and loss account as incurred.
## o) **Foreign Currencies**
Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the Balance Sheet date. Transactions are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the transaction. All exchange differences are reflected in the Statement of Financial Activities.
## p) **Redundancy payments**
Redundancy payments due to employees for termination of employment during the year are fully recognised in the current financial year.
## q) **Government grants receivable**
Government grants are recognised when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and that the grants will be received.
## **2. Income from donations and legacies**
||||Unrestricted|Restricted|Total||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Funds|Funds|2022|2021|
||||£|£|£|£|
||General donations||2,583|1,322|3,905|53,554|
||ESF Donations||-|-|-|-|
||||────|────|─────|─────|
||||£2,583|1,322|£3,905|£ 53,554|
||||═════|═════|═════|═════|
|**3.**|**Income from charitable activities**||||||
||||Note|2022||2021|
||Membership subscriptions||3.1|172,851||157,547|
||Conferences and seminars||4|85,412||31,309|
||Publications,|journals,|||||
||newsletters||||||
||and educational products|||5,197||6,500|
|||||─────||─────|
|||||£ 263,460||£ 195,357|
|||||═════||═════|
|**3.1**|**Membership subscriptions**||||||
|||||2022||2021|
|||||£||£|
||Corporate members|||131,584||118,115|
||Individual members|||41,267||39,432|
|||||─────||─────|
2 - 17
£ 172,851
£ 157,547
2-18
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **4. Conferences and seminars**
|**Courses**
Ofshore wind renewable
energy
Ofshore wind October
2021
Ofshore wind March 2022
OSIG Introduction to
Ofshore Geophysics
OSIG energy in transitions
OSIG Geoforum
VASC September 2021
VASC May 2022
Non-metallic composites
Subsea equipment
insurance
**Conferences and**
**workshops**
All Energy
SUT/Masts Workshop
Sponsorship
Webinar proft share
Decom series
**Other events**
Annual General
Meeting
**Branch activities**
**Aberdeen**
Subsea Awareness
Evening Meetings
Breakfast Meeting
VSAC June 2021
Gadgets & Widgets
A Life less ordinary
SUT @ spin|2022
Direct
Surplus/
Fees
Costs
(Defcit)
£
£
£
-
-
-
6,770
400
6,370
10,090
-
10,090
17,645
71
17,574
18,760
9,597
9,163
3,454
2,887
567
12,512
-
12,512
8,905
-
8,905
370
-
370
641
-
641
2,500
-
2500
2,000
1,137
863
-
-
-
-
-
-
33
1,210
(1,177)
-
-
-
-
(106)
106
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,348
290
1,058
384
267
117
-
163
(163)
─────
─────
─────
£85,412
£15,916
£69,496
═════
═════
═════|2021
Direct
Surplus/
Fees
Costs
(Defcit)
£
£
£
5,670
400
5,270
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
37
(37)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,450
780
1,670
2,350
-
2,350
1,647
-
1,647
964
148
816
-
-
-
5,100
-
5,100
-
548
(548)
258
31
227
12,870
-
12,870
-
-
-
-
-
-
─────
─────
─────
£31,309
£1,944
£29,365
═════
═════
═════|
|---|---|---|
2 - 19
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
**5. Other income**
|**5.**|**Other income**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Unrestrict||Restricted|Total||
||||ed|||||
||||Funds||Funds|2022|2021|
|||||£|£|£|£|
||Sundry income||159||-|159|135|
||Job retention scheme*|||0|-|-|26,425|
||VAT recoverable|||0|-|-|19,260|
||Fees for services|||0|-|-|18,000|
||Awards & prizes||1,750||-|1,750|-|
||||─────||─────|─────|─────|
||||£1,909||£ -|£1,909|£ 63,820|
||||═════||═════|═════|═════|
||*Government grant income (all conditions|||||||
||satisfed).|||||||
|**6.**|**Investment income**|||||||
|||||||2022|2021|
|||||||£|£|
||**Charities Ofcial Investment Fund**|||||||
||Dividends received|||||6,115|5,958|
||**NSB Investment Account**|||||||
||Interest received||||||-|
||**Bank interest**|||||27||
||Interest received||||||14|
|||||||─────|─────|
|||||||£6,142|£ 5,972|
|||||||═════|═════|
|**7.**|**Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities**|||||||
|||Not|Unrestricte|Restricted||Total||
|||e|d|||||
||||Funds||Funds|2022|2021|
||||£||£|£|£|
||**Direct charitable**|||||||
||**expenditure**|||||||
||Grants payable to individuals|8|11,128||1,322|12,450|8,700|
||Other direct charitable|9|258,490||-|258,490|306,440|
||expenditure|||||||
||||─────||─────|─────|─────|
||||£269,618||£1,322|£270,940|£ 315,140|
||||═════||═════|═════|═════|
|**8.**|**Grants payable**|||||||
||||Unrestricte|Restricted||Total||
||||d|||||
||||Funds||Funds|2022|2021|
||||£||£|£|£|
||Undergraduates||8,678||1,322|10,000|8,000|
||Postgraduates||-||-|-|-|
||Awards||2,450|||2,450|700|
||||─────||─────|─────|─────|
||||£ 11,128||£ 1,322|£12,450|£ 8,700|
||||═════||═════|═════|═════|
2 - 20
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **9. Other direct charitable expenditure**
||||Unrestricte|Restricted|Total||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||d||||
||||Funds|Funds|2022|2021|
||||£|£|£|£|
|Accountancy|||6,451|-|6,451|7,644|
|Examiner’s/Auditor’s remuneration|||3,0|-|3,0|3,000|
||||00||00||
|Bad debts||||-||-|
||||-||-||
|Bank charges|||3,2|-|3,2|3,069|
||||66||66||
|Conferences and seminars (Note||4)|15,91|-|15,91|1,944|
||||6||6||
|Publications,|journals|and|5,082|-|5,082|7,075|
|newsletters|||||||
|Committee expenses|||-|-|-|-|
|Computer maintenance|||13,391|-|13,391|12,583|
|Depreciation|||1,568|-|1,568|2,657|
|Disposal of assets|||-|-|-|-|
|IMAST licence fee|||5,798|-|5,798|-|
|Insurance|||1,749|-|1,749|3,278|
|Lease of equipment|||-|-|-|735|
|Marketing and advertising|||11,052|-|11,052|945|
|Postage|||446|-|446|581|
|Professional fees|||270|-|270|17,241|
|Rent, rates, light and heat|||1,793|-|1,793|33,437|
|Staf recruitment and raining|||-|-|-|1,950|
|Salaries|||179,121|-|179,121|201,493|
|Stationery and ofce expenses|||7,725|-|7,725|7,353|
|Subscriptions|||453|-|453|213|
|Telephone|||1,409|-|1,409|1,242|
||||─────|─────|─────|─────|
||||£258,490|£-|£258,490|£ 306,440|
||||═════|═════|═════|═════|
## **10. Analysis of support and governance costs**
The charity initially identifies the costs of its support functions. It then identifies those costs which relate to the governance function. The table shown overleaf details the analysis of these support and governance functions. These values are included in the costs shown in note 9.
||General|Governanc|Total|Basis of|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||e|||
||Support|Function||apportionment|
||£|£|£|£|
|Independent examination fee|-|3,000|3,000|Wholly attributable|
|Accountancy fee to IE|-|6,451|6,451|Wholly attributable|
|Bank charges|3,266|-|3,266|Wholly attributable|
|Committee expenses|-|-|-|Usage allocation|
|Computer maintenance|4,017|-|4,017|Allocated on time|
|Depreciation|470|-|470|Allocated on time|
|Insurance|525|-|525|Allocated on time|
|Postage|40|-|40|Usage allocation|
|Professional fees|270|-|270|Wholly attributable|
|Rent, rates and heat and light|538|-|538|Allocated on time|
|Salaries|53,736|-|53,736|Allocated on time|
|Stationery and ofce expenses|1,546|-|1,546|Usage allocation|
|Subscriptions|227|-|227|Apportioned equally|
|Telephone|423|-|423|Usage allocation|
|Marketing|5,526|-|5,526|Apportioned equally|
||─────|─────|─────||
||£70,584|£9,451|£80,035||
||═════|═════|═════||
2 - 21
Where not otherwise stated, support costs as shown above have been calculated on a pro rata basis in line with the staff salaries allocation.
2 - 22
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **11. Staff costs**
|||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|
|Staf costs:||||
|Wages and salaries||161,335|181,369|
|Social security costs||12,948|13,699|
|Defned|contribution|4,838|5,058|
|pensions||||
|Other staf costs||-|1,367|
|||─────|─────|
|||£179,121|£ 201,493|
|||═════|═════|
The average number of employees, analysed by function was:
||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|
|Direct charitable activities|2|2|
|Management and administration of the|2|2|
|charity|||
||══|══|
The Trustees did not receive any remuneration or reimbursed expenses during the year (2021: £nil)
Total employee benefits of key management personnel amounted to £75,274 (2021: £78,883).
Employees earning more than £60,000 during the year:
|||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|---|
|£60,001|- £70,000|1|-|
|£70,001|- £80,000|-|-|
|||══|══|
## **12. Taxation**
The Society is a registered charity and, therefore, no tax liability arises on the results for the year to the extent that income and gains are applied to the Society’s charitable objects.
## **13. Tangible fixed assets**
|**Tangible fxed assets**||||
|---|---|---|---|
||Ofce furniture|Computers|Total|
||and equipment|||
||£|£|£|
|**Cost**||||
|As at 1 July 2021|4,477|44,736|49,213|
|Additions||309|309|
|Disposals|-|-|-|
||─────|─────|─────|
|As at 30 June 2022|4,477|45,045|49,522|
||─────|─────|─────|
|**Depreciation**||||
|As at 1 July 2021|3,091|43,508|46,599|
|Charge for the year||||
|On disposals|686|883|1,569|
||─────|─────|─────|
|As at 30 June 2022|3,777|44,391|48,168|
||─────|─────|─────|
|**Net book value at 30 June 2022**|£ 700|£ 654|£ 1,354|
||═════|═════|═════|
|**Net book value at 30 June 2021**|£ 1,386|£ 1,228|£ 2,614|
||═════|═════|═════|
2 - 23
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **14. Fixed assets investments**
## **14.1 Summary**
|**14.1**|**Summary**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||2022||2021|
|||£|£|£|£|
|||Cost|Valuation|Cost|Valuation|
||a)
Charities Ofcial Investment|39,659|207,510|39,659|218,970|
||Fund|||||
||b)
NSB investment account|||-|-|
||c)
Listed investments|2,106|356|2,106|397|
|||─────|─────|─────|─────|
|||£ 41,765|£207,866|£ 41,765|£|
||||||219,367|
|||═════|═════|═════|═════|
|**14.2**|**Movements on investments**|||||
||||2022||2021|
||||£||£|
||||219,367||191,192|
||Market value at 30 June 2021|||||
||Transfers/Disposals||-||-|
||(Loss)/Gain on revaluation||(11,501)||28,175|
||Interest on NSB||-||-|
||||─────||─────|
||Market value at 30 June 2022||£||£|
||||207,866||219,367|
||||═════||═════|
|**14.3**|**Reconciliation of movement in**|||||
||**unrealised gains on investment**|||||
||**assets**|||||
||||2022||2021|
||||£||£|
||Unrealised gains at 30 June 2021||177,602||149,427|
||Realised gain on disposal||||-|
||Unrealised (losses)/gains in year||(11,501)||28,175|
||||─────||─────|
||**Unrealised gains at 30 June 2022**||£||£|
||||166,101||177,602|
||||═════||═════|
|**15.**|**Publications stock**|||||
|||||2022|2021|
||Books for resale|||£ 9,850|£ 9,985|
|||||═════|═════|
2 - 24
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **16. Debtors**
|**Debtors**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||2022|2021|
||||£|£|
|Trade debtors|||13,204|3,826|
|Amounts|owed
by|group|3,252|3,252|
|undertakings|||||
|VAT|||6,385|17,979|
|Prepayments|and accrued income||28,495|4,889|
|Other debtors|||0|4,923|
||||─────|─────|
||||£ 51,336|£ 34,869|
||||═════|═════|
|**Creditors: Amounts falling**||**due within one year**|||
||||2022|2021|
||||£|£|
|Trade creditors|||2,777|1,864|
|Deferred income|||4,507|12,829|
|Social Security and other|||956|603|
|taxes|||||
|Accruals|||9,020|9,821|
|Other creditors|||5,830|4,596|
||||─────|─────|
||||£23,090|£29,713|
||||═════|═════|
|**Deferred income included in creditors due within one year**|||||
||||2022|2021|
||||£|£|
|Opening balance as at 1 July|||12,829|8,332|
|2021|||||
|Deferred in the year|||4,507|12,829|
|Released in the year|||(12,829)|(8,332)|
||||─────|─────|
|Closing balance as at 30 June|||£4,507|£ 12,829|
|2022|||||
||||═════|═════|
## **17. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year**
## **17.1 Deferred income included in creditors due within one year**
Income is deferred when it has been either invoiced or received in the current financial year but relates to future periods.
2 - 25
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **18. Limited liability of members**
In accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Fellows, Individual Members and Corporate Members (but not Associate Members and Student Members) are deemed to be Members of the Society within the context and as such have a limited liability of £5 per member in the event of the Society being wound up.
## **19. Fair value reserve**
The unrealised gains table shown in note 14.3 represent the value of the Fair value reserve held within the General Fund.
## **20. Related party transactions**
The total amount of donations received without conditions from trustees during the year was £218.
Key management personnel remuneration is disclosed at note 11.
There are no other disclosable related party transactions during the year.
## **21. Restricted funds**
|**Restricted funds**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Movement in Fund||||
||Balance|Incoming|Expenditure||Balance|
||||and|||
||30 June|Resources|Gains/(losses)|Transfers|30 June|
||2021||||2022|
||Restated|||||
|Society for Underwater||||||
|Technology||||||
|Educational Support Fund|-|1,322|(1,322)|-|-|
||**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|─────|
The Education Support Fund was established to provide educational grants to students. The original restricted funds have all been expended. The Society continues to collect small amounts for the fund during the year at events and through the Just Giving platform. The amounts collected during the year are fully expended during the year.
2 - 26
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **22. Comparative Statement of Financial Activity**
||||Unrestricte|Restricte||Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Funds||||
||||2021|||2020|
|||||||£|
|||Note|||||
|**Income**|||||||
|Donations and legacies||2|53,554||53,554|25,456|
|_Income_
_from_|_charitable_||||||
|_activities:_|||||||
|Memberships, conferences||3|195,357||195,357|344,172|
|and events|||||||
|_Income from other activities_:|||||||
|Other incoming resources|||68,820||68,820|16,501|
|Investment income||6|5,972||5,972|6,578|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Total income**|||£318,703|£|318,703|£ 392,707|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Expenditure**|||||||
|_Expenditure on charitable_|||||||
|_activities:_|||||||
|Charitable activities||7|315,140||315,140|442,335|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Total expenditure**|||£315,140|£315,140||£442,335|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Net income / (expenditure)**|||||||
|**before**|||||||
|**gains / (losses) on**|||3,563||3,563|(49,628)|
|**investments**|||||||
|Net gains / (losses) on||14.3|28,175||28,175|6,946|
|investments|||||||
||||─────|||─────|
|**Net income / (expenditure)**|||31,738||31,738|(42,682)|
|Transfers between funds|||||||
||||─────|||─────|
|**Net Movement in**|**Funds**||31,738||31,738|(42,682)|
|**Reconciliation of funds**|||||||
|**Total**
**funds**|**brought**||268,076||268,076|310,758|
|**forward**|||||||
||||─────|||─────|
|**Total**
**funds**|**carried**||£ 299,814|£|299,814|£ 268,076|
|**forward**|||||||
||||═════|||═════|
2 - 27
**Society for Underwater Technology (The) Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022**
**Company Number 00932590 Registered Charity 256659 Scottish Charity Number: SC043942**
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **Index**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Page
Legal and Administrative Information 1
Chair’s Report 2-1
The Report of the Council including Strategic Report 2-3
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Council 2-7
Statement of Financial Activities 2-8
Balance Sheet 2-9
Notes to the Financial Statements 2-10
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **Legal and Administrative Information**
The Council Members, who are the Trustees for the purpose of Charity Law, and also the Directors and Members for the purpose of Company Law, present their Report together with the Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022.
President: M Crawford Chair and Vice President: S John Hon Treasurer: N Carey Hon Secretary: I Knight Chief Executive (CEO): C A Burgess Registered Office: HQS Wellington Victoria Embankment London WC2R 2PN Registered Charity: 256659 Company Number: 00932590 Independent Examiner: Nunn Hayward LLP 2-4 Packhorse Road Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire SL9 7QE Principal Bankers: Barclays Bank plc and Bank of Scotland plc Solicitors: Gordons Partnership 22 Great James Street London WC1N 3ES
1
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Chairman’s Report 30 June 2022**
In my first report as SUT Chair I have had to look backward over the last year of the Society’s activities as well as to the future. Covid has changed the world, and how we work. Through the everyday use of Zoom and Teams conference calls; podcasts; webinars and virtual training courses the Society has become more engaged and globally accessible.
Facing differing Covid-related restrictions, our international affiliates (referred to within SUT colloquially as Branches) have been working hard to build their communities and activities. Some have been able to carry on as normal, delivering in person training and events, while others were under severe restrictions. This has been reflected in the differing levels of activities and in collected income. Our events were also hit by the high level of uncertainty of different travel restrictions around the world. But, at last, I can report that nearly all of the SUT is back engaging with members, delivering events, activities and meeting in person .
During the ‘working from home’ period of Covid the UK training committee put together a set of virtual courses. These included our popular Subsea Awareness course from the UK, now available as an online training course, the creation of the new Offshore Wind Renewable Energy course and a revival of the Introduction to Offshore Geophysics and Geotechnical Engineering. These courses were well received by the delegates from the UK and internationally. I am pleased to report that numbers of delegates for SUT training have surpassed pre-Covid numbers. These courses deliver valuable information, education and training to member and non-member workforces as well as providing income to the SUT. Course numbers also demonstrate the ongoing interest and need for training across SUT sectors and industries. My thanks to all the volunteer members who participated in the organisation, presentation and delivery of these courses.
Aberdeen’s hard work and perseverance, paid off in September 2022 with the successful first delivery of an in-person Subsea Awareness course that could be held in the UK since 2020 with 10 delegates.
Perth, Western Australia, held a very successful annual Golf Day with over 100 delegates in near perfect weather conditions. The Golf Day is one of many social and technical events Perth was able to run over the last year. Houston Branch were able to carry on as normal delivering social, technical and educational programme to students and members. Meanwhile, Singapore held their first technical evening in two and half years.
I am also pleased to report that all affiliates with existing educational support programmes and commitments were able to continue to deliver these through their financial Educational Support commitments.
In order to raise awareness of the Society and also further its educational aims, SUT attended Ocean Business Exhibition 2022 at Southampton. We will have a stand at this year’s event in April 2023. Please come and visit if you are in Southampton.
We had a very successful Oceanology International Conference, 15-17 March 2022, at the ExCel, where the Captain Don Walsh award was presented to Victor Vescovo and Patrick Lahey. Preceding the conference Don, Victor & Patrick were the main event at the Royal Institution, London, speaking on Into the Abyss: Exploring the deepest realms of the world’s oceans.
The 2022 Don Walsh Award was presented jointly with the Marine Technology Society (MTS) The award is part of a joint working agreement with MTS. This also includes the joint publication of UT2, & Underwater Robotics, and delivering the opportunity for SUT and MTS members to apply for certification on the Marine Technologist and Marine Scientist Registers under licence from IMarEST.
2023 sees the Society at Ocean Business, Offshore Europe, supporting Oceanology Americas, AOG, ADIPEC. The 9th International SUT OSIG Conference, Innovation Geotechnologies for Energy Transition will take place in London. I hope you are able to join us at this major calendar event.
The SUT continues to focus on increasing both our corporate and individual membership. If you know of any lapsed members, please encourage them to re-join us and become involved in one of our many special interest groups.
Members of the Society are also our volunteers, all of you this last year have been the backbone of the SUT. I would like to thank the all the members of the SUT who volunteer: Executive, Council, Branches, Special Interest Groups and Committees. On behalf of the myself and The Society I would like to thank the SUT staff in the UK, USA and Australia for all of your hard work keeping the Society going.
2 - 1
I look forward to meeting and hearing from more members in the future.
## **S John Chair of the Council**
## **27 October 2022**
2 - 2
**Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report 30 June 2022**
## _**STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**_
The Society's governing document is the Memorandum and Articles of Association and its full name is the Society for Underwater Technology Limited. The Society is a registered company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.
## **Council Members and their Interests**
The Members serving on the Council throughout the year were as follows:
Dr A M Atmanand T Griffiths R MacDonald D A Brookes (resigned 31 Dec Prof Gwyn Griffiths (resigned 31 Dec D M Saul 2021) 2021) N Carey (appointed 6 Dec 2021) S John N J Swift M R Cook (resigned 31 Dec S Johnson (resigned 31 Dec 2021) Dr J Morgan 2021) A Connelly Dr D W Kirkley (resigned 31 Dec 2021) J A I Patten M Crawford (appointed 6 Dec I Knight Prof R F Rayner 2021) S Elkhatib (appointed 6 Dec R Luff 2021)
None of the Members of the Council has any financial interest in the Society that requires disclosure under the Companies Act 2006. For Related Party transactions please see notes 11 and 20.
Council Members are appointed for three years by a ballot among members of the Society (members comprising the classes of Fellow, Individual Member and Corporate Member), and are drawn from among these Members. Candidates must be proposed and seconded by any two other Members. Ballot forms must be sent to Members twenty-eight days before the election, which is by simple majority, and this shall take place seven days before the Annual General Meeting. Those elected shall hold office from the conclusion of this Annual General Meeting. At the end of three years, a Council Member may stand for re-election, but no Member of Council may serve for more than six consecutive years.
New Council Members are not provided with a formal induction pack following their election but, are briefed verbally at the first meeting.
## **Organisational Structure**
A Board of Trustees (The Council) of up to or similar to 18 members, who meet quarterly, administer the Society. A Chief Executive (CEO), who’s not a trustee, is appointed by The Council to manage the day-to-day operations of the Society.
Branches of the Society are established under the authority of Council in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of the Society. They will have their own organising committee with elected officers.
The results of branches of the Society whereby the UK charity either has control, or the branch is not deemed to be administratively autonomous are consolidated in the Financial Statements.
Details of remuneration of key management personnel are disclosed in note 11. Remuneration levels for key management personnel and other employees are set by the Executive Committee, whose members are set out on page 1. The overall gross salary allowance as presented in the budget is then ratified by the full Council.
## _**OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES**_
The Society is principally engaged in the promotion of awareness in all aspects related to underwater technology. Its Mission and Strategic Vision are described as follows:
## _**Mission**_
The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) is an international body actively promoting the development, dissemination and exchange of ideas, information and technology arising from or related to the underwater environment.
## _**Strategic Vision**_
2 - 3
To maintain and develop SUT as the foremost society worldwide focusing on underwater technology, building on a reputation for high standards in publications, conferences and training courses; having a growing membership in the UK and abroad; and having significant influence with government and industry in relevant policy areas, and encouraging people to attain suitable qualifications and enter the field of underwater technology.
2 - 4
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2022**
## **Public Benefit**
In keeping with the Charity Commission's key principles that there must be an identifiable benefit to the public or a section of the public, the Society has undertaken the following activities during this financial year:
- It has supported 5 undergraduate students on relevant courses at a total cost of £10,000 (2021: £8,000).
- Provided free of charge, to both members and non-members, the most highly acclaimed on-line magazine in the field of underwater technology and sub-sea engineering, entitled UT[3] .
- The Society would usually provide a free Christmas lecture programme for schools. Once again, in 2021 this has not been possible because of the restrictions in place due to the Covid19 pandemic.
- Provided high quality subsidised training courses for industry.
## **Grant Making Policy**
Grants are awarded to high-quality students at either undergraduate or postgraduate (one-year taught MSc) level undertaking courses relevant to the area of interest of the Society with the aim of encouraging more entrants to the marine disciplines.
## _**STRATEGIC REPORT**_
## **Achievements and Performance**
We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities.
The Unrestricted Funds of the Society were reduced by £7,025 after allowing for £11,501 in losses on investments and £12,450 expended for grants and awards. Please also refer to the Chairman's Report.
## **Financial Review**
## _Reserves Policy_
Free reserves are established and reviewed to ensure that the Society retains a level of funds to meet its forward obligations and to ensure it can reasonably maintain a level of service in line with its objectives. The Council Members consider this to be approximately 50% of average annual expected expenditure.
## _Educational Support Fund_
At events organised by the Society collections are taken-up in favour of the ‘Educational Support Fund’ which was a historic fund, now expended, used to pay grants to under and post graduates. All monies collected in the name of this fund during a given year are fully expended on grants made within that financial year and, therefore, there is no balance sheet reserve in this name.
## _Investments_
There are no formal restrictions on the investments made by the Society.
## **Plans for Future Periods**
Please refer to the Chairman's Report for future plans and developments.
## **Principal Risks and Uncertainties**
The Council Members actively review the major risks which the charity faces and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the significant risks.
## _Operational Risk_
These systems are being put into a more formalised structure and are designed to reduce the likelihood of the risk and to lessen the impact on the Society should those risks materialise. Key risks at present are assessed as being associated with the Society's necessary global expansion and the concomitant development of IT structures to support this. However, no reason is seen to amend further the Reserves Policy as detailed above.
2 - 5
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2022**
## **Principal Risks and Uncertainties continued**
## _Financial Risk_
The Members remain cautious in terms of the Society's investment strategy and are satisfied they have taken appropriate steps to ensure that reserves are not placed at any undue risk. During the period and at the Balance Sheet date, the majority of balances held at bank were held in either current or deposit accounts with High Street banks. The make-up of fixed asset investments is given in note 14 of the Financial Statements. The majority of these investments are placed in two Charities Official Investment Funds.
## _Going concern_
The Council Members have given due consideration to the ability of The Society to continue as a going concern.
FY2022 has returned a small deficit which has arisen due to the unrealised loss on the revaluation of the investments. 30 June 2022 was the low point during the year for the investment value. By 23 August it improved and there was an unrealised gain of £18,221 on the investment.
After unrealised losses on investments have been calculated the net assets of The Society decreased by £7,025 to £292,789.
The Society’s core income streams have all continued to recover after the impact of the COVID19 pandemic; with individual and corporate membership income increasing together with that of conferences and seminars. As was expected the donations received have decreased due to a large one-off donation having been received in FY2021.
The Society has successfully managed its costs in FY2022. Other charitable expenditure in note 8 has been reduced by £47,950.
We expect the upward trend on core income to continue and The Society continues to meet its minimum reserves policy of holding fifty percent of the expected next year’s expenditure in reserves
The Members are, therefore, satisfied that the going concern basis remains appropriate.
## _**FUNDS HELD AS CUSTODIAN TRUSTEE ON BEHALF OF OTHERS**_
No funds are held as custodian trustee on behalf of the others.
## _**STATEMENT OF COUNCIL MEMBERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES**_
The Council Members are responsible for preparing the Report and the Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company Law requires the Council Members to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Council Members have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Council Members must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Society and of the surplus and deficit of the Society for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Council Members are required to:
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Society will continue its activities.
The Council Members are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Society’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Society and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Society and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
2 - 6
## _**STATEMENT AS TO DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO INDEPENDENT EXAMINER**_
So far as each person who was a Council Members at the date of approving this report is aware, there is no relevant information of which the Society’s Independent Examiner is unaware. Additionally, each Council Member has taken all the necessary steps that they ought to have taken as a Council Member in order to make themselves aware of all relevant information and to establish that the Society’s Independent Examiner is aware of that information.
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2022**
This report has been prepared having taken advantage of the small companies exemption in the Companies Act 2006.
## **On behalf of the Council**
**S John N Carey Chair of the Council Honorary Treasurer Dated: 27 October 2022**
2 - 7
## **Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Society for Underwater Technology (The) 30 June 2022**
I report on the accounts for the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Society for Underwater Technology for the year ended 30 June 2022 as set out on pages 2.8 to 2.20.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the charity trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (the Act); the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## **Independent Examiner's statement**
The Society’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- The accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
- The accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- The accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Tom Lacey FCCA Nunn Hayward LLP Chartered Accountants 2-4 Packhorse Road Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire SL9 7QE
Date:
2 - 8
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Statement of Financial Activities (Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account) For the year ended 30 June 2022**
|Not
e
**Income**
Donations and legacies
2
_Income from charitable_
_activities:_
Memberships, conferences
and events
3
_Income from other activities_:
Other incoming resources
5
Investment income
6
**Total income**
**Expenditure**
_Expenditure on charitable_
_activities:_
Charitable activities
7
**Total expenditure**
**Net income**
**before gains / (losses) on**
**investments**
Net gains / (losses) on
investments
14.
3
**Net income / (expenditure)**
Transfers between funds
**Net Movement in Funds**
**Reconciliation of funds**
**Total**
**funds**
**brought**
**forward**
**Total**
**funds**
**carried**
**forward**|Unrestricte
Funds
2022
2,583
263,460
1,909
6,142
£274,094
269,618
£269,618
4,476
(11,501)
(7,025)
(7,025)
299,814
292,789|Restricte
1,322
3,905
263,460
1,909
6,142
1,322
£275,416
(1,322)
270,940
£270,940
4,476
(11,501)
(7,025)
(7,025)
299,814
292,789|53,554
195,357
63,820
5,972|
|---|---|---|---|
||||£318,70|
||||315,140|
||||£315,14|
||||3,563
28,175|
||||31,738|
||||31,738
268,076|
||||£299,81|
Net income is derived from continuing operations for the above two financial years.
All gains and losses recognised in the year are included above.
2 - 9
The notes on pages 2-10 to 2-20 form part of these financial statements
2 - 10
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Balance Sheet As at 30 June 2022**
||Note||2022||2021|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|£|£|
|**Fixed assets**||||||
|Tangible assets|13||1,354||2,614|
|Investments|14||207,866||219,367|
||||─────||─────|
||||209,220||221,981|
|**Current assets**||||||
|Publications stock|15|9,850||9,985||
|Debtors|16|51,336||34,869||
|Cash at bank and in hand||45,473||62,692||
|||─────||─────||
|||106,659||107,546||
|**Creditors: Amounts falling due**||||||
|**within**||||||
|**one year**|17|(23,090)||(29,713)||
|||─────||─────||
|**Net current assets**|||83,569||77,833|
||||─────||─────|
|**Net assets**|||£292,789||£ 299,814|
||||═════||═════|
|**Funds of the charity:**||||||
|Unrestricted income funds|||292,789||299,814|
||||─────||─────|
|**Total charity funds**|||£292,789||£ 299,814|
||||═════||═════|
Total funds as stated above include a Fair Value Reserve of £166,101 (2021: £177,602) (see note 14.3).
The Council Members acknowledge their responsibilities for:
- (a) ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006; and
- (b) preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of each financial year and of its profit or loss for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements so far as applicable to the company.
The company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies for the year ended 30 June 2022.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2022 in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.
Approved by the Council on 27 October 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
**S John Chair of the Council Company Number: 00932590 Registered Charity Number: 256659**
**N Carey Honorary Treasurer**
2 - 11
The notes on pages 2-10 to 2-20 form part of these financial statements.
2 - 12
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **1. Accounting policies**
## **Company information**
Society for Underwater Technology (the charity) is a private company limited by guarantee and domiciled in England and Wales. The charity’s registered numbers and registered office address can be found on page 1 of these accounts. The company does not have a fixed place of business, all employees work remotely.
The principle accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
## a) **Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), Charities Act 2011, Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019.
Society for Underwater Technology meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).
The legal and actual status of affiliated operations is periodically assessed by the charity. As a result the charity concludes that the operations in Perth (Australia), Houston (USA), Melbourne (Australia), West Africa, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Singapore and Beijing (China) do not qualify as subsidiaries under the Companies Acts 2006 or as branches under the guidance laid out by the Charities SORP (FRS 102). The detailed review of the constitutions and operations concluded that they are administratively autonomous and should therefore not be consolidated. The Society for Underwater Technology Norway NUF was established as a Norwegian branch of a foreign enterprise (NUF). The constitution of this operation varies from those mentioned above and it qualifies as a branch under the Charities SORP (FRS 102) as a result is treated as a subsidiary. The Society has taken advantage of the exemption from preparing group accounts as per SORP FRS102 S.24.6 Appendix 3 A.11.
The presentation currency is £ Sterling rounded to nearest £1.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
## b) **Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis**
The Council Members have given due consideration to the ability of The Society to continue as a going concern.
FY2022 has returned a small deficit which has arisen due to the unrealised loss on the revaluation of the investments. 30 June 2022 was the low point during the year for the investment value. By 23 August it improved and there was an unrealised gain of £18,221 on the investment.
After unrealised losses on investments have been calculated the net assets of The Society decreased by £7,025 to £292,789.
The Society’s core income streams have all continued to recover after the impact of the COVID19 pandemic; with individual and corporate membership income increasing together with that of conferences and seminars. As was expected the donations received have decreased due to a large one-off donation having been received in FY2021.
The Society has successfully managed its costs in FY2022. Other charitable expenditure in note 8 has been reduced by £47,950.
We expect the upward trend on core income to continue and The Society continues to meet its minimum reserves policy of holding fifty percent of the expected next year’s expenditure in reserves.
2 - 13
The Members are, therefore, satisfied that the going concern basis remains appropriate.
2 - 14
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **1. Accounting policies – cont’d**
## c) **Fund accounting**
The principles of fund accounting, as described in the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities: the Charities SORP (FRS 102), have been applied in the preparation of these financial statements.
Funds held by the Society are either:
## _Unrestricted general funds_
These are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Trustees.
## _Designated general funds_
The Society has designated general funds which it applies to the provision of the awards made to students. Monies that are designated by the Council Members can be moved back within the unrestricted general funds should the Council Members so decide.
## _Restricted funds_
These funds can only be used for this purpose within the objects of the Society. The Society’s restricted funds were all fully expended during the year and, therefore, there is no fund analysis relating to balance sheet values at the year end.
## d) **Tangible fixed assets**
Assets are capitalised at cost when the economic benefit of ownership will spread over a number of years.
Depreciation is provided on tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset evenly over its expected useful life as follows:
Office furniture and equipment Computer
20% reducing balance 33% straight line
## e) **Publications stock**
Stock is valued at the lower of net realisable value and cost. Cost is valued on a first in first out basis.
## f)
## **Investments**
Investments are valued at the prevailing market price as at the Balance Sheet date. Realised and unrealised gains (or losses) are reflected in the Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which they occur. No distinction is made between realised and unrealised gains in the Statement of Financial Activities as the Trustees consider that the disclosure of total gains/losses show a truer and fairer view.
## g)
## **Debtors**
Debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due less any provisions for doubtful debts.
Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid, calculated on a month-by-month basis.
## h) **Creditors**
Creditors are recognised where the Society has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are normally recognised at their settlement amount.
## i) **Voluntary income**
Voluntary income is recognised on receipt.
- j) **Events Income**
Events income is included when receivable.
2 - 15
## k) **Subscriptions**
Membership subscriptions are accounted for on a receivable basis.
2 - 16
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## 2.
## **Accounting policies – cont’d**
## l) **Grants Payable**
Grants payable are charged against income upon approval of the grant, in so far as the grant is payable from current resources.
## m) **Expenditure**
Charitable activities represent all costs incurred by the Society in meeting its charitable objectives.
Governance costs are incurred in connection with the management and administration of the charity. These include central management and administration costs, organisational costs and costs incurred to ensure compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.
Each natural category of costs is considered individually and allocated on a percentage basis by function.
## n) **Operating Leases**
Operating lease rentals are charged to the profit and loss account as incurred.
## o) **Foreign Currencies**
Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the Balance Sheet date. Transactions are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the transaction. All exchange differences are reflected in the Statement of Financial Activities.
## p) **Redundancy payments**
Redundancy payments due to employees for termination of employment during the year are fully recognised in the current financial year.
## q) **Government grants receivable**
Government grants are recognised when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and that the grants will be received.
## **2. Income from donations and legacies**
||||Unrestricted|Restricted|Total||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Funds|Funds|2022|2021|
||||£|£|£|£|
||General donations||2,583|1,322|3,905|53,554|
||ESF Donations||-|-|-|-|
||||────|────|─────|─────|
||||£2,583|1,322|£3,905|£ 53,554|
||||═════|═════|═════|═════|
|**3.**|**Income from charitable activities**||||||
||||Note|2022||2021|
||Membership subscriptions||3.1|172,851||157,547|
||Conferences and seminars||4|85,412||31,309|
||Publications,|journals,|||||
||newsletters||||||
||and educational products|||5,197||6,500|
|||||─────||─────|
|||||£ 263,460||£ 195,357|
|||||═════||═════|
|**3.1**|**Membership subscriptions**||||||
|||||2022||2021|
|||||£||£|
||Corporate members|||131,584||118,115|
||Individual members|||41,267||39,432|
|||||─────||─────|
2 - 17
£ 172,851
£ 157,547
2-18
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **4. Conferences and seminars**
|**Courses**
Ofshore wind renewable
energy
Ofshore wind October
2021
Ofshore wind March 2022
OSIG Introduction to
Ofshore Geophysics
OSIG energy in transitions
OSIG Geoforum
VASC September 2021
VASC May 2022
Non-metallic composites
Subsea equipment
insurance
**Conferences and**
**workshops**
All Energy
SUT/Masts Workshop
Sponsorship
Webinar proft share
Decom series
**Other events**
Annual General
Meeting
**Branch activities**
**Aberdeen**
Subsea Awareness
Evening Meetings
Breakfast Meeting
VSAC June 2021
Gadgets & Widgets
A Life less ordinary
SUT @ spin|2022
Direct
Surplus/
Fees
Costs
(Defcit)
£
£
£
-
-
-
6,770
400
6,370
10,090
-
10,090
17,645
71
17,574
18,760
9,597
9,163
3,454
2,887
567
12,512
-
12,512
8,905
-
8,905
370
-
370
641
-
641
2,500
-
2500
2,000
1,137
863
-
-
-
-
-
-
33
1,210
(1,177)
-
-
-
-
(106)
106
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,348
290
1,058
384
267
117
-
163
(163)
─────
─────
─────
£85,412
£15,916
£69,496
═════
═════
═════|2021
Direct
Surplus/
Fees
Costs
(Defcit)
£
£
£
5,670
400
5,270
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
37
(37)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,450
780
1,670
2,350
-
2,350
1,647
-
1,647
964
148
816
-
-
-
5,100
-
5,100
-
548
(548)
258
31
227
12,870
-
12,870
-
-
-
-
-
-
─────
─────
─────
£31,309
£1,944
£29,365
═════
═════
═════|
|---|---|---|
2 - 19
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
**5. Other income**
|**5.**|**Other income**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Unrestrict||Restricted|Total||
||||ed|||||
||||Funds||Funds|2022|2021|
|||||£|£|£|£|
||Sundry income||159||-|159|135|
||Job retention scheme*|||0|-|-|26,425|
||VAT recoverable|||0|-|-|19,260|
||Fees for services|||0|-|-|18,000|
||Awards & prizes||1,750||-|1,750|-|
||||─────||─────|─────|─────|
||||£1,909||£ -|£1,909|£ 63,820|
||||═════||═════|═════|═════|
||*Government grant income (all conditions|||||||
||satisfed).|||||||
|**6.**|**Investment income**|||||||
|||||||2022|2021|
|||||||£|£|
||**Charities Ofcial Investment Fund**|||||||
||Dividends received|||||6,115|5,958|
||**NSB Investment Account**|||||||
||Interest received||||||-|
||**Bank interest**|||||27||
||Interest received||||||14|
|||||||─────|─────|
|||||||£6,142|£ 5,972|
|||||||═════|═════|
|**7.**|**Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities**|||||||
|||Not|Unrestricte|Restricted||Total||
|||e|d|||||
||||Funds||Funds|2022|2021|
||||£||£|£|£|
||**Direct charitable**|||||||
||**expenditure**|||||||
||Grants payable to individuals|8|11,128||1,322|12,450|8,700|
||Other direct charitable|9|258,490||-|258,490|306,440|
||expenditure|||||||
||||─────||─────|─────|─────|
||||£269,618||£1,322|£270,940|£ 315,140|
||||═════||═════|═════|═════|
|**8.**|**Grants payable**|||||||
||||Unrestricte|Restricted||Total||
||||d|||||
||||Funds||Funds|2022|2021|
||||£||£|£|£|
||Undergraduates||8,678||1,322|10,000|8,000|
||Postgraduates||-||-|-|-|
||Awards||2,450|||2,450|700|
||||─────||─────|─────|─────|
||||£ 11,128||£ 1,322|£12,450|£ 8,700|
||||═════||═════|═════|═════|
2 - 20
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **9. Other direct charitable expenditure**
||||Unrestricte|Restricted|Total||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||d||||
||||Funds|Funds|2022|2021|
||||£|£|£|£|
|Accountancy|||6,451|-|6,451|7,644|
|Examiner’s/Auditor’s remuneration|||3,0|-|3,0|3,000|
||||00||00||
|Bad debts||||-||-|
||||-||-||
|Bank charges|||3,2|-|3,2|3,069|
||||66||66||
|Conferences and seminars (Note||4)|15,91|-|15,91|1,944|
||||6||6||
|Publications,|journals|and|5,082|-|5,082|7,075|
|newsletters|||||||
|Committee expenses|||-|-|-|-|
|Computer maintenance|||13,391|-|13,391|12,583|
|Depreciation|||1,568|-|1,568|2,657|
|Disposal of assets|||-|-|-|-|
|IMAST licence fee|||5,798|-|5,798|-|
|Insurance|||1,749|-|1,749|3,278|
|Lease of equipment|||-|-|-|735|
|Marketing and advertising|||11,052|-|11,052|945|
|Postage|||446|-|446|581|
|Professional fees|||270|-|270|17,241|
|Rent, rates, light and heat|||1,793|-|1,793|33,437|
|Staf recruitment and raining|||-|-|-|1,950|
|Salaries|||179,121|-|179,121|201,493|
|Stationery and ofce expenses|||7,725|-|7,725|7,353|
|Subscriptions|||453|-|453|213|
|Telephone|||1,409|-|1,409|1,242|
||||─────|─────|─────|─────|
||||£258,490|£-|£258,490|£ 306,440|
||||═════|═════|═════|═════|
## **10. Analysis of support and governance costs**
The charity initially identifies the costs of its support functions. It then identifies those costs which relate to the governance function. The table shown overleaf details the analysis of these support and governance functions. These values are included in the costs shown in note 9.
||General|Governanc|Total|Basis of|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||e|||
||Support|Function||apportionment|
||£|£|£|£|
|Independent examination fee|-|3,000|3,000|Wholly attributable|
|Accountancy fee to IE|-|6,451|6,451|Wholly attributable|
|Bank charges|3,266|-|3,266|Wholly attributable|
|Committee expenses|-|-|-|Usage allocation|
|Computer maintenance|4,017|-|4,017|Allocated on time|
|Depreciation|470|-|470|Allocated on time|
|Insurance|525|-|525|Allocated on time|
|Postage|40|-|40|Usage allocation|
|Professional fees|270|-|270|Wholly attributable|
|Rent, rates and heat and light|538|-|538|Allocated on time|
|Salaries|53,736|-|53,736|Allocated on time|
|Stationery and ofce expenses|1,546|-|1,546|Usage allocation|
|Subscriptions|227|-|227|Apportioned equally|
|Telephone|423|-|423|Usage allocation|
|Marketing|5,526|-|5,526|Apportioned equally|
||─────|─────|─────||
||£70,584|£9,451|£80,035||
||═════|═════|═════||
2 - 21
Where not otherwise stated, support costs as shown above have been calculated on a pro rata basis in line with the staff salaries allocation.
2 - 22
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **11. Staff costs**
|||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|
|Staf costs:||||
|Wages and salaries||161,335|181,369|
|Social security costs||12,948|13,699|
|Defned|contribution|4,838|5,058|
|pensions||||
|Other staf costs||-|1,367|
|||─────|─────|
|||£179,121|£ 201,493|
|||═════|═════|
The average number of employees, analysed by function was:
||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|
|Direct charitable activities|2|2|
|Management and administration of the|2|2|
|charity|||
||══|══|
The Trustees did not receive any remuneration or reimbursed expenses during the year (2021: £nil)
Total employee benefits of key management personnel amounted to £75,274 (2021: £78,883).
Employees earning more than £60,000 during the year:
|||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|---|
|£60,001|- £70,000|1|-|
|£70,001|- £80,000|-|-|
|||══|══|
## **12. Taxation**
The Society is a registered charity and, therefore, no tax liability arises on the results for the year to the extent that income and gains are applied to the Society’s charitable objects.
## **13. Tangible fixed assets**
|**Tangible fxed assets**||||
|---|---|---|---|
||Ofce furniture|Computers|Total|
||and equipment|||
||£|£|£|
|**Cost**||||
|As at 1 July 2021|4,477|44,736|49,213|
|Additions||309|309|
|Disposals|-|-|-|
||─────|─────|─────|
|As at 30 June 2022|4,477|45,045|49,522|
||─────|─────|─────|
|**Depreciation**||||
|As at 1 July 2021|3,091|43,508|46,599|
|Charge for the year||||
|On disposals|686|883|1,569|
||─────|─────|─────|
|As at 30 June 2022|3,777|44,391|48,168|
||─────|─────|─────|
|**Net book value at 30 June 2022**|£ 700|£ 654|£ 1,354|
||═════|═════|═════|
|**Net book value at 30 June 2021**|£ 1,386|£ 1,228|£ 2,614|
||═════|═════|═════|
2 - 23
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **14. Fixed assets investments**
## **14.1 Summary**
|**14.1**|**Summary**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||2022||2021|
|||£|£|£|£|
|||Cost|Valuation|Cost|Valuation|
||a)
Charities Ofcial Investment|39,659|207,510|39,659|218,970|
||Fund|||||
||b)
NSB investment account|||-|-|
||c)
Listed investments|2,106|356|2,106|397|
|||─────|─────|─────|─────|
|||£ 41,765|£207,866|£ 41,765|£|
||||||219,367|
|||═════|═════|═════|═════|
|**14.2**|**Movements on investments**|||||
||||2022||2021|
||||£||£|
||||219,367||191,192|
||Market value at 30 June 2021|||||
||Transfers/Disposals||-||-|
||(Loss)/Gain on revaluation||(11,501)||28,175|
||Interest on NSB||-||-|
||||─────||─────|
||Market value at 30 June 2022||£||£|
||||207,866||219,367|
||||═════||═════|
|**14.3**|**Reconciliation of movement in**|||||
||**unrealised gains on investment**|||||
||**assets**|||||
||||2022||2021|
||||£||£|
||Unrealised gains at 30 June 2021||177,602||149,427|
||Realised gain on disposal||||-|
||Unrealised (losses)/gains in year||(11,501)||28,175|
||||─────||─────|
||**Unrealised gains at 30 June 2022**||£||£|
||||166,101||177,602|
||||═════||═════|
|**15.**|**Publications stock**|||||
|||||2022|2021|
||Books for resale|||£ 9,850|£ 9,985|
|||||═════|═════|
2 - 24
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **16. Debtors**
|**Debtors**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||2022|2021|
||||£|£|
|Trade debtors|||13,204|3,826|
|Amounts|owed
by|group|3,252|3,252|
|undertakings|||||
|VAT|||6,385|17,979|
|Prepayments|and accrued income||28,495|4,889|
|Other debtors|||0|4,923|
||||─────|─────|
||||£ 51,336|£ 34,869|
||||═════|═════|
|**Creditors: Amounts falling**||**due within one year**|||
||||2022|2021|
||||£|£|
|Trade creditors|||2,777|1,864|
|Deferred income|||4,507|12,829|
|Social Security and other|||956|603|
|taxes|||||
|Accruals|||9,020|9,821|
|Other creditors|||5,830|4,596|
||||─────|─────|
||||£23,090|£29,713|
||||═════|═════|
|**Deferred income included in creditors due within one year**|||||
||||2022|2021|
||||£|£|
|Opening balance as at 1 July|||12,829|8,332|
|2021|||||
|Deferred in the year|||4,507|12,829|
|Released in the year|||(12,829)|(8,332)|
||||─────|─────|
|Closing balance as at 30 June|||£4,507|£ 12,829|
|2022|||||
||||═════|═════|
## **17. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year**
## **17.1 Deferred income included in creditors due within one year**
Income is deferred when it has been either invoiced or received in the current financial year but relates to future periods.
2 - 25
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **18. Limited liability of members**
In accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Fellows, Individual Members and Corporate Members (but not Associate Members and Student Members) are deemed to be Members of the Society within the context and as such have a limited liability of £5 per member in the event of the Society being wound up.
## **19. Fair value reserve**
The unrealised gains table shown in note 14.3 represent the value of the Fair value reserve held within the General Fund.
## **20. Related party transactions**
The total amount of donations received without conditions from trustees during the year was £218.
Key management personnel remuneration is disclosed at note 11.
There are no other disclosable related party transactions during the year.
## **21. Restricted funds**
|**Restricted funds**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Movement in Fund||||
||Balance|Incoming|Expenditure||Balance|
||||and|||
||30 June|Resources|Gains/(losses)|Transfers|30 June|
||2021||||2022|
||Restated|||||
|Society for Underwater||||||
|Technology||||||
|Educational Support Fund|-|1,322|(1,322)|-|-|
||**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|─────|
The Education Support Fund was established to provide educational grants to students. The original restricted funds have all been expended. The Society continues to collect small amounts for the fund during the year at events and through the Just Giving platform. The amounts collected during the year are fully expended during the year.
2 - 26
## **Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2022**
## **22. Comparative Statement of Financial Activity**
||||Unrestricte|Restricte||Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Funds||||
||||2021|||2020|
|||||||£|
|||Note|||||
|**Income**|||||||
|Donations and legacies||2|53,554||53,554|25,456|
|_Income_
_from_|_charitable_||||||
|_activities:_|||||||
|Memberships, conferences||3|195,357||195,357|344,172|
|and events|||||||
|_Income from other activities_:|||||||
|Other incoming resources|||68,820||68,820|16,501|
|Investment income||6|5,972||5,972|6,578|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Total income**|||£318,703|£|318,703|£ 392,707|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Expenditure**|||||||
|_Expenditure on charitable_|||||||
|_activities:_|||||||
|Charitable activities||7|315,140||315,140|442,335|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Total expenditure**|||£315,140|£315,140||£442,335|
||||─────|||─────|
|**Net income / (expenditure)**|||||||
|**before**|||||||
|**gains / (losses) on**|||3,563||3,563|(49,628)|
|**investments**|||||||
|Net gains / (losses) on||14.3|28,175||28,175|6,946|
|investments|||||||
||||─────|||─────|
|**Net income / (expenditure)**|||31,738||31,738|(42,682)|
|Transfers between funds|||||||
||||─────|||─────|
|**Net Movement in**|**Funds**||31,738||31,738|(42,682)|
|**Reconciliation of funds**|||||||
|**Total**
**funds**|**brought**||268,076||268,076|310,758|
|**forward**|||||||
||||─────|||─────|
|**Total**
**funds**|**carried**||£ 299,814|£|299,814|£ 268,076|
|**forward**|||||||
||||═════|||═════|
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