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Society for Underwater Technology Annual Report 2022-2023 .4. rif_

Society for Underwater Technology

3 President’s Foreword
4 Awards 2022-2023
6 Council’s Summary of Activity 2022-2023
8 Chair’s Report
11 Officers and Council 2022-2023 | SUT Staff

Branch Reports

13 Aberdeen
15 Australia Perth
26 Brazil
28 Canada | Eastern Mediterranean
29 Norway | Malaysia - KL
30 China
32 London and South of England
34 Middle East
35 North of England
36 Singapore
37 US

Reports from Committees of Council and Special Interest Groups

49 Education
50 Educational Support Fund Management
51 International Training
52 International
53 Policy Advisory
54 Defence
55 Diving and Manned Submersibles
56 Environmental Forces
57 Marine Environmental Science
58 Marine Renewable Energies
59 Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics
61 Salvage and Decommissioning
62 International Underwater Vehicles and Robotics Group
63 Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)

www.sut.org

Annual Report 2022-2023

President’s Foreword

he Society for Underwater Technology is at the epicentre of ‘interesting times’. The development of Offshore Wind Turbines has created opportunities, in T terms of new blue business streams and challenges, in terms of engineering design, supply chain capacity and profitability, in equal amount. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, has re-set national government’s appetite for home-produced oil and gas. Both, against the backdrop of record-setting temperatures, wild fires and flooding that maintain the imperative for improving energy efficiency, addressing ever-increasing CO2 emission, and the need to reverse negative ecosystem impact.

With its wide range of Specialist Interest Groups (SIGs) and branches across the world, the SUT has the opportunity to take a leadership role as a learned society, in providing an agnostic, multi-disciplinary platform for informed technical debate.

How it may best fulfil this potential is entirely up to its membership. In 2023 the SUT Council began paving the way for its next ten-year strategy. The views of individual and corporate members, alike, are essential in the determining the course that will be steered. Where should limited time and resources be best invested? Post COVID, and with the cost of travel soaring, should the focus be on the development of more regionally focussed meetings? With so many bases to cover, which SIGs should be working together more closely, or even, combined to share the load? Equally, externally, with which other organisations should we be seeking stronger collaborative relationships? These and many other pertinent questions need to be addressed.

For my part, I very much advocate promoting blue STEM in schools to attract the next generation of young engineers, scientists and practitioners; and in order to make it broader and more appealing, I would widen the scope to include the Arts & Humanities and maritime subjects, as well, in order to connect with young people across all swathes of society, foster understanding and nurture skills.

President: Moya Crawford

Hence, it is my pleasure to award the second and last of my two awards as President to Mr Ali Hynd, as Deputy Principal of Mintlaw Academy in Aberdeenshire, and the pupils he has inspired in the Mintlaw ROV, as an exemplar of what can be achieved on the educational front, through mentorship, at a local level. For me, their maturity and sense of purpose is an inspiration to seek out more like-minded teenagers across the globe and give all the support and encouragement we can. For theirs is the future.

Therefore, one of my inputs into SUT Strategy Review is reconsideration of how the SUT Educational Support Fund is positioned, in terms of encouraging donations, and whom its supports.

What is your input into the SUT Strategy Review?

Society for Underwater Technology

Awards 2022-2023

Presentation of the President’s Award at the AGM in December 2022

L-R Donald Lamont , Chairman of the Faulklands Maritime Heritage Trust, Moya Crawford , SUT President, Mensun Bound , Director of Exploration, Endurance22

New Fellow Nick McNaughton

Mensun Bound gives a presentation at the AGM in December 2022 on ‘The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance’

The Alan Greig Memorial Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Commcerial Oceanography

Presented to 2020 Winner Roger Scrivens by SUT President Moya Crawford in December 2022 at the London AGM

Annual Report 2022-2023

Dr Samantha Joye , Regents’ Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, USA

Rustom (Rusty) Jehangir , founder and CEO of Blue Robotics

The Lennard-Senior Prize is awarded to Norma Hogan at All-Energy 2023. L-R Sue Barr, Cheryl Burgess, Norma Hogan, Judith Patten

Lennard-Senior Prize

Awarded to Norma Hogan, Highlands and Islands Enterprise in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of Marine Renewable Energy. Norma Hogan has supported the Wave and Tidal sector for 15 years. Never on the front line, in the headlines or appreciated. Until now. She is the person working behind the scenes to support decision making, grant funding requests and keeping policy direction on track to support a sector that she believes and knows will be transformational for the UK, Scotland and specifically the Highlands and Islands region.

President’s Award

Awarded at the AGM to Mensun Bound, Director of Exploration, Endurance22, in recognition of his career achievements to and contributions in the field of marine archaeology, and also to the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT), in recognition of their dedication to preserving the rich and varied seafaring history of the Falklands and those who have been associated with them.

Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration

Jointly awarded by SUT and MTS (the Marine Technology Society) to Dr Samantha Joye in honor of outstanding, sustained international contribution to the development, application, and propagation of marine technology toward the advancement of ocean exploration.

Dr Joye is a Regents’ Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, USA, whose work has revealed unexpected connectivity between elemental cycles, unanticipated feedbacks between geological elemental and microbial dynamics, and fundamental controls on microbial populations and their activity.

Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award

Awarded to Rustom (Rusty) Jehangir, founder and CEO of Blue Robotics an ocean technology company based in Torrance, California. The award recognises people in the early to mid-stages of their career who have made outstanding contributions to their field in underwater robotics.

Under Rusty’s vision and leadership, Blue Robotics has dramatically reduced the cost of ocean robotics, reshaped market expectations of ocean engineering components, enabled hundreds of new research efforts using turn-key affordable platforms, and empowered thousands of new learners to gain practical experience with ocean technology.

Society for Underwater Technology

Council’s Summary of Activity 2022-2023

n my report last year, I wrote about how the SUT was continuing to bounce back from the results of the pandemic and also adapt to the shift from Ihydrocarbons to renewable energies. Much happens in a year, but it is clear that we are not going to bounce back to how things were before the pandemic; too much has changed. It is also clear that the shift to renewables, and a low carbon future, will not be without its own challenges: reduced prices for wind power, increased cost of renewable projects, and technical hurdles.

The hydrocarbons industry has also proven itself to be more resilient than some thought and has seen increased levels of activity as energy security becomes as pressing in the immediate term as energy transition. In what are unsettled times, there is an increased focus on the underwater environment whether for continued hydrocarbons extraction, further development of renewables technology or scientific research to better understand our impact on the oceans. This focus on the underwater environment needs to be supported by greater collaboration and sharing of knowledge between the different communities that are engaged in the subsea realm.

Membership Summary

Corporate Members 145 Individual Membership 1546

Category	2023	2022
Hon. Fellows	9	14
Fellows	90	101
Full members	576	622
Students Corporate individuals Total	78 793 1546	96 725 1558

Table 1

Strategic Review

The SUT council believes that there is a strong need for learned bodies, like the SUT, to support a wider understanding of the offshore and underwater environments. However, a need does not automatically translate into growth (or sustainability) of the SUT. For the Society to flourish, it needs to remain relevant to our existing members and at the same time reach out to new members which are engaged in areas of growth in the years ahead. These include offshore wind, offshore site investigations and geotechnics, unexploded ordnance, defence, salvage and decommissioning, marine acoustics, robotics and sensors, hydrocarbons as well as aquaculture.

The SUT council wants to seize the opportunities ahead of us and position the SUT for continued growth and relevance in the years ahead. The SUT has formed a Strategy Working Group (SWG), to be co-chaired by Ralph Rayner and Nick Swift, to conduct a strategic review of the SUT’s activities.

The primary objective of the SWG will be to help guide the SUT’s strategic response to the changes that are occurring across the ocean economy as it transitions in response to pressing environmental, societal and economic challenges, as well as in recognition of the impact of emerging technologies.

In addition, it will consider SUT’s response to general changes in the role and mode of operation of learned societies and the way in which members might seek to interact in the future. The objective will be to determine a Strategic Framework and Strategic Plan covering the period 2024 - 2034 that will help to position the SUT for sustained success as a leading learned society serving its membership. the ocean community and the wider public, consistent with its charitable aims.

Financial Summary Unrestricted Fund (£) Category 2022 2023	Financial Summary Unrestricted Fund (£) Category 2022 2023	Financial Summary Unrestricted Fund (£) Category 2022 2023
Income	318,209	275,416
Expenditure	288,416	270,940
	––––––––––	––––––––––
Surplus/ (defcit)	29,793	4,476
Transfers to
restricted fund	-	-
Gain/(loss) on investments	6,240 ––––––––––	(11,501) ––––––––––
Retained surplus/ (defcit)	36,033	(7,025)

Table 2

I know both Ralph and Nick are looking for the support and views of our members in conducting this important review for the society.

Membership

As a Society, we have been successful in attracting new members, but we also need to retain our existing members. We attract members by the activities, events and training courses we hold and then retain by getting them to actively participate and contribute to what we do.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Council’s Summary of Activity contd.

Individual membership of the SUT has experienced a 10% drop over the last year. Corporate membership is steadier but with some flux in members depending on when they renew their membership.

Last year, we noted that the 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.

Our recently formed special interest groups on Marine Environmental Science and Unexploded Ordnance continue to establish their presence and 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 this last year.

Training

The Society has continued to adapt to the changed working environment with membership outreach and engagement throughout the year. Both the Subsea Awareness Course (SAC) and Offshore Wind Course (OWC) have been successfully run as online events this last year.

Excitingly, this year has seen the return of our in-person training courses with multiple Subsea Awareness Courses being held in Aberdeen as well as introductory courses to Offshore Geophysics & Geotechnical Engineering in various locations. The strong response to these courses identifies both an ongoing need but also an appreciation of the added benefits of in person courses. Going forward there is space for both virtual and in-person training courses to suit audience location and their availability.

Whilst the number of online webinars has prolifarated, the Aberdeen SUT+ committee has developed their own distincitve offering and regularly attract significant attendee numbers.

Awards

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. From an impressive field of nominations, the second winner of the GGUR Award was Rustom Jehangir, of Blue Robotics.

The SUT is also pleased to announce the new Mick Cook Marine Site Investigation Award; this award is open all working in the field of marine site investigations and characterisations globally, regardless of where they are in their career. The award recognises industry professionals who have made a significant contribution to Marine Site Investigation and Characterisation, covering the broad disciplines of Geophysics and Geotechnics.

Finances

A summary of the Society’s accounts and financial statements for 2022-2023 has been published with the Annual Report. SUT Honorary Treasurer, Nigel Carey, will present The Report and Financial Statements at the Society’s AGM.

The Unrestricted Fund at 30 June 2023 amounted to £328,826 compared with an amount of £292,789 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 2023 from the Educational Support Fund Management is included in this Annual Report. The financial statement regarding the Educational Support Fund appears within the Financial Review.

I. Knight, Honorary Secretary 6th October 2023

Registered Office: c/o Nunn Hayward, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, SL9 7QE, UK

Society for Underwater Technology

Chair’s Report

SUT Chair of Council, Sue John

ince my last annual report, the staff and volunteers of the Society for Underwater Technology have excelled themselves in organising and producing the range Sof activities that have taken place over the reporting period. The Society has provided 45 events in the UK both in person and online, with a similar number of events having taken place in SUT locations internationally. Naturally, that number of events also highlights the amount of hard work and commitment that it takes to produce this programme. The range of events available to members to engage and participate with the SUT and wider underwater, subsea, and marine communities demonstrates the diverse interests of the SUT and its members globally.

Regional activities, Committees and Specialist Interest Groups grow and contract over time. I am pleased to report that we are seeing and experiencing increased membership participation. We continue to encourage members to get involved, both individually and corporately, with the committees for the Society to develop, direct and deliver the SUT’s programmes for the future.

Membership and strength and depth of committee members are the lifeblood of the SUT which sustains the Society. Individual membership has reduced with members retiring, leaving industry and changing roles. Corporate membership has remained consistent. The Society would like to see growth in all categories of membership.

Finance and Accounts

The budget approved by Council for 2022-2023 was a balanced budget with achievement on surpluses from training and events regarded as cautious and deliverable. Members will find full details in the Financial Statements subsequent to this report.

The success and popularity of SUT’s training courses are reflected in the Society’s surplus. Our thanks go to all of those who have contributed their time and expertise to present, those companies who have hosted site visits, and members of the training committees: Aberdeen-based Subsea Awareness Course, OSIG’s Introduction to Offshore Geophysics & Geotechnical Engineering Course on Offshore Wind Renewable Energy, the Offshore Wind SAC and other SUT training courses whether in person or online.

The Society’s Annual Report contains reports contributions from all Special Interest Groups, Committees as well as International activity. Members are encouraged to read and review the Annual Report.

Over the last year, the SUT centre has had a presence at MASTS Glasgow; Subsea Expo, Aberdeen; All-Energy, Glasgow; the MCEDD – Deepwater Development London; Ocean Business, Southampton; Combined Naval Event, Farnborough; and PRIMaRE, Falmouth and Bath, as well as supported the Middle East Branch at ADIPEC

Branches

The activities during 2022-2023 in Aberdeen, Brazil, Canada, China, London & South of England, Malaysia, Middle East, North of England, Norway, Perth, Singapore, SUT-US (Houston) have all contributed to the success of the SUT and its regional centres for members and their interests in underwater, marine and subsea science, engineering and technology.

Annual Report 2021-2022

Chair’s Report

contd.

For global corporate members SUT’s international network helps connect members to one another on a local basis as well as within their corporate network.

Training courses have included the SUT’s Subsea Awareness Course in Aberdeen, Houston, Norway and Perth, OSIG’s Introduction to Offshore Geophysics & Geotechnical Engineering two-day course which took place in Southampton, and a Virtual Course on Offshore Wind Renewable Energy.

The newest branch of the Society has established itself in the Eastern Mediterranean and has secured its future by hosting the Subsea Technology Eastern Med Conference in conjunction with Lavar and Endevour publications in May 2023. The team of John Charalambides, Lakis Andronicou & Mike Eftthymiou along with Nicolas Droushiotis delivered a very successful Introduction to Subsea Technology pre-conference training day to a packed audience of international delegates. Due to ‘customer demand’ and continued interest there will be a rerun in line with the STEM conference in April 2024 in Cyprus. The Branch is looking to draw members for the committee from across the East Mediterranean region including Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, and Eastern Europe. I encourage corporate members with offices in the region to get involved.

I am delighted to report that Branch strength continues to recover from lingering affects of the Covid pandemic such as in Kuala Lumpur Where regular meetings are again being organised.

Special Interest Groups

The full list of the Society’s Special Interest Groups (SIG) is found on the SUT website. I encourage all members to participate where possible and familiarise themselves with the activities of the SIGs as they discuss challenges, solutions, innovation and projects; and have presentations which members will find of interest.

Educational Support Fund

The Education Support Fund (ESF) 2022 judging panel, comprising myself, Bob MacDonald, Shruthi Sivadasan (SUT+ Chair), and Cheryl Burgess (SUT CEO), was hard pressed in deciding who should have funding to support their studies.

I am pleased to inform the membership that during my time as Chair of the ESF, applications reflect diversity in both the students and the subjects of study the students are undertaking which manifest and relate to the interests of the SUT sectors and interest groups.

Awards

The SUT continues to recognise achievement and contribution from within membership and industry: The Gwyn Griffiths award went to Rustom Jehangir of Blue Robotics, who I had the pleasure to meet at Ocean Business 2023.

Norma Hogan was the recipient of the Lennard-Senior Memorial Prize. The prize is awarded in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of Marine Renewable Energy. Norma works for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and has supported the Wave and Tidal sector for 15 years, working behind the scenes to support a sector that will be transformational for the UK.

The Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration, presented jointly with MTS, was awarded to Dr Samantha Joye.

A new award, the Mick Cook Award for Significant Contribution to Marine Site Investigation and Characterisation

Society for Underwater Technology

Chair’s Report

contd.

was announced in May 2023; with the first award to be made in September 2023. This award will be made annually and carry prize money, certificate and an award. Our thanks to Mick for establishing this award.

The Society has pivoted in how we share knowledge with members and the knowledge members have with the widest communities including schools. We continue to also grow with SUT+’s webinar series along with their social and networking events. Content on SUT’s YouTube Channel continues to grow in addition to our ever-popular podcast series. Future plans and developments include increasing events and training courses for membership engagement and outreach to our wider sector interests. The Society has to look to the future. The Council decided to examine its future, so now there is strategic working group, co-chaired by Ralph Rayner and Nick Swift, which is examining how we can ensure that the Society is well placed for the future.

Sometimes people forget that without volunteers there is no Society. So thank you, every one of you, who give your time and your expertise to make the SUT such a successful learned society. I include all those on committees, my fellow directors/trustees who constitute the SUT Council and who also volunteer. Finally, a thank you to the SUT’s hardworking and dedicated staff: Cheryl Burgess, CEO, Jane Hinton, Membership and Finance Officer, Jacqui Adams, Events and Training Manager, and Emily Boddy, Communications and Publications Officer. I thank you all.

Thank you and let’s look to the future.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Officers and Council 2022-2023

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 A M Atmanand

A Connelly F Lim (until December 2022)

R Luff

Dr J Morgan Prof R F Rayner

D M Saul T Sloane (from December 2022)

M Stemp (from December 2022)

N J Swift M Theobald (from December 2022)

S Elkhatib (until June 2023)

T Griffiths (until December 2022)

R MacDonald (until December 2022)

SUT Staff

SUT HQ

Nunn Hayward LLP 2-4 Packhorse Road Gerrards Cross, SL9 7QEN (correspondence address only) t + 44 (0)7947 911992 e info@sut.org

Chief Executive

Cheryl Burgess Membership & Finance Officer Jane Hinton Communications & Publications Officer Emily Boddy Events & Training Manager Jacqui Adams

SUT US

e communications@suthouston.com

Events Manager Patsy Rhymes Marketing Editor Mariana Diaz Graphic Designer David Dooley

SUT Perth

Office Unit 28, 17 Prowse Street West Perth Western Australia 6005 t +61 (0) 8 9481 0999

e perth@sut.org

Branch/Finance/Membership Fiona Allan Events & Marketing Coordinator Renae Drew Events & Marketing Coordinator Jade Melville Marketing & Events Assistant Suzanne Thien

Society for Underwater Technology

Branch reports

Annual Report 2022-2023

Aberdeen Branch www.sut.org/branch/aberdeen

Andrew Connelly

Committee

Chair Andrew Connelly Vice-Chair Paul Slorach Treasurer Calum Hayton Training Graham Whitehead Branch Events Keith Anderson Projects Euan Fowler Industry Liaison Shruthi Sivadasan

Daniele Petrone David Warren Martin Harley Douglas Coombe Patrick Duggan Sylvain Denniel Alan Anderson Andrew MacNamara Campbell Elder Catherine Ioannou Chris Wallace Dr Ibiye Iyalla Dr Srinivas Sriramula Martin Brown Paul Benstead Ross Ingram Jacqui Adams

e come to the end of a year of quite a few changes, but ending on a high. Firstly we give sincere thanks to Martin Harley, who stands down W as Aberdeen branch chair after four years in position, and two years prior to this as vice-chair. Martin has been an excellent leader through times of downturns and lockdowns. Martin remains a member of Aberdeen Branch Committee and will continue to have key involvement in many branch initiatives.

Secondly we also give thanks to Peter Blake who acted as a caretaker chair and led an initiative to streamline the Aberdeen Branch Committee. Peter has now retired from the committee and from industry, so we bid farewell and best wishes for Peter’s various retirement plans.

Standing down are Patrick Duggan from vice-chair and Jamie Wilson from Branch Honorary Treasurer. Both have given excellent service to the branch in their respective roles and their input will be missed.

The strength of the branch is very much dependent on the input of the volunteer committee members, who give up personal time and day-job time to ensure that the various branch initiatives are delivered to the benefit of the Society, and both its existing and future members.

I’d like to give personal thanks to Jacqui Adams, SUT Events Manager who continues to go above the call of duty to ensure that events are run professionally and efficiently.

Finally, after a 37 year continuous service in the Aberdeen Branch Committee, Jim Mann retires and stands down from the committee. Jim has been involved in numerous initiatives over this time, including periods on SUT Council, and was a figurehead for the regular ‘Gadgets and Widgets’ events held by the branch. Many thanks to Jim for the support over the years we hope he will stay in touch.

Branch Committee Changes

With a change of chair, vice-chair and treasurer office bearers it was a good opportunity to review the make-up of the committee and to consider specific interest groups. As a result, we have appointed the following roles:

Training: Graham Whitehead of GUH
Branch events: Keith Anderson of Wood
Projects: Euan Fowler of Xodus
Industry Liaison: Shruthi Sivadasan of Wood

These individuals are leading sub-groups who are able to focus on delivering specific types of initiatives. This format is still in its infancy but appears to be working well as we return to in-person activities.

I (Andrew Connelly of Imenco) have stepped in as branch chair, supported by Paul Slorach of Verlume as vice-chair and Calum Hayton of BP as Honorary Treasurer. With an aim of replacing some departed committee members and widening the range of experience, we welcome some new members to the committee:

Alan Anderson of Oceaneering
Douglas Coombe of Wood
Ross Ingram of Ashtead Technology
Catherine Ioannou of 2H
Chris Wallace of MacArtney

Society for Underwater Technology

Aberdeen Branch

contd.

2022-2023 Branch Activities

The branch set a goal at the start of this session to promote a return to in-person events, with the goal of providing the excellent networking opportunities that SUT evening meetings have always provided. This has not been without challenges following a long period of remote events, such as webinars, being the norm, however we are pleased with the uptake of attendance and engagement at events during the past year.

In this past year we have been able to provide multiple in-person meetings including the ever popular Gadgets and Widgets, a

business breakfast, an offshore wind event in conjunction with the Aberdeen Association of Civil Engineers, to name a few. Event themes and topics discussed have featured an increasing theme of energy transition.

We have provided a series of Subsea Awareness Courses, all with excellent delegate feedback indicating appreciation of the content, industry experts delivering material, and site visits giving unparalleled insight into these aspects of industry.

Our annual jointly hosted event in collaboration with The Hydrographic Society and the International Marine Contractors Association took place in November 2022. This featured with a strong energy transition theme supporting the crossover of subsea technologies from traditional energy to new energies, which are continuing to become more established. The planning for the 2023 event is ongoing.

The SUT+ continue to provide an incredible programme of webinars, site visits and career development support for the next generation of engineers.

Keep an eye on sut.org/branch/aberdeen/ for updates, or get in touch at aberdeen@sut.org .

Annual Report 2022-2023

Australia Perth Branch

www.sut.org/branch/perth

ith COVID-19 no longer a major issue this financial year, the SUT Committee has been able to deliver its programs and core services for Wthe duration of this year. The financial statements for SUT Perth Branch for the year ending 30 June 2023 positively reflect this.

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 2022 and 2023 committee groups:

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: Bettina Silvert, Michael Cocjin
AMT Conference 2023: Mark Roberts ; Steve Duffield; Mark Casey; Nina Levy; Jeremy Cohen; Ian Hobbs; Henry Johnson; Peter Baker
AOG 2023: Julie Morgan ; Hema Wahdwa; Brett Phillips
Annual Dinner: Shane Kirkbride, Leanne Geneve , Mark Casey; Phillip Manfield
Branch Support: Shane Kirkbride, Paul Upjohn

Steve Duffield

Committee Chair Steve Duffield Vice Chair Bukkie Orugun Treasurer Leanne Geneve Secretary Anand Jyothi

Fiona Allan Matthew Allen Michael Cocjin Mark Casey Steve Duffield Leanne Geneve Jagjeet Ghillen Stuart Higgins Farjana Jahan Anand Jyothi Philip Manfield Christian Marocchi Mark Musarra Bukkie Orugun Brett Phillips Anurag Saxena Paul Upjohn

Course Review: Liam Salter, Brett Phillips; Paul Georgeson; Anurag Saxena; Leanne Geneve ; Michael Cocjin
Decom / Salvage: Christian Marocchi , Brett Phillips; Leanne Geneve; Paul Georgeson
Energy Transition: Iain Wylie ; Bukkie Orugun; Phillip Manfield; Matt Allen
Engagement: Leanne Geneve, Matt Allen , Brett Phillips; Anurag Saxena, Michael Cocjin
Evening Technical Meeting/AGM: Paul Upjohn; Bukkie Orugun, Paul Georgeson, Anand Jyothi; Matt Allen ; Iain Wylie

Society for Underwater Technology

Australia Branch

contd.

Finance: Fiona Allan; Brett Phillips ; Leanne Geneve, Steve Duffield, Bukkie Orugun
Golf Day: Steve Duffield , Shane Kirkbride, Trent Broadway
HSE: Liam Salter ; Bukkie Orugun
Immerse 2025: Paul Upjohn, Steve Duffield ; Brett Phillips
Membership: Steve Duffield, Bettina Silvert ; Iain Wylie
Mentoring: Michael Cocjin; Leanne Geneve; Mark Casey
Scholarships: Farjana Jahan ; Liam Salter; Nick McNaughton, Julie Morgan; Phillip Manfield; Iain Wylie; Paula Cartwright; Raphael Alwan
Subsea Controls Down Under 2022 Conference: Mark Casey, Paul Upjohn , Harry Mackay, Harvey Smith, Norman O’Rourke, Julien Levadoux, Ross Hendricks, Minh Vo, Ned Chapman, Derek Thompson
Subsea Engineering Competency Framework: Mark Casey, Afton Galbraith, Terry Griffiths, Rex Hubbard , Chris Merrick, Gabriel Pennock, Ewan Rowell, Chris Saunders, Norman O’Rourke, Ian Wilson; Senthen Mani; Trent Broadway
SUT International Committee: Steve Duffield ; Anand Jyothi
Curtin Uni Industry Advisory Committee – Christian Marocchi
WA Societies: Bukkie Orugun
SUT Council Steve Duffield; 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 take advantage.

The following events were held during the year:

5 x Evening Technical Meetings
3 x Courses (in person)
4 x YES! events
4 x OSIGp events
1 x AGM
2 x Social events (Annual Dinner & Golf Day)

Of special note were the activities of the Special Interest Groups, YES! and OSIG who 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 2022 Annual Dinner was held at the prestigious Optus Stadium with 235 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. behind us we were able to successfully hold the Subsea Controls Down Under Conference in October 2022

The AOG (Australian Oil & Gas) Conference and Exhibition was also held in March 2023.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Australia Branch

contd.

Courses:

The following training courses were run in person in the 2022/23 year:

1 x Subsea Awareness Course – May 2023

1 x Subsea Productions Systems Course – June 2023

Society for Underwater Technology

Australia Branch

contd.

1 x Positioning and Survey Course – August 2022

Evening Technical Meetings

The following technical meetings were held:

August 2022 ETM: Collaborative Technology Deployment - Julimar

Speakers: Ben Witton, Michael Salsano; Phil Watson, Scott Draper Sponsored by MMA Offshore and Subsea 7

October 2022 ETM: Underwater Autonomous Technologies and their application in Defence Speakers: Mitchell Hinchcliffe, Mark Roberts, Sandro Ghiotto Sponsored by: Bluezone Group and Defence West

February 2023 ETM: Decommissioning

Speakers: Ian Wylie, Grant Brunsdon, Tim Grose & James Florisson Sponsored by: Oceaneering

April 2023 ETM: Our floating future in Offshore Renewables

Speakers: Andy Evans; Sean Van Steel; Damon Sunderland Sponsored by Arup; DOF Subsea

June 2023 ETM: Decarbonisation

Speakers: Diane Labregere, Emilien Rulence, Ben Jury Sponsored by Atteris and Woodside

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. We have had great attendee numbers returning to the ETMs this financial year (up 60% on the previous financial year)

Annual Report 2022-2023

Australia Branch

contd.

Society for Underwater Technology

Australia Branch contd.

Golf Day – September 2022

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.

We had 108 for the event and 27 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; Sonomatic and a60n.

SUT Perth Sub-Committee Updates

Branch Administration

The 2022/2023 year welcomed Renae Drew back from Maternity leave in Jan 2023 with both herself and Jade Melville continuing as Events & Marketing Coordinators. Suzanne Thien focuses now on SUT Marketing as the Marketing Assistant and has done a great job updating our monthly e-newsletters.

These three event staff along with Fiona Allan continue to effectively manage the branch administration, take great pleasure in coordinating and organising all of our events, initiatives, administration, membership and

Annual Report 2022-2023

Australia Branch

contd.

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. With overseas travel now possible the Branch Support lead has held meetings with Malaysian SUT members.

Branch Initiatives

During the year, Perth branch continued / started with the following initiatives:

Subsea Engineering Competency Framework continued
3 more Scholarships offered in 2023
Proud new sponsorship of Offshore for Kids initiative
All Courses and Events were able to offered Face to Face
Review of current Courses offered and start of planning for a new Course
New Sub-Committee commenced - Marine Energy Transition and Renewables

Branch Strategy

The committee regularly review the current Strategic Plan (2021-2025) with the Strategic objectives being:

Engage with Tertiary Institutions
Diversification of Membership
Be more Active in Knowledge Transfer
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 2-3 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
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)

Finance

SUT Perth Branch was back to a surplus in the 2022-2023 financial year of approximately $AUD 10,000 after a prior year deficit of ($AUD 47,000) This was mainly due to:

Being able to hold the SCDU Conference and AOG in the 2022/2023 financial year
Increasing Sponsorship revenue and Ticket sales pricing
Social Events being better attended
ETMs and SIGs (YES! and OSIGp) being well attended

An audited Income and Expenditure Statement for the year will be forwarded to Council following the finalization of the audit in October 2023.

Society for Underwater Technology

Australia Branch

contd.

Marketing

Our digital marketing strategy, implemented over the last 18 months (since 1 March 2022), has brought about significant improvements in the professional appearance and tone of SUT-Perth’s online presence.

We’ve witnessed a remarkable transformation in our social media posts, email campaigns, and marketing collateral. This strategy has enabled us to present a more polished and cohesive image to our audience. Our social media posts now radiate professionalism with consistent branding, engaging content, and a clear, unified message.

Our email campaigns have become more refined, conveying information effectively while maintaining an appealing visual layout.

Additionally, our marketing flyers and PowerPoint presentations have undergone a makeover, boasting eyecatching designs and clear, concise messaging.

Membership (Perth and Melbourne) as at 30 June 2023:

We finished the year slightly worse than we started.

Free hardship membership was offered (had to meet certain criteria) but few took this up.

Perth Branch Membership	June 2023	June 2022
Individuals	84	96
Fellows	12	12
Corporate -Local and Global w rep here	41	43
Students (fee paying)	29	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. For 2023/2024 we are now offering free Student Membership to hopefully reverse this. All new Individual and Corporate members are approved by a Membership Sub-Committee.

----- Start of picture text -----
300
PERTH SUT MEMBERSHIP
250 Individual (incl
Fellows)
Corporate
200
150
100
50
0
2 010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 201 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 2 0 1 9 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 2 2 2 0 2 3
----- End of picture text -----

Annual Report 2022-2023

Australia Branch

contd.

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

SUT ran the Mentoring programme for the 2020/2021 financial year. It was then run by PESA and is currently being run by the Energy Club WA.

(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 2022-2023 including:

OSIGp Selections of ISFOG Sep 22
OSIGp Decomm Oct 22
OSIGp Prize Night Nov 22
OSIGp Recent Advances Jun 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 2022/2023 OSIGp committee members for their time, enthusiasm and hard work.

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 74 scholarships since 2007.

Society for Underwater Technology

Australia Branch

contd.

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: Gabrielle Cummins
Marine Renewable Energy Scholarship sponsored by Aurora Offshore Engineering: Christine Lynggard Hansen
Digital Automation in Engineering Scholarship sponsored by SEA: Samantha Hoekstra

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. For 22/23, one engineer was 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

During the year the subcommittee successfully held the following events:

YES! ETM July 22
YES! Uni Career Panel Sept 22
YES! Lawn Bowls Feb 23
YES! Quiz Night May 23

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:

Annual Report 2022-2023

Australia Branch

contd.

The Year Ahead

The Perth branch of SUT will continue with their five-year Strategy plan 2021-2025:

Engage with Tertiary Institutions
Diversification of Membership
Be more Active in Knowledge Transfer
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 2023/2024 has been approved by the Finance Committee with a surplus expected. We are looking to run a full calendar of events for 2023/2024.

Sincere thanks are given to the Members, Sponsors, Presenters, Office Bearers, Committee, Sub-Committees and SUT Staff during the year. It has been a pleasure to be the Perth Chair for the last three years and I wish the new Chair and the 2024 SUT Committee all the best.

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 2022 to June 2023, the activities of the SUT Brazil Branch have been based on seminars and a panel on oil&gas offshore activities, and a I workshop on offshore renewable energy, as described below.

Seminar on SUBSEA ENGINEERING: Integrity of subsea production systems

5 October 2022, Dr. ELTON J.B. RIBEIRO - COPPE/UFRJ Online - Attendees: 108

INTEGRA PRH-RJ 2022

7-9 November 2022, In-person - Attendees: 400.

The event was organized by human resources programs (PRH) of the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The event aimed to publicize the scientific production of research being carried out within the scope of the PRHs of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Federal Fluminense University and Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, allowing the exchange of knowledge between the academic community and companies operating in the oil, natural gas, biofuels, and renewable energy industries. The event was divided into various sessions as follows:

Opening: Energy Transition in the Oil and Gas Sector. 7 November 2022

Prof. Alfredo Renault - ANP In-person - Attendees: 400

Panel: Importance of Human Resources Training and Research & Development for the Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Industry. 7 November 2022

Maria Inês Souza - ANP, Karine Fragoso - Firjan, Maiza Goulart - Petrobras, Jorge Lopez - Shell; Moderation: Prof. Eduardo Mach - UFRJ In-person - Attendees: 400

Session 1: Energy Transition and Low Carbon Economy in the O&G industry. 7 November 2022

Heloísa Borges - EPE and Carlos Victal - IBP In-person - Attendees: 300

Session 2: Exploration, development, and production. 8 November 2022

Carlos Alberto Pedroso - SPE Brasil and Fernando Aragão - Eneva In-person - Attendees: 200

Session 3: Exploration, development, and production. 8 November 2022

David Bueno - Repsol Sinopec and Fábio Berton - Equinor In-person - Attendees: 200

Annual Report 2022-2023

Brazil Branch

contd.

Session 4: Emulsions and biofuels.

9 November 2022

Leonardo Bacellar - Petrobras and Yordanka Cruz - UFRJ In-person - Attendees: 150

Session 5: Technical and regulatory aspects of the natural gas sector. 9 November 2022

Telmo Ghiorzi - ABESPetro, Cristiana Abreu and Danilo Soares - TAG In-person - Attendees: 150

Brasil-Canada Workshop on Offshore Renewable Energy - 5 April 2023

09:00 Opening Remarks - COPPE/UFRJ and PAMEC.Energy Association/Marine Renewables Canada

09:10 R&D in offshore renewable energy in Brazil - COPPE/UFRJ

09:30 Offshore wind Roadmap and green H2 in Brazil – EPE

09:50 Developments in the Offshore Renewables Segment in the Americas – PAMEC.Energy Association/Marine Renewables Canada

10:20 Coffee break

10:40 Offshore wind energy development challenges in Brazil – ABEEólica

11:00 Offshore wind and green H2 initiatives in Brazil - Açu Port

11:20 Equinor

11:40 Petrobras

12:00 Discussion

Society for Underwater Technology

Canada

t may have been a quiet year for the committee in terms of organising meetings; however, onshore wind, green hydrogen have been capturing headlines in the Inews while interest in marine science and technology continues to grow. The Canadian hydrocarbons and energy industry are still finding its feet in the energy transitions.

The growth of conferences and exhibitions across Canada which cover sectors of SUT focus demonstrates both interest within Canada as well as global interest in what is happening in Canada.

The committee willing be planning 2024 meetings shortly. Please contact info@sut.org if you are interested in joining the Canada Branch committee.

Paul Ryan

Committee Chair Paul Ryan

Eastern Mediterranean

www.sut.org/branch/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

his year, we became an official branch! We participated at this year’s STEM 2023. John Charalambides was one of T the three presenters at the Technical Workshop the day before the conference. We are and will be involved in next year’s STEM 2024 event (www. subseatechnologyconference.com/ ). There was a social meeting in Limassol, where branch committee members Nikolas Drousiotis and John Charalambides were invtied to attend.

We have been in discussions with Sue John (SUT UK Chair) to brainstorm on topics for presentations for STEM 2024 and 2025.

In the next 12 months we expect to hold at least two internal meetings and at least one social event.

L-R Nicolas Droushiotis, Mike Efthymiou, Sue John, Lakis Andronicou, John Charalambides, Demetris Fessas

Annual Report 2022-2023

Norway Branch www.sut.org/branch/norway

ctivity in the Norway Branch during 2022-2023 focused on restarting the Subsea Awareness Course. The three-day course included visits to the offices of Equinor, TechnipFMC, OneSubsea, ClampOn and Metas. A Long-time chair and managers of the Branch, Nils Vaagen and Tom Eriksen retired in the latter part of the term. We thank them for their service.

The Branch is being recentred with committee members in Oslo, Stavanger and other locations in Norway with an eye on moving forward with discussions and potential online webinars focused on active sectors and projects in Norway as well as opportunities to meet in person at events in Norway such as ONS in August 2024 and other Norway-based events.

If you are interested in joining the Norway Branch Committee, hosting or sponsoring a meeting please contact: Sarah Elkhatib: Sarah.Elkhatib@ngi.no or info@sut.org .

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

fter a hiatus of almost three years, the SUT Branch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia became active again in August 2023, due to a joint initiative by AMarian Copilet, Raj Thangavelu and David Trees.

Monthly meetings are taking place every second Wednesday of each month at Loco, a popular location in Changkat, and awareness and attendance of the event is increasing.

Selection for a new committee is underway and elections are planned to take place in January 2024.

Committee Chair TBA

Jeyanthi Ramasamy Marian Copilet Raj Thangavelu

Society for Underwater Technology

China Branch

www.sut.org/branch/china

ZHANG Yu

Committee

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

AN Chen ( Beijing ) AN Weizheng ( Beijing ) BAI Xinglan ( Zhejiang ) CHANG Yuanjiang ( Qingdao ) FU Guangming ( Qingdao ) LIANG Xu ( Zhejiang ) SHEN Yijun ( Haikou ) WAN Decheng ( Shanghai ) XU Liang Bin ( Zhuhai ) XU Wanhai ( Tianjin ) YAN Jun ( Dalian ) YANG Zhixun ( Harbin ) ZHANG Dagang ( Qingdao ) ZHANG Changzhi ( Shenzhen ) ZHENG Hao ( Changsha )

UT China branch successfully organized the 11th International SUT (China) Technical Conference in Qingdao, China, during 28-31 Nov 2022, Sin conjunction with China University of Petroleum (Beijing). The conference was hosted by China University of Petroleum (East China).

Vice President Dai Caili of the Host University attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Frank Lim, Chairman of the China Branch of the International Society for Underwater Technology & Principal Advisor of 2H Offshore, and Professor Chang Yuanjiang of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering served as the Chairman and Executive Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Conference, respectively.

With the theme of “Ship and Marine Engineering” this technical conference focuses on underwater technology, marine engineering equipment, marine resource development and utilization. From the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, Australia, Nigeria and other countries, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China Ship Scientific Research Center, ABS Classification Society (China) , China Classification Society, nearly 20 domestic maritime colleges and universities more than 30 units of more than 400 experts and scholars, graduate students participated in a combination of in-person and online presentations.

Sun Jinsheng, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the Academic Committee of the University, made a keynote report entitled “Research Progress on Drilling Mechanism and Regulation of Natural Gas Hydrates in the South China Sea “.

Derrick Zhang of DMAR Offshore Engineering, Li Qingping of CNOOC Research Institute, Chen Guoming of China University of Petroleum (East China), Wan Decheng of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Yan Jun of Dalian University of Technology, Zhu Hongjun of Southwest Petroleum University, Shahir Liew, Vice President of Malaysia University Technology Petronas, Shen Yijun of Hainan University, Chen Nianzhong of Tianjin University, Professor Cui Weicheng of West Lake University and others made special presentations on underwater installation engineering, subsea dream factory, risk management and control of offshore pipelines and terminals, wave induced fluid structure coupling method, key structural mechanics of flexible pipes and umbilical cables, flow induced vibration of marine risers, wave characteristics of the South China Sea, deep-sea mining system, floating offshore wind turbine digital twin technology, “Rainbow Fish” deep-sea submersible.

Annual Report 2022-2023

China Branch

contd.

The second day of the conference was devoted to engineers, teachers and students sharing their latest research achievements in four technical sessions.

The Annual General Meeting was held on Nov 30, 2022, and Zhang Yu from China University of Petroleum (Beijing) was elected as the new Chair of SUT China Branch and the SUT China Branch 2022-23 Committee was elected, too. After discussion, all the committees agreed that The 12th SUT (China) Technical Conference is going to be held in Haikou, China, dates to be decided.

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 Legal Advisor Simon Hems SUT Events & Training Manager Jacqui Adams

Mark Pickering George Varelis Antonia Corr Harry Henly David Gawen Alex Rimmer David Newman Julian Tucker Spencer Clark Scott Gower Joe Hulm Michael Green

UT LSE is growing again after last year’s reorganisation and focus on achievable targets. Crucially we have introduced a better structure with active Ssubcommittees. This has benefitted us by encouraging more of our enthusiastic members an active input into the branch.

Sub-Committees:

Events Team: Responsible for technical meetings and social events. Within this group, each planned event has a designated leader, or champion, to bring the event to fruition.

City Team: Responsible primarily for running the Lunch and Learns events in London. These events are always important, linking both our regional expertise in the insurance world with subsea engineering community.

Liaison Team: Responsible for reaching out to other SUT Special Interest Groups (SIGs). This team includes the important liaison with the Education and Training SIG.

Membership Team: Responsible for maintaining and developing our individual and corporate membership.

Event Venues:

Lunch and learns are held in corporate member offices in the city. Our target is to hold 4-5 events a year including an annual industry outlook.

For evening events, we have two church hall venues, one at Christchurch in Woking and one in at St Johns church near Waterloo. These are low cost but convenient venues.

For the last two years we have held successful seminar type events at Beazley’s head office in Bishopsgate, London. These are longer events with three presentations on related topics followed by a social, kindly hosted by Beazley.

Our aims are to hold 4-5 evening events a year.

Events held:

As a committee there is a focus on energy transition. The events held at Beazley have both been on Carbon Capture topics, introducing the audience (both insurers and engineers) to the complexities of storing and transporting Carbon Dioxide.

Future events planned include all aspects of offshore renewal energy i.e., wind, wave, tidal and blue hydrogen.

Annual Report 2022-2023

London & South of England Branch

contd..

In May we held a joint workshop at Lloyds with the Salvage and Decommissioning SIG. SustainaVerse presented use of Digital Technologies to Visualize Operations and Identify Uncertainties in order to make better Commercial and ESG Decisions.

In September we held a joint technical presentation on FMC’s advanced ROV system and secondly life extension of offshore structures from Cescor.

As ever we held our successful quiz night in November at Ye Olde Watling in London. With our socials, we are adjusting to our tighter lower risk budget against progressively higher costs of any formal event in London.

Training

We still have training requirements that have potentially good revenue streams. It will be a more cost effective route to evolve an existing Subsea Awareness course for our audiences in London, rather than developing our own bespoke course. There are different groups with different knowledge requirements i.e., investors in subsea technologies and the insurers of subsea equipment.

Early Career Development

Helping and encouraging members in their early careers is still vitally important. We felt that the best way to do this was to encourage them to be part of our subcommittee structure rather than having a separate SUT+ committee. Encouraging their professional development within subsea technology is an important part of knowledge sharing within SUT.

Membership

Maintaining our membership levels is our lifeblood. Hopefully active committee members act as catalysts within their companies, posting meeting notices and encouraging event attendance.

Corporate members need regular SUT updates to show that we continue to offer added value in return for the membership investment. We also develop ties to other professional groups such as Lloyds U35s and other societies like the Offshore Engineering Society.

Summary

As ever the LSE branch is indebted to its committee members for ideas and the energy to drive us forward. We are grounded as a team, understanding our capabilities and capacities as volunteers. We now have tried and tested venues and so have an excellent base to achieve our targeted events.

Society for Underwater Technology

Middle East Branch

www.sut.org/branch/middle-east

Adrian Phillips

Committee

Chair Adrian Phillips

Dubai

Graeme Chalmers Steve Goddard Bob Morgan Nawin Singh Bedros Mardikian Anand Menon Ashish Rawal Chris West Ross Anderson Lesya Kramarenko Pat Carey

Abu Dhabi

Richard Richards Russell Harper Mark Thomer Katherine Ferguson Anthony Quick Scott Steven Killian Pallop Jeff Dean Ibtessam Hasan

ost ADIPEC 2022 we returned to our traditional “face-to-face” model, with a highly successful EPRS (Emergency Pipeline Repair Systems) event at Khalifa PUniversity with a visit to Dolphin’s facility in KIZAD in Dec 2022. Over 180 attended and followed up with lunch and tour of Dolphin’s facility thanks to Mark Thomer as well as a great write-up in UT-2 . In January we held an interesting Decommissioning event where Claxton, Ashtead and James Fisher talked about activities in region where COVID provided the opportunity to focus otherwise idle vessels on decommissioning.

Activity really has exploded in the region on the back of the need to replace LNG volumes lost by Russia across the rest of the world and a healthy and relatively stable oil price. ADNOC, Aramco and Qatar Gas continue to release a stream of high value projects. The committee have come together twice and recently over a very busy ADIPEC where SUT had a stand in ADIPEC 2022

Hall 15 (Marine & Logistics Zone). It was supported by many members of the committee and SUT local chair Adrian Phillips chaired two of the subsea SPE technical sessions under ADNOC Marine & Logistics Commitee.

Just before ADIPEC we held a third event co-hosted by Khalifa University (KU) entitled Road to COP28 where we explored the renewable energy mix and the offshore, marine and subsea contribution. KU’s Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and Hydrogen opened the event, then SS7 covered CCUS and floating Hydrogen, whilst Aberdeen based Mocean tackled wave energy, Hy-Energie dialled in from Kenya to cover floating solar in the region and Worley/Advisian examined the opportunity for offshore wind. It was well attended by Academia, students and industry alike.

Middle East remains a challenging domain for SUT type activity, with its projects surge, climactic challenges, transient nature of the expatriate engineering community. Another 30% of the committee has changed jobs or left in the last year. The committee in constant flux but we are running online and face to face events and now have almost 2000 subsea professionals in the region with an interest in what we are doing.

We continue to draw the committee from major players in the industry; major EPC (McDermott and Subsea 7) and ADNOC. Otherwise, the committee has representatives from Ashtead, DCN BV, Fugro, Lloyd Warwick, Dolphin Energy, Motive, Prysmian, Baker Hughes, Horizon Geo, Unique, Dolphin Energy 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.

We continue to be at an early stage of our development, supported by HQ SUT but we mark our fifth anniversary in region at ADIPEC.

Annual Report 2022-2023

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, we held a series of technical sessions as well as a site visit to Port of Blyth. Our Tmembership includes students from local Universities as well as engineers and scientists from the local subsea engineering community.

The technical sessions were a mixture of face to face and remote presentations. In November, renowned experts Peter Allan and Dr Indrasenan Thusyanthan gave insight into geotechnical considerations for offshore wind turbine installation and the protection of cables.

In the February meeting, Dr Richard Graham provided a detailed overview of the engineering behind the SMD E-ROV, which boasts a series

of novel features. The second presentation of the evening was from Vahid Walker, presenting the Subsea A-Flux electrical machine, as well as giving an overview of the state of the subsea motor market place.

The site visit to Port of Blyth was kindly hosted by Enshore, with Henry Oakes and Hender Blewett giving guided tours, taking in some of the remarkable equipment designed and built in the North East.

All events have been well attended. Thank you to the organisers, venue hosts and sponsors for your continued support!

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

Society for Underwater Technology

Singapore Branch www.sut.org/branch/singapore

James Christie

t has been another succesful year here at the Singapore Branch, holding technical evening meetings and committee meetings, and continuing to promote and Iengage in subsea activity in the region.

Meetings:

Technical evenings

29th Sept 2022 Presentations:

APAC market overview by Thom Payne from Westwood Global Energy Group
GNSS / INS Post processing for Hydrography Qinertia Software by Jeremy Colombel from SBG Systems
Technological Innovations by Uni Bull from Norbit Subsea

3rd Aug 2023

Committee

Chair James Christie Vice Chair Colin Campbell Secretary Florie Mancel

Anthony Gleeson Che Keong Lee Mark Corbridge Andrew Blears Andy Ching Phillip Thomas Jose Puig - Treasurer Petter Nilson Derek Donaldson Leonard Kong

Presentations:

Self-discovery: Opportunities to learn alongside students by Dr Ser-Keng Ang, Principal lecturer of finance from Lee Kong Chian School of Business Singapore Management University
An introduction to floating solar and Ocean Sun by Are Gløersen from Ocean Sun
Errors in pressure to depth approximations and how to avoid them by Jose Puig of Sonardyne Asia

The next event planned is our end of the year social – 7th December

Committee meetings were held on 29th March and 21st August, with the next meeting planned for 23rd of November.

What’s next?

As well as continuing our programme of events, we are in the process of signing an MOU with the Marine Technology Society and IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) to be a co-sponsor for Oceans 2024 taking place in Singapore. OCEANS – Singapore Conference (oceansconference.org).

Annual Report 2022-2023

US Branch www.sut.org/branch/houston

UT-US is governed by an Executive Committee and includes five technical committees; Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics (OSIG), Subsea SEngineering and Operations Atlantic (SEO Atlantic), Robotics & Automation (R&A), and Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC); by four non-technical committees, the Young Professionals, Education, School Touring, and Women in Industry Committees; and by five students chapters, Texas A&M University (SUTTAMU), the University of Houston (SUT-SES-UH), the Texas A&M University - Galveston (SUT-TAMUG), Rice University (SUT-RICE). All are active groups that meet regularly, and which have active memberships. SUT-US continues to hold in-person Networking Events on the first Thursday of the month.

SUT-US paid support includes Mrs. Patsy Rhymes who assumes the coordination of in-person events; Mariana Diaz who is responsible for the coordination of online events and overall communications for the Branch, as well as supporting editor and as an accounting assistant, and David Dooley who assist with the website and weekly newsletter.

Below is a summary of the key activities held at the SUT-US branch for the period of 1 July 2022 - 30 June 2023.

Offshore Technology Conference OTC:

May 1st-5th, 2023 – SUT-US had a booth with representatives from our branch. NRG Park OTC SUT-US Paper Sessions and OTC at Reliant Center SPE Hiring Event

Subsea Awareness Course:

September 12th – 15th, 2022 | In-person attendees: 12 February 13th – 16th, 2023 | In-person attendees: 9

Floating Wind Solutions:

January 30th – February 1st, 2023

Networking Events & Other

Networking Event – August 4th, 2022 – Memorial Wine Cellar
Networking Event – September 1st, 2022 – Red Lion Pub
Networking Event – October 6th, 2022 – Watson’s House of Ales

Patsy Rhymes SUT-US, Roneet Das NGI

Networking Event – November 7th,2022 – Memorial Wine Cellar
Networking Event – December 9th, 2022 – Daily Gather Restaurant
Networking Event – January 5th, 2023 – Red Lion Pub
Networking Event – February 2nd, 2023 – Watson’s House of Ales
Networking Event – March 2nd, 2023 – Red Lion Pub
Networking Event – April 6th, 2023 – Memorial Wine Cellar
Networking Event – May 1st, 2023 – Join event with Integral at the OTC

Tricia Hill

Committee

Chair & President Tricia Hill

Treasurer and Training Officer Dr. Rodolfo Sancio Secretary Dr. Xiaoyan Long

Maria Ancheril Roger Osborne Kim Faulk Sam Guo Heather Cousson Colin Johnston Steven Johnson Sandra Jakl Zack Westgate OSIG Chair Chris McHugh MREC Chair Andrew Haigh School Touring Chair Faisal Yousef Robotics and Automation Chair

Fathi Ghorbel Robotics and Automation Vice Chair Patricia Varela Young Professionals Chair Mark Siegmund Past SUT Chair

Networking Event – June 1st, 2023 – Memorial Wine Cellar

Zenon Medina-Cetina Past SUT Chair Valeria Gonzalez Romero SUT-TAMU Student Chapter Chair

Charles Stewart SUT-Prairie Student Chapter Chair Damilola Abe Education Committee Chair

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Photos from various networking events

OSIG-US Committee

Andy Hill BP, OSIG-US Chair

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). Term as Chair will be completed at the end of 2023. The new OSIG Chair was elected on 20 January 2023. Zack Westgate the new Chair-Elect will transition to Chair in early 2024, his term will be from 2023 through 2025. Logan Brant was re-elected to Secretary on 20 January 2023. His term will go from 2023 through 2025. This committee meets every quarter; Q4 October 7th, 2022, Q1 January 20th, 2023, and Q2 April 21st, 2023.

Committee Members:

Andy Hill (Chair), BP Zack Westgate (Chair-Elect), UMass Amherst Logan Brant (Secretary), Geosyntec Consultants Andrew Haigh, Xodus Geohazard Bob Gilbert, UTexas Austin Chris McHugh, Sulmara Chuck Aubeny, TAMU Craig Shipp, Retired Dan Lanier, GEMS (Geosyntec) Dan McConnell, GeoMarine Resources Dan Spikula, BP Dianna Phu, Advisian

Earl Doyle, Retired Ed Clukey, GeoMaxEd Heather Cousson, Mayflower Wind Kerry Campbell, Retired Kim Faulk, GEMS/Geosyntec Consultants Niall Slowey, TAMU Rob Little, Chevron Ryan Beemer, UMass Dartmouth Shawn Williamson, Woodside Victor Taboada, Fugro Xiaoyan Long, Fugro Zenon Medina-Cetina, TAMU

Associate Members

Alan Foley, Retired Amanda Evans, Gray & Pape Christian Noll, BP Francisco Hernandez-Martinez, Saudi Aramco Jack Templeton, SAGE USA Jan Van Smirren, Ocean Sierra Jeong-yun Won, Innovative Geotechnolgy John Albertson, SEARCH Justin Bailey, Alpine Ocean Justin Carpenter, Benthic

Leonardo Macelloni, USM Nick Clark, TDI-Brooks International Ning Luo, TAMU - Corpus Christi Patricia Varela, Geosyntec Consultants Peter Ramsay, Mind-Technology Roneet Das, NGI Stephanie Milne, RPS Stephanie Watts Favreau, Exxon Mobil Steven MacDonald, S.T. Hudson Engineers, Inc. Tony Hewitt, Advisian

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OSIG-US’s activities for the 2022/2023 have included mainly webinars as listed below:

Completed Learning Webinars:

July 28th, 2022 - Online Event – “Vibratory Installation of Bucket Foundations for Fixed Offshore Wind Turbines” to be presented by Dr. Charles Aubeny. This talk was based on his state-of-art research work funded by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium on the use of vibratory methods to install the buckets and the application for the current generation of 15-MW wind turbines | Webinar attendees: 34
August 30th, 2022 – Online Event – “Marine Site Characterization for Carbon Sequestration Projects” In this webinar, Yosmel Sanchez builds on the current practices in marine site characterization for drilling and development and provided recommendations for the adoption and configuration of these practices for offshore geologic carbon storage | Webinar attendees: 11
September 22nd, 2022 - Online Event - Geotechnical Characterization of an Offshore Frontier in East Africa by Dr. Rodolfo Sancio | Webinar attendees: 13
May 19th, 2023 - Imperial College, London - 9th International OSIG Conference: Student Poster Competition
May 27th, 2023 - Online Event – “The Time is Now to Improve Our Understanding of the World’s Ocean” by David Millard | Webinar attendees: 12

OSIG-US committee maintains liaisons with most other SUT-US committees, including WIND, Marine Renewables, and School Visiting. The two most recent committee meetings were held with both in-person and remote attendance options.

SEO Atlantic (& Europe) Committee

The Subsea Engineering and Operations Committee (SUT-SEO) has transitioned to SEO Atlantic. Its membership includes 30 individuals and experts in the various fields 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.

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 carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, ROV AUV and digital twin projects, among others.

Year Long Activities:

Guest Presentations and Regular SUT-SEO Meetings:

July 27th, 2022 - Mr. Shashikant Sarada (Director, WSP), ‘Offshore Wind: Potential vs Reality’
August 31st, 2022 - 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’
September 28th, 2022 - Dr. Adam Ballard (Technology Advisor, Hess), ‘Digital Twins for Subsea’.
October 26th, 2022 - Todd Newell (SVP, Nauticus Robotics), ‘Utilizing fully autonomous robotics to execute subsea manipulation’.
January 12th, 2023 - Joint Committee meeting with the Robotics & Automation Committee, Sam Taylor (Ocean Infinity), ‘Building our Armada –Key developments for large scale remote operated vessel fleet’.
February 22nd, 2023 - Mr. Nikhil Joshi (Chief Technology Officer, VerdeCO2), ‘CCUS and related energy transition for Offshore’.
April 2023 - Charlie Reith discussed for a proposed joint SUT-SEO and IMarEST on the Radar session. ‘Technology and Innovation in UK Maritime: The case of Autonomy and linked Marine Remote Ops with Digital Twin Technology a vision to 2050 with staged progress targets for 2030’.
April 13th, 2023Charlie attended the SUT Strategy Meeting, organized by SUT-UK.

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May 12th, 2023 - KP attended SUT-US planning session in Houston, organized by Tricia Hill.
July 2023 - KP assumed as the Chair of the SUT-SEO Atlantic & Europe Committee after former Chairman of the Committee, Charlie Reith. The committee agreed in Jun 2023 to meet bimonthly for regular discussions and presentations.
May 24th & Jun 28th, 2023, regular meetings were held only partially due to technical issues with discussions on the future activities and planning session held in May, 2023.
July 26th, 2023 - Dr. Christopher Bridge (Life of field digital domain champion for Onesubsea). ‘Digital Twins and Digitalisation’.
KP attended SSTB meeting in Galveston along with Tricia and Patsy, Mar 2023, attended OTC meeting held in Houston, May 2023.

SUT-SEO Website Updates Taking Account of Energy Transition Changes sut.org/specialist-interest-group/

subsea-engineering/

Monthly Meeting in April 2023: SUT-SEO (UK) organized specialist speakers from both the IMarEST and IMCA-MASS Regulation Changes to participate in a special focused SEO session to help coordinate a more communicated effort on these Energy Transition opportunities, Gain a better understanding of MASS regulations for remote autonomous vehicles and regulation changes in UK/USA.
Monthly Meeting in May 2023: Subsea Robotics & Remote Operations Centers to more automation and working alongside Digital Twins “Lunch & Learn” for SUT Young Professionals (UK). Charlie delivered a Webinar presentation to the SUT-US Young Professionals on May 25th, attended the SUT-UK International Training Committee meeting on the 31st May, 2023.
Workforce Sustainability across this Global Energy Transition Updated - UK coordinating meetings with the Global Underwater Hub supporting various STEM Challenge Initiatives, OPITO, IMCA and the IMarEST the National Subsea Centre and the Energy Transition Aberdeen. Similar coordinated effort in the USA with all appropriate bodies Colleges, Universities such as the UK Engineering Council.
Discussion how to increase the participations in the meetings and webinars and share information on the employment opportunities.

Future Activities:

Guest Presentations and Regular Meetings – Bimonthly- Continued
Possible webinar activities

Topics of Interests

Creating an Integrated Marine Energy Cluster Focused on Delivering Net Zero (decarbonization)
Offshore Wind Energy (Fixed and Floating Wind Farms, Transport/Cable/Grid Challenges)
Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS)
The Hydrogen Economy
Digital Transformation – Digital Twins-Cloud Data
Advanced in Subsea Robotics
Remote Operations Technology
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Impact Levels
Electrification of Offshore Assets across the energy transition
Subsea Processing – All Electric and Others
People & Skills Development - Workforce Sustainability Subsea & Marine Energy Sector

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SUT-UK STEM Challenge Initiatives – OPITO, IMCA, IMarEST
SUT-SEO - Colleges, Universities - Students involvement in the work-related issues in robotics, OESI etc.
Needs to Endorse and Finalize the Activities based on the strategically agreed by the SUT, SEO, Chair and President on the SEO Special Interest Group Website – Focus on Energy Transition and Blue Economy opportunities.
Finalize website inputs with a consolidated SUT-SEO Road Map and be the tool to help promote and engage more, young SUT professionals. https://sut.org/specialist-interest-group/subsea-engineering/
How to increase participations in the meetings and webinars and share information on the employment opportunities.

Recommendations

From a skills gap and skills shortage perspective going forward across SEO activities and with the increased use of Remote Marine Operations centers globally.
Digital skills, e.g., data analysts and technicians/engineers with an understanding of how to interpretate live data streams and working alongside Digital Twins which will be used more and more with AI tools.
Further training to existing subsea/ marine ops personnel in these digital data tools, digital engineering/ data science, robotics, machine learning, SCADA related skills, software tools with defined competency measurement’s/assessments through agreed training organizations and at regulated intervals.

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:

July 27th, 2022 - Online Event - SEO Offshore Wind Multi-Discipline Engineer’s Perspective - Special guest, Shashikant Sarada, share his offshore wind perspective as a multi-discipline engineer free-of-charge.
August 31st, 2022 - Online Event - Reducing Uncertainty on a World First Offshore Floating Wind Project RefHywind Tampen Project by Stuart Duncan
September 28th, 2022 – Online Event -Digital Twins by Dr. Adam Ballard

Robotics and Automation Committee

Faisal Yousef P.E., Engineering Consultant / API Lead Auditor

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.

Committee Members

Faisal Yousef (Chair) Arnt-Helge Olsen Ram Shenoy Fathi H. Ghorbel (Vice Chair) Binbin Wang Sudhir James Bruster Dabney (Secretary) Byul Hur TAMU Chen Zhen Wenyu Zuo Christopher Roper Tricia Hill Eric Levitt David Fraser Reenst Lesemann Roneet Das John O. Allen Jeck Hoff Hifzi Ardic Nick Tillmann John O. Allen

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Highlights

Meetings and Quality Presentations:

Robotics Assisted Offshore Oil Platform Operations and Inspections - By Dr. Zheng Chen – University of Houston – November 11, 2022.
Ocean Infinity – Building our Armada – Key developments for large scale remote operated vessel fleet By Sam Taylor – Ocean Infinity – Sales and Business Development – January 12, 2023.
Robotics & Automation 2023 Planning Meeting – February 10, 2023
Water Powered Seaeye Sabertooth – Cuts CO2 Emissions By Chris Roper with SAAB – March 24, 2023
Overview of underwater robotics at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory by Chris Yahnker / Chief Technologist for Autonomous Systems - NASA JPL – April 21, 2023
Robotics & Automation Meeting / Discussed Robotics Course with SSI and University of Houston – June 23, 2023

Webinars :

Robotics Assisted Offshore Oil Platform Operations and Inspections - By Dr. Zheng Chen – University of Houston – January 26, 2023.

Joint Meetings:

Joint Meeting with SUT - SEO Atlantic:
January 12, 2023
April 21, 2023

OTC Paper:

Robotics Workforce Training, Offshore Energy Transformation By Dr. Wenyu Zuo, Dr. James Dabney, and Dr. John Allen – University of Houston – May 1, 2023.

Lowlights

Webinar - Verification of Trusted Autonomy by Dr. James Dabney – University of Houston, was scheduled for April 13, 2023, had to postponed due to lack of Interest.
Webinar - Canrig Robotics by Hifzi Ardic was postponed to the Fall of 2023.
No Face-to-Face Meetings
No In-Person Site Visits due to summer travel.

Future Events

Lunch & Learn – KONGSBERG Robotics – September 21, 2023.
Webinar - Verification of Trusted Autonomy By Dr. James Dabney – University of Houston - October 26, 2023.
Webinar - Canrig Robotics by Hifzi Ardic – TBD This Fall
Exploring Possibility of Robotics Course with SSI and University of Houston.
Exploring Possibility of a Workshop on future of AUVs

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Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC)

Chris McHugh, Technical Authority Geophysics Sulmara Subsea Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC) Chair

Christopher McHugh, Technical Authority Geophysics Sulmara Subsea, chaired the Marine Renewable Energy Committee (MREC) June 2022 thru June 2023. Individuals from the following organizations committed membership: Geosyntech Consultants, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Wood Group, Siemens, Fugro, Subsea, Power Engineers, Element, JDR Cables, Integral Consulting Services, and BP.

Committee

Deanne Hargrave Carlos Avila Steve MacDonald Roneet Das John Allen

Richard Barratt Maria Ancheril Sam Guo Keshawa Shukla Zach Westgate Mohammed Chouikha Ryan Beemer Damilola Abe Patricia Varela Steve Johnson

Webinars & Presentations

August 30th, 2022 - Online Event - Marine Site Characterization for Carbon Sequestration Projects by Yosmel Sanchez | Webinar attendees: 9

The US MREC is looking to develop into a primary industry resource for offshore renewable energy. We want to push and support more academic programs in this field by enabling industry connection for R&D and career pathways for students. There is an overall lack of standards as renewables is a fast-growing industry, MREC aims to be at the forefront of being a contributor and champion of composing industry standards and best practices. MREC committees from all SUT international branches are working together to accomplish these goals.

In the US we are putting together a short course that looks at the life cycles and types of offshore renewable energy. We intend to grow this course into a multi-day course that will bring together multiple regions for a in depth information training course that will help grow and develop the current renewable work force and train future generations.

Scholarship Committee

Six members comprise the Education Committee, chaired by Christopher Curran. This committee is responsible for reviewing SUT US’ annual scholarship applications.

The 2023 scholarship recipients were recognized during the Scholarship Awards Ceremony on September 8th, 2023. The selected students by the Scholarships Subcommittee were:

Adebowale Adedoyin (University of Southern Mississippi)
Salvatore Fricano (Rutgers State University, New Jersey)
Elias Adediran (University of New Hampshire)
Jesse Noble (Rutgers State University, New Jersey)
Musa Animashaun (University of Southern Mississippi)
Tyler Kleinsasser (Black Hills State University)

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2023-2024 Scholarship Awards Event Attendees Scholarship Press release: htps://sut-us.org/event/2023-2024-Scholarship-Award-Ceremony/638251803291839756

School Touring Committee

The School Touring Committee is run by Andrew Haigh. This committee is for volunteers who joined the School Touring Committee had the opportunity to enthuse middle school and high school students about STEM subjects in Houston and surrounding areas. The outreach program allowed you to engage with students by talking about your personal career path, participating in classroom exercises, and presenting materials about ocean, earth, and space science topics.

Event:

February and March 2023 – In person Event at Ocean Geo Solutions Inc (OGS)

These Lunch & Learn Trainings took place from 12pm to 1.30pm. We provided lunch for any volunteer that attended. These trainings were oriented to Middle School ‘Seeing with Sound’ and ‘Geology Rocks’.

Seeing with Sound - Exploring the oceans and seas - Thursdays Feb 9th and Weds Feb 22nd.
STEM highlights: Exploration, discovery, ocean science, acoustic waves, remote sensing, physics, math, robotics, environmental, oceanography, marine biology, marine archaeology, history, career opportunities. Can include a historic shipwreck mapping exercise.
Taught by Marine Geophysicists, Ocean Scientists, Geotechnical Engineers, Marine Archaeologists, Marine Project Managers
Geology Rocks Wednesdays Feb 15th and Weds Mar 1st.

A volunteer program bringing science subjects and scientists to classrooms across the US. At middle school level

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the program offers interactive 40 to 50min presentations and classroom exercises that focus on reinforcing STEM subjects being taught in class and showing these subjects in action exploring our world and beyond.

STEM highlights: Geology, seismicity, volcanics, mineralogy, chemistry, physics, paleontology, career opportunities. Includes video and interactive discussion of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
Taught by Geologists, Civil Engineers, Earth Scientists, Archaeologists

Educational Committee

Damilola Abe Wood PLC Engineer at Wood, Data Analyst Educational Committee Chair

We have a new chair for the Educational Committee Damilola Abe (WoodPLC) who has managed to gather a new group of Student to represent each university. Congrats on your new role as Chair of the student chapter! For Texas A&M University we have Gabriella Porter, with Faculty Advisor and Dr. Zenon Medina-Cetina. For Texas A&M University at Galveston we have Virginia Limon, with Faculty Advisor, Dr. Diego Gil. For UH SUTSES Kadima Agostinho, He’s a subsea engineering student at the university of Houston and will serve as the president going forward.

Young Professionals Committee (SUT-YP)

Patricia Varela Young Professionals Chair

Learning Luncheons, Webinars and Networking Events:

October 27th, 2022 - Speed Halloween Networking Event at Rudyard’s Pub Montrose
Webinar attendees: 7
April 27th, 2023 – “Naphthenates: A chemist perspective of a flow assurance and production nightmare” by Jonathan Wylde | Webinar attendees: 5

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

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

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experiences and advice for future industry leaders.

WIND was previously led by Luz Zarate, Enterprise Architect at RPS, and now an interim Chair Melissa Gould Stress Engineering and its committee is complemented with membership from Chevron, Stress Engineering Services, GEMS, Intecsea, Geosyntec, and KBR.

Committee participants:

Luz Zarate – Shell Amber Sturrock – Chevron Kim Faulk – Gems/Geosyntec Consultants Dinna Phu – Intecsea Patricia Varela – Geosyntec Consultants Kaci Callahan – Technical Sales Engineer

Donald Burris – KPR Stephanie Ingle – Fugro Tina Drexler – ExxonMobile Camila Lugo – Fugro Martha Ramos Gomez – DNVGL Brianna Norris - TechnipFMC

Events

Champagne and Conversation Series Events: October 20th, 2022, Hybrid Event

Champagne & Conversation Series: “Cultural and Leadership Evolution for a Multi-generational Workforce” where we heard from Evelyn MacLean on her career evolution | Webinar attendees: 16 Sponsors included RPS, NOV, Intecsea, and Endeavor Business Media. Hosted by Melissa Gould, Stress Engineering

1st Picture from left to right: Guest, Jon Halliburton, Jill Watson, Tina Drexell. Second picture: Bill Berry and Ida Radi. Third picture: Evelyn MacLean and Melissa Gould

February 23rd, 2023, In-person Event

Champagne & Conversation Series: “ Solving The Big Three Challenges for the Workforce of the Future” where we heard from Helen Steward on offshore safety for those that don’t fit the mold | Webinar attendees: 35 Sponsors included NOV, Endeavor Business Media, Chandler Creations, Avva Rosé Skincare, and Ensearch Energy Recruitment. Hosted by Melissa Gould, Stress Engineering

Group discussions at Memorial Wine Cellar

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May 18th, 2023, In-person Event

Champagne &Conversation Series: “How Our Evolving Workforce Affects and Influences Our Workplace”. We had a table discussion moderated by Melissa Gould Stress Engineering, and led by Jon Halliburton Ensearch Energy, Amber Sturrock Chevron and Krista Heidebach Fugro | In-person attendees: 25 Sponsors included NOV, Endeavor Business Media, Wood, Chandler Creations, Revamp Cosmetics, Avva Rosé Skincare, and Ensearch Energy Recruitment.

Photos include: Melissa Gould, Jon Halliburton, Krista Heidenback, Amber Sturrock. Top Middle: Amber Sturrock, Briana Norris, Tricia Hill SUT-US President. Top right: Karen, Tricia Hill SUT-US President, and Midi Van Smirren.

SUT-US Boston:

Lisa Hill is starting a group in the New England area for offshore Wind. They had their first event co-hostingBoston Offshore Wind Drinks on May 24th, 2023, there were 110 attendees.

Reports from Commmittees of Council and Special Interest Groups

Annual Report 2022-2023 Annual Report 2021-2022

Education

nfortunately, the Education SIG has not met during the reporting period with insufficient volunteers to form and support the committee. U Nonetheless, education remains firmly on the SUT agenda and working with other associations, bodies and conference organisers the Society continues to engage with students, academia and employers to discuss ocean careers, the opportunities, the challenges, the skills gap and employment throughout our industry at events such as Oceanology, Ocean Business, and the 2022 MASTs conference. SUT’s Decommission and Wreck Removal day engaged with hundreds of Scottish marine science/ engineering students. SUT-US Branch has student chapters at five Texas universities. In Australia, Perth WA Branch has a family beach side wind turbine outreach programme.

The Educational Support Fund received nineteen applications including strong global representation.

The Christmas Lectures have not returned to the SUT programme. There have been several reasons including increased costs, decline in sponsorship for Christmas lectures, teacher workloads and school schedules. The SUT is moving forward looking at how we can engage with others to broaden our outreach including online presentations and increased awareness of ocean issues and careers with school pupils and teachers.

For the next year my aim is to reinvigorate the education committee. We need more volunteers from our university members, academia, corporate members interested in continuing education for employees and individual members interested in education. If you have any ideas or education focused news items, please email Emily Boddy for inclusion into the next issue of Big Blue World . If you are interested, please contact me: Chair@sut.org .

Sue John

Committee Chair Sue John

49 49

Society for Underwater Technology

Educational Support Fund Management

he Society for Underwater Technology continues to support students through our Educational Support Fund (ESF). Each year we invite applications for scholarships which attract candidates from around the Tworld. Unfortunately, the Society is not resourced to be able to award funding to everyone who applies. Nineteen applications proceeded to the final judging, before the judges determined the short-list from which the winners were finally selected. 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.

Following the death of Bil Loth, Past President of SUT in 2021, at the request of his Bil’s family donations in Bil’s memory established a JustGiving page for this purpose with the consent and support of SUT Council. The funds will be used to provide a grant to Doctoral student in 2023. Donations can be given at www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/bil-loth.

In 2022-2023 the Society was able to make two scholarship awards. The recipients of grants from the Educational Support Fund were: Francesca Fehlberg and Chung-Wei (Ryan) Lin.

Francesca Fehlberg for an SUT Studentship to help her undertake a one year MSc in Marine Environmental Protection at Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences.

Ryan Lin for his Offshore Wind Energy Engineering MSc at Imperial College

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.

Donations can be made to the SUT in aid of the ESF at www.justgiving.com/soc-underwatertech.

Summary of Undergraduates who graduated in 2023

MSc Marine Environmental Protection - Bangor University MSc Engineering Fluid Mechanics for the Offshore, Coastal and Built Environments - Imperial College

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

Annual Report 2022-2023

International Training

he 2022-23 year has seen a continued growth of face-to-face courses across the SUT branch network, including subsea awareness courses (SAC) in TAberdeen, Perth and Houston together with the introduction to Geophysics and Geotechnical Engineering in Southampton. In tandem with face-to-face course the society has continued to present online courses for example on floating wind and the inhouse SAC for one of our member companies. I am also pleased to report the new Cyprus-based Eastern Mediterranean branch ran a successful introduction to subsea course in conjunction with the inaugural Subsea Technology Eastern Mediterranean Conference. Both the conference and course will be taking place again in 2024.

Looking forward the Society is working extend the existing online short course in Offshore Wind Renewable Energy into a three-day in-person event to include visits to key sites based in the Newcastle area of the UK. The planned first presentation of this course is in October 2023. At the time of writing the Society is in discussion on running further ‘inhouse’ courses for companies operating in the underwater/marine space.

The international training committee met three times over the year, two of the key topics discussed were global standards for competency and 3rd party training provision. In respect to competency standards the feedback to council was that this is not an area the SUT should be putting effort into. This view was based on limited pull from industry and difficulty others had experienced in achieving any meaningful agreement with initiatives of this sort. Two initiatives with the SUT endorsing 3rd party training provision were agreed with Council, progress to date on these has however been slower than hoped.

To improve coordination between UK branches on training, a coordination group has been set up with representatives from each UK branch and other members actively involved in training delivery. The main aims of the group is to avoid duplication of effort and coordinate training schedules to try and avoid peaks in workload for SUT staff supporting training activities.

David Saul

Committee

Chair David Saul

Moya Crawford Leanne Geneve Robert Luff Bob MacDonald David Newman Ralph Rayner Charlie Reith Paul Ryan Nick Swift

Society for Underwater Technology

International

Steve Hall

Committee Chair Steve Hall

SUT Chair Sue John Former SUT Chair David Saul

Former Chair China Branch Frank Lim

SUT CEO Cheryl Burgess Chair Perth Branch Steve Duffield

Chair/President USA Branch Tricia Hill Richard Binks Jim Neffgen

Ad-hoc membership – other Branch Chairs when available to attend meetings

he SUT International Committee reports direct to SUT Council and was established when SUT began to grow beyond the initial branches in the UK, Tspreading to Houston in the USA, Perth in Australia and eventually to the global network we have today.

The Committee maintains links with the Chairs of all of our overseas Branches, provides advice and guidance to individuals or groups who are interested in starting new Branches, and keeps Council updated on the health and activities of Branches. This can include recommending that a particular Branch is not functioning and should be closed down, and working with Branches to help steer them through the challenges of their early years. It should be noted that in SUT, overseas Branches are usually separate legal entities established under the laws pertaining to the nation where they are based, and in compliance with the local charitable or notfor-profit status rules. For this reason, not all Branches have identical constitutions or management systems, and one of the key roles of the International Committee is ensuring that each of our Branches stays broadly aligned with the Articles of Association that govern the UK branch, adapted to local legal, fiscal and cultural norms.

In some instances a Branch may not be a separate legal entity to the UK, usually in the early stages of being set up, or where there is not a suitable legal model that can be followed in the territory concerned. For example, our Middle East Branch submits financial returns to the UK head office for accounting purposes.

Membership of the International Committee consists of the Committee Chair, senior representatives of SUT Council, and as many of the Branch Chairs as are able to spare time to attend meetings. These are rarely face to face as members are distributed across the world, and it is some years since all of the Branch Chairs did have the opportunity to meet in person.

In 2022-23 the International Committee has only met online, and key items of discussion have been around ensuring consistency of approach to recruitment of members, the provision of training courses, and compliance with legal and ethical standards. With regret, we had to recommend the closure of the West Africa Branch due to non-submission of required documentation concerning finances and operations, and the restructuring of the Norway Branch, which is now underway.

We were very pleased to see the establishment of our Eastern Mediterranean Branch, and look forward to helping SUT continue to thrive in a challenging period for all Leaned Societies.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Policy Advisory

he SUT Policy Advisory Committee had had a quiet year. Chaired by CEO, Cheryl Burgess and including SUT President Moya Crawford, the committee Thas been requesting information from the Society’s Special Interest Group for their thoughts and abilities to develop policy statements from each 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 SUT has been most engaged with the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee APPG (All Parties Parliamentary Group) with both in-person and online attendance at meetings. The Society also liaises with industry specific and relevant APPGs.

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 provide views from the historic to current and development of policies for the future: energy: marine renewable energy and hydro environmental science, protection, and forces, education and training for workforce development and much more.

The Policy Committee admits members by request and after review. If members are interested in joining the Policy Committee in 2024, please contact info@sut.org .

Cheryl Burgess

Committee Chair Cheryl Burgess

Society for Underwater Technology

Defence

Nick Swift

This year’s activities are summarised below:

Ocean Business

The SUT facilitated a workshop at this year’s Ocean Business Event. This included speakers from the end user community and industry to explore innovation within the underwater defence domain. Speakers included:

Defence and Security Accelerator
NATO – DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic)
Navy Commercial – how SME’s can engage with MOD procurement
DASA Case Study - Sonardyne
Engaging with Futures Lab – Futures Lab

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

Exploiting MOD developed technology - Ploughshare
Non-defence companies experience in the defence industry – Forcys and Oceaneering

Combined Naval Event

The Defence SIG presented at the Combined Naval event. The presentation explored the use commercial technologies for seabed warfare, including

Current technology and best practice for surveillance/monitoring of UW critical national infrastructure
Emerging threats - asymmetric UWW and state players
Current state of UxV/autonomous operations in commercial operations that meet requirements for seabed monitoring and future trends

Martine Robotics Innovation Centre – Defence SIG Seminar Series Presentation

The presentation explored the current technical and innovative drivers, including AI, Machine Learning an autonomy and how these are being applied to the defence underwater domain

UKNEST Sonar Niche Skills Event

The SUT Defence SIG facilitated the involvement of two SUT companies in the UKNEST Sonar Niche Skills workshop. This workshop considered what skills were required within the workforce to maintain maritime security, potential skills gaps and how these could be addressed.

Underwater Defence Technology

The Defence SIG hosted the DisTch conference at this year UDT event in Rostock

Committee

We are looking for people to be involved in the Defence SIG – if you’re interested in sitting on the committee, please email nick.swift@sut.org

Annual Report 2022-2023

Diving and Manned Submersibles

lthough the Diving and Manned Submersibles Committee had not met in the reporting period, members who had been on the committee were contacted Ain preparation for the re-establishment of the special interest group. This was met with an enthusiastic response and a face-to-face meeting was planned and has taken place Autumn of 2023 with plans for meetings in 2024. We’re excited to restart this group and to get representatives of the diving and submersibles community back together.

If you are interested in learning more about the Diving and Manned Submersible Committee, joining, or presenting to the SIG committee please contact: emily.boddy@sut.org.

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

Society for Underwater Technology

Environmental Forces

Qingwei Ma

Committee

Chair Prof QW Ma Secretary AN Moore

n September 2023 Prof Qingwei Ma stepped down from chairing SUTGEF after many years of service. His place was taken by Prof Thomas Adcock (University Iof Oxford) who stepped up from the role of secretary. Prof Shiqiang Yan (City University, London) took his place as secretary.

SUTGEF has continued its usual structure of three meetings per year rotating between City University, Imperial College, and the University of Oxford. We have instituted hybrid meetings which have proved popular with a strong online presence—this has boosted numbers attending meetings and allowed a more geographically spread audience—including participants from Australia.

The meetings in the last year have had the following speakers:

September (123rd meeting): Dr Mark McAllister (Oxford) and Prof Zhiqiang Hu (Newcastle)

January (124th meeting): Dr Marinos Manolesos (City University, London) and Dr Zhihua Xie (Cardiff University)

May (125th meeting): Dr Stephen Gray (HR Wallingford) and Dr Wenhua Zhao (University of Western Australia)

We plan to continue the structure of meetings going forward aiming for one speaker from industry and one from academia.

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

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

Annual Report 2022-2023

Marine Environmental Science

he MES SIG has held meetings every quarter over the last 12 months, two of which have been hybrid events (Southampton (Ocean Business) and TLondon (October 2022 ERM offices)). We are having another hybrid event in December in London which hopefully will also include dinner! We have welcomed a number of speakers, both external and members, to our meetings covering topics including:

Strategic compensation – consenting and environmental issues within the offshore wind sector,
Impacts of the energy transition on the marine environment,
Integrating geospatial products from the global Automatic Identification System (AIS) into Project Planning & Reporting,
An introduction into marinecrete (low carbon, plastic free concrete),

Katie Cross

Seabed 2023: mapping the ocean for the benefit of all,
Deep sea tourism,
Mersey tidal power project,

During the year we have begun to discuss producing Environmental Survey Guidelines, a follow on the well regarded OSIG guidelines. An initial workshop was help at the in-person meeting at Ocean Business in April, but subsequent progress has been slow. The Committee aim to reinvigorate this concept over the next six months.

Looking forward to the next 12 months we will continue to hold meetings every quarter, with the aim of at least every other of these events being hybrid. Where possible we will coincide meetings with industry events that members are already attending. There is very much still 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 (repeating a message from last year’s report) so that we can really explore the networking that being a member of a SIG gives you. It was great that for the last meeting another member joined me in person, for the virtual meeting.

We are continuing to grow our membership with new people attending every meeting. Targets though are still to encourage regulators and operators to join us and of course to keep the new attendees! I am hoping that as some members are now ex. operators/regulators we may be able to encourage a wider network to join the SIG.

Chair Katie Cross Secretary Lucy Shuff Events Secretary Nathan Formosa

Ainslie Casson Andy Matkin Bethan Owens Becky Hitchin Cemlyn Barlow Claire Hinton Clara Johnston Daisy Chamberlain Deborah Morgan Edward Wort Elena Rainey Emily Boddy Gary Nicol Gillian Allen

Gorka Aguirre Giandinoto Michael Thompson Ryan Mowat Ian Wilson Mick Cook Sam Strutton Inge Smith Muhammad Ullah Samuel Stanton James Harding Nicola Harris Marja Aberson Rhiannon Alger

Society for Underwater Technology

Marine Renewable Energies

John Sharp

Committee Chair Prof J Sharp Clerk E Boddy

D Ayling D Brookes S Cheeseman J Colby P Davies P Fraenkel S George J Grant J Griffiths A Harrison J Hulm G James S Johnson D Kerr R Lesemann Dr S Merry N Morgan M Murphy Dr R Norman J Patten MBE G Plant T Sawyer A Smith T Van Der Kammen L Warren S Wilson M Wright

he Committee has continued with its usual meetings online with higher attendance due to the need not to travel to London. There has been a speaker Tat each meeting which has included presentations on an overview of the consenting and licensing for offshore energy projects and the ScotMer Fish and Fisheries Work , Floating wind, (Sam Strivens, The Carbon Trust), the Marine Energy Council and floating solar (Sue Barr), Floating Power Plant (Chris McConville). Virtual attendance at these presentations is now offered to members of other SUT technical groups and has been well received. If you would like to be notified of future speakers, please let us know

During the year we have continued to work with the US MREC, with representatives from each committee contributing to the meetings.

Floating wind is now an active part of the committee’s portfolio and is discussed at each meeting, with a well-attended presentation from The Carbon Trust at the January meeting.

During the year the committee has responded to one government consultation which was concerned with non-price factors in CfD auctions. The Committee concluded that in principle the introduction of Non-Price factors would seem to be attractive as it moves towards a concept of “value” rather than just simple price.

The committee reviewed its annual plan at the beginning of the year and highlighted some areas where little progress had been made. This included the need to review the careers part of the SUT website on marine renewables which was recognised to be out of date and not reflecting the rapid progress that has been made in this field in recent years. This is now in hand with a draft ready for implementation. It was also agreed to encourage podcasts on marine energy items and David Kerr presented a useful contribution on tidal range energy during the year.

The Lennard-Senior Memorial Prize for 2023 was presented at the All-Energy event in Glasgow in May. The winner was Norma Hogan, Senior Development Manager at the Highlands & Islands Enterprise. MREC continues to take an active role in All-Energy, this year. MREC member Simon Cheeseman of the ORE Catapult devised an excellent programme covering tidal and wave and looking at consenting challenges for those combined with floating offshore wind.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics

The past twelve months have been busy and successful for the OSIG committee. The key highlights of the past year are summarised below.

Events and short courses for industry and students

A two-day short course was held in Southampton and was a sell-out with a lengthy waiting list. The feedback from attendees was very positive and we are hoping to run another short course in Spring 2024.

Other events and short courses have been run throughout the year.

OSIG Conference

The 9th International OSIG Conference was originally due to take place in September 2022 but was delayed due to the pandemic. The decision to hold the conference a year later in September 2023 was taken early in the extensive planning process, which started in 2019. The conference was held in London in September and was a sell out with 600 people attending. This only goes to reflect the energy transition and rapid expansion of offshore renewables which is leading to big changes in the geoscience industry with new technical challenges as a result. Three days of presentations were held including a number of keynote lectures that have been recorded and are available online. Another highlight was the conference dinner held in the natural history museum and the after dinner speech from Tor Inge Tjelta. The detailed effort of conference planning, led by Toby Powell with support from many others, paid off as the conference ran almost exactly to plan

Neil Morgan

Committee Chair Neil Morgan Secretary Tim Carrington Jacqui Adams Peter Allan Chris Almond Ricardo Argiolas Jon Arthur Paul Baggaley Mike Baker Andy Barwise Andrew Benson Emily Boddy Scott Boyce Michael Brown

Nigel Carey Ian Finnie Mark Lawrence Eric Cauquil Scott Gooding Dafydd Lloyd-Jones David Colliard Chris Golightly Tom Lunne William Cleverly Kevin Hampson Alisdair MaConochie Mick Cook Aime Harrison Chris Martin David Coursey Majid Hesar Alice Maynard Michael Cowie Ray Hobbs Rich Metters Karen Dalton Dei Huws Neil Morgan Andrew Deeks A Ivanovic Simon Oakley Justin Dix Richard Jardine Richard Orren Phil Durrant Suzanne Lacasse Julian Osborne Jim Edmunds Thomas Langford Miguel Pacheco-Andrade Phil Edwards Peter Larkin John Powell Mark Finch Vincent Latron Toby Powell

Oyvind Ruden David Rushton Rupert Rowland Richard Salisbury Roi Santos Alex Searle Felix Schroeder David White Phil Wilson Gareth Wood Paul West Anna Wolowicz-Trouwborst Guangquan Xu

Society for Underwater Technology

Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics

contd.

and timing was near perfect. Due to the delay of the conference to 2023 we are now launching into the planning of the next conference in 2027!

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 was finally published early 2023. A launch event was held in London and we are hoping to run more online webinar sessions discussing the guidance notes. Click on the image below to get your copy of the Guidance Notes.

The OSIG committee has continued to work hard on the short courses and guidance notes. We continue with a hybrid mix of online and in-person meetings and have active plans for the next year. We are aiming as a committee to put more expert consensus opinions out to the industry for use in practice.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Salvage and Decommissioning

he ISDC has had another constructive year, but was disappointed to see that OSPAR has not Tshifted its position on the post-production life of oil and gas infrastructure; maintaining it should be removed, despite the depletion of the global CO2 used up in dismantling and removal, of what otherwise might be engineered into an artificial reef. Nature restoration presents a compelling case for the investment of taxpayers’ funds; and there are a wide range of prevention and/or mitigation projects (most notably the establishment of tertiary sewage systems and the removal of environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants and illegal drugs and Karen Seath releasing partially-processed sewage in storm drains in flood conditions) that where they could be better directed than by removing retired those parts of offshore infrastructure that do not pose a navigational hazard, and which, if left in situ would continue to offer a hard substrate for such species as the cold water coral, Lophelia pertusa, as well as releasing iron micro-nutrients as they corrode, which attract bacteria as the foundation of complex ecosystems – just like many wrecks…

After ten years of holding its Salvage, Wreck Removal & Decommissioning Workshop at the Annual Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Workshop in Glasgow, in the ISDC decided to re-organize itself, in order to increase our focus on how fitness for purpose (design) and fitness for service (operation and maintenance), respectively, can be better aligned with Nature restoration, through the minimization of ecosystems impact. There is also acknowledgement that strategic direction is required with respect to what might be better described as ‘blue-washing’, instead of ‘greenwashing’ and the Environmental Societal and Governance reporting of particularly large Public Limited Companies (PLCs). After the highly successful Sustainable, Responsible, Impact+ Investment+ workshop, as an experiment in 2022; a decision has been made to re-invigorate the Salvage & Emergency Response Committee in London (adding ‘Shipping to increase its breadth). This will increase to work closely with the London City branch, to make most of the close relationship between assurance, insurance, legal and finance that exists in this global centre; and plans are in train to create a standalone event with the at Panmure House in Edinburgh, the mission of which is to provide world-influencing debate and research to effect positive change.

After seven years, Karen Seath is stepping down as Chair, ably supported by Andy Matkin of Fugro as Deputy. Dr Abigail Davies is taking over the role and steer, with the remit of taking a wider view of Anthropogenic Activity and Ecosystems Impact, whilst continuing to address sectorial fragmentation and conflicting standards, by focussing on the delivery of function. I take this opportunity on behalf of all who have worked with Karen to thank her for her dedication, enthusiasm and relentless hard work.

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

Society for Underwater Technology

International Underwater Vehicles and Robotics Group

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

Mario Brito

Bo Thanyamanta

he SUT/ECOR Panel on Underwater Robotics has international membership and online Tcommunication. A virtual meeting is planned towards the end of 2023 and a face-to-face meeting will be planned during the IEEE OES AUV 2024 in Massachussetts.

A recommendation for the third Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award (GGURA) will be made to the SUT Council once full applications are received. 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.

Information on AUV activities of panel members was provided to the SUT secretariat.

The panel has been working on collating prerecorded lectures on underwater robotics topics for linking to the panel website.

Annual Report 2022-2023

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)

t the time of writing this report the UXO SIG has now been functioning for more than 18 months. The primary purpose of the SIG is still as it was Awhen first set up: to identify and to address marine UXO issues within the burgeoning offshore wind and to seek to provide guidance and education to practitioners.

Throughout its existence, membership has been confined to offshore windfarm developers and representation has expanded to include some 19 organisations: Ørsted, Tennet, Shell, SSE, Vattenfall, RWE, Energinet, Equinor, Scottish Power, Amprion, TotalEnergies, EDF, BT, 50 Hertz, Atlantic Shores, Simply Blue Group, Corio Generation, 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, most meetings have been virtual. However, after the success of a face-face meetings for those members attending Oceanology International in early 2022 we have met virtually twice a year and held hybrid virtual/face-to-face meetings twice a year. In 2023 we held successful face-to-face meetings around Ocean Business in Southampton and the OSIG conference in London.

Meetings tend to be two hours in length and comprise two or three presentations from members or outside organisations on topics of interest to the Group. This year, topics have ranged from ‘A proportional approach to UXO at sea’, to ‘What does ALARP mean’ to ‘Results of the BASTA project’ to ‘Mines from the 1st and 2nd World Wars’ to ‘UXO risk – what is the risk’ etc. We also hold topics for discussion; the latest being ‘the need for UXO Guidance Notes for the Offshore Industry’.

Should you have any questions about the business of the UXO SIG, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2023

Company Number 00932590 Registered Charity 256659 Scottish Charity Number: SC043942

	Index
		Page
Legal and Administrative Information		1
Chair’s Report		2
The Report of the Council including Strategic Report		4
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Council		8
Statement of Financial Activities		9
Balance Sheet		10
Notes to the Financial Statements		11

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2023

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 2023.

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: 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England. SL9 7QE 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

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Chair’s Report 30 June 2023

Since my last annual report, the staff and volunteers of the Society for Underwater Technology have excelled themselves in organising and producing the range of activities that have taken place over the reporting period. The Society has provided 45 events in the UK both in person and online. Naturally, that number of events also highlights the amount of hard work and commitment that it takes to produce this programme. The range of events available to members to engage and participate with the SUT and wider underwater, subsea, and marine communities demonstrates the diverse interests of the SUT and its members globally.

Membership and strength and depth of committee members are the lifeblood of the SUT which sustains the Society. Individual membership has reduced with members retiring, leaving industry and changing roles. Corporate membership has increased. The Society would like to see growth in all categories of membership.

Finance and Accounts

The Society’s Annual Report contains reports contributions from all Special Interest Groups, Committees as well as International activity. Members are encouraged to read and review the Annual Report.

Educational Support Fund

The Education Support Fund (ESF) 2022 judging panel, comprising myself, Bob MacDonald, Shurthi Sivadasan (SUT+ Chair), and Cheryl Burgess (SUT CEO), was hard pressed in deciding who should have funding to support their studies.

Ultimately, funding was awarded to two Masters students: Francesca Felhberg at Bangor University and ChungWei (Ryan) Lin at Imperial College who both submitted outstanding applications. The quality of the applicants was so high and the scoring so close it was decided to award all applicants a year’s free student membership. I am pleased to inform the membership that during my time as Chair of the ESF, applications reflect diversity in both the students and the subjects of study the students are undertaking which manifest and relate to the interests of the SUT sectors and interest groups.

Awards

The President’s Award was made to Mensun Bound in recognition of his career achievements to, and contributions in, the field of marine archaeology; and the Falkland Maritime Heritage Trust in recognition of their dedication to preserving the rich and varied seafaring history of the Falklands and those who have been associated with them. Norma Hogan was the recipient of the Lennard-Senior Memorial Prize. The prize is awarded in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of Marine Renewable Energy. Norma works for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and has supported the Wave and Tidal sector for 15 years, working behind the scenes to support a sector that will be transformational for the UK.

The Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration, presented jointly with MTS, was awarded to Dr Samantha Joye.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Chair’s Report 30 June 2023

A new award, the Mick Cook Award for Significant Contribution to Marine Site Investigation and Characterisation was announced in May 2023; with the first award to be made in September 2023. This award will be made annually and carry prize money, certificate and an award. Our thanks to Mick for establishing this award.

Sometimes people forget that without volunteers there is no Society. So, thank you, every one of you, who give your time and your expertise to make the SUT such a successful learned society. I include all those on committees, my fellow directors/trustees who constitute the SUT Council and who also volunteer. Finally, a thank you to the SUT’s hardworking and dedicated staff: Cheryl Burgess, CEO, Jane Hinton, Membership and Finance Officer, Jacqui Adams, Events and Training Manager, and Emily Boddy, Communications and Publications Officer. I thank you all.

Thank you and let’s look to the future.

S John Chair of the Council

26 October 2023

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report 30 June 2023

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 R Luff M Stemp (appointed 6 December 2022) N Carey Dr J Morgan N J Swift A Connelly J A I Patten M Theobald (appointed 6 December 2022) M Crawford Prof R F Rayner S Elkhatib (resigned 22 June 2023) S John D M Saul T Griffiths (resigned 6 December 2022) I Knight T Sloane (appointed 6 December 2022) R MacDonald (resigned 6 December 2022)

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

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.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2023

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 £8,800 (2022: £10,000).
• 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 provides a free Christmas lecture programme for schools. Once again, in 2023 this has not been possible because of a lack of sponsorship in the local groups and the workload around the Society’s September 2023 OSIG conference. A conference traditionally held every four years, but due to the impact of the Covid pandemic, returning to The Society’s events programme after a five year break. The Society is exploring developing online lectures for schools and events with schools timed at other points in the academic year, other than at Christmas, and developing these programmes with other like-minded bodies, associations and charities.
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 increased by £36,037 after allowing for £6,240 in gains on investments and £11,420 expended for grants and awards. Please also refer to the Chair'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 Chair'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.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Council Members’ Annual Report including Strategic Report Cont’d 30 June 2023

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.

The Society has returned a surplus of £36,037 for the financial year and at the balance sheet date the net assets of the Society are £328,826. The previous year had returned a small loss due to the loss on revaluation of the Investment portfolio and as expected, this did not recur in the current year.

The Society’s core income streams have all continued to recover after the impact of the COVID19 pandemic and the trend towards on-line courses. Membership income has increased by 2.9%; Conferences and Seminars income has achieved 43.6% growth generating £122,616 of income and a £100,246 surplus for the year. In September 2023 the Society has held its 9[th] International OSIG Conference “Innovative Geotechnologies for Energy Transition”, an in-person event. This was well attended, received significant sponsorship and the current year balance sheet has a deferred surplus of income over costs of £245,617 for this event.

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.

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 2023

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 Chair of the Council Dated: 26 October 2023

N Carey Honorary Treasurer

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Society for Underwater Technology (The) 30 June 2023

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 2023 as set out on pages 9 to 23.

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:

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Statement of Financial Activities (Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account) For the year ended 30 June 2023

Note 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	Unrestricted Funds 2023 £ - 308,755 163 6,489 £315,407 285,610 £285,610 29,797 6,240 36,037 - 36,037 292,789 328,826	Restricted Funds 2023 £ 2,802 - - - £2,802 2,802 2,802 - - - - - - - -	Total 2023 £ 2,802 308,755 163 6,489 £318,209 288,412 £288,412 29,797 6,240 36,037 - 36,037 292,789 328,826	Total 2022 £ 3,905 263,460 1,909 6,142
				£275,416
				270,940
				£270,940
				4,476 (11,501)
				(7,025) -
				(7,025) 299,814
				£292,789

Net income is derived from continuing operations for the above two financial years.

All gains and losses recognised in the year are included above.

The notes on pages 11 to 21 form part of these financial statements

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Balance Sheet As at 30 June 2023

	Note		2023		2022
		£	£	£	£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	13		1,158		1,354
Investments	14		214,106		207,866
			─────		─────
			215,264		209,220
Current assets
Publications stock	15	9,779		9,850
Debtors	16	217,341		51,336
Cash at bank and in hand		318,895		45,473
		─────		─────
		546,015		106,659
Creditors: Amounts falling due within
one year	17	(432,453)		(23,090)
		─────		─────
Net current assets			113,562		83,569
			─────		─────
Net assets			£328,826		£ 292,789
			═════		═════
Funds of the charity:
Unrestricted income funds			328,826		292,789
			─────		─────
Total charity funds			£328,826		£ 292,789
			═════		═════

Total funds as stated above include a Fair Value Reserve of £172,341 (2022: £166,101) (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 2023.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2023 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 26 October 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

S John Chair of the Council Company Number: 00932590 Registered Charity Number: 256659

N Carey Honorary Treasurer

The notes on pages 11 to 21 form part of these financial statements.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 30 June 2023

1. Accounting policies

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.

The Society has returned a surplus of £36,037 for the financial year and at the balance sheet date the net assets of the Society are £328,826. The previous year had returned a small loss due the loss on revaluation of the Investment portfolio and as expected this did not recur in the current year.

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.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

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 20% reducing balance Computer 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.

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.
k) Subscriptions
Membership subscriptions are accounted for on a receivable basis.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

1. 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

2.	Income from donations and legacies
		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
		Funds	Funds	2023	2022
		£	£	£	£
	General donations	-	-	-	2,583
	ESF Donations	-	2,802	2,802	1,322
		────	────	─────	─────
		£-	£2,802	£2,802	£ 3,905
		═════	═════	═════	═════
3.	Income from charitable activities
		Note	2023		2022
	Membership subscriptions	3.1	177,819		172,851
	Conferences and seminars	4	122,616		85,412
	Publications, journals, newsletters
	and educational products		8,320		5,197
			─────		─────
			£ 308,755		£ 263,460
			═════		═════
3.1	Membership subscriptions
			2023		2022
			£		£
	Corporate members		138,711		131,584
	Individual members		39,108		41,267
			─────		─────
			£ 177,819		£ 172,851
			═════		═════

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

4. Conferences and seminars

Courses Offshore wind October 2021 Offshore wind March 2022 OSIG Intro to Offshore Geophysics OSIG energy in transitions OSIG Geoforum VASC September 2021 VASC May 2022 Non-metallic composites Subsea equipment insurance UAE web “New Eyes in the Deep” OSIG Course Jan 2023 UAE – Emergency Pipeline Repair Systems Wind Course Feb 2023 Qualification of New Technology UAE – Decommissioning Technologies VSAC – Wood Defence SIG @ OB SW Geoforum 6 Conferences and workshops All Energy SUT/Masts Workshop UAE Online conference – Developments in Umbilical Technology Other events Annual General Meeting Branch activities Aberdeen Evening Meetings Breakfast Meeting Gadgets & Widgets A Life less ordinary SUT @ spin SSAC Sept 2022 SUT + Chartership SUT/THSIS/IMCA Seminar Worlds First Hydrogen Producing Offshore Wind Turbine SAC March 2023 SAC May 2023 AGM CCUS Subsea Electrification London “Something Old, Something New” SustainaVERSE @ Lloyds Pub Quiz Newcastle Nov 2022/Offshore Turbines Feb 2023/Subsea Motor Devs June 2023 + Enshore visit	2023 Direct Surplus/ Fees Costs (Deficit) £ £ £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1,112 29,100 - - 267 - 1,112 28,833 2,352 8,970 - 1,650 10,230 1,400 4,800 851 - 16 - - 1,480 4,163 1,501 8970 (16) 1,650 10,230 (80) 637 - - - 884 2,877 (1,993) 1,600 - 1,600 125 1,231 (1,106) - - - 1,365 1,265 100 - - - - - - - 16,600 - 3,321 - 13,279 - 229 (229) 929 7 922 600 17,400 20,500 477 2,840 3,159 123 14,560 17,341 - 343 (343) 580 396 184 435 307 379 112 56 195 - 114 (114) 1,133 243 148 153 620 43 52 25 513 200 96 128 ───── ───── ───── £122,616 £24,267 £98,349 ═════ ═════ ═════	2022 Direct Surplus/ Fees Costs (Deficit) £ £ £ 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 - 2,500 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 ═════ ═════ ═════

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

5.	Other income
			Unrestricted		Restricted	Total
			Funds		Funds	2023	2022
				£	£	£	£
	Sundry income			163	-	163	159
	VAT recoverable			-	-	-	-
	Fees for services			-	-	-	-
	Awards & prizes			-	-	-	1,750
			─────		─────	─────	─────
			£163		£ -	£163	£ 1,909
			═════		═════	═════	═════
6.	Investment income
						2023	2022
						£	£
	Charities Official Investment Fund
	Dividends received					6,008	6,115
	NSB Investment Account
	Interest received						-
	Bank interest					481	27
	Interest received
						─────	─────
						£6,489	£ 6,142
						═════	═════
7.	Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities
		Note	Unrestricted		Restricted	Total
			Funds		Funds	2023	2022
			£		£	£	£
	Direct charitable expenditure
	Grants payable to individuals	8	8,618		2,802	11,420	12,450
	Other direct charitable	9	276,992		-	276,992	258,490
	expenditure
			─────		─────	─────	─────
			£285,610		£2,802	£288,412	£ 270,940
			═════		═════	═════	═════
8.	Grants payable
			Unrestricted		Restricted	Total
			Funds		Funds	2023	2022
			£		£	£	£
	Undergraduates		5,998		2,802	8,800	10,000
	Postgraduates		1,200		-	1,200	-
	Awards		1,420		-	1,420	2,450
			─────		─────	─────	─────
			£8,618		£2,802	£11,420	£ 12,450
			═════		═════	═════	═════

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

9. Other direct charitable expenditure

er direct charitable expenditure
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	Funds	Funds	2023	2022
	£	£	£	£
Accountancy	8,100	-	8,100	6,451
Examiner’s/Auditor’s remuneration	3,150	-	3,150	3,000
Bad debts	2,240	-	2,240	-
Bank charges	3,569	-	3,569	3,266
Conferences and seminars (Note 4)	24,267	-	24,267	15,916
Publications, journals and newsletters	4,750	-	4,750	5,082
Committee expenses	-	-	-	-
Computer maintenance	10,942	-	10,942	13,391
Depreciation	1,249	-	1,249	1,568
IMAST licence fee	-	-	-	5,798
Insurance	2,202	-	2,202	1,749
Travel	8,001	-	8,001	-
Marketing and advertising	8,187	-	8,187	11,052
Postage	178	-	178	446
Professional fees	-	-	-	270
Rent, rates, light and heat	-	-	-	1,793
Staff recruitment and training	384	-	384	-
Salaries (note 11)	190,703	-	190,703	179,121
Stationery and office expenses	6,945	-	6,945	7,725
Subscriptions	410	-	410	453
Telephone	1,715	-	1,715	1,409
	─────	─────	─────	─────
	£276,992	£-	£276,992	£ 258,490
	═════	═════	═════	═════

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	Governance	Total	Basis of
	Support	Function		apportionment
	£	£	£	£
Independent examination fee	-	3,150	3,150	Wholly attributable
Accountancy fee to IE	-	8,100	8,100	Wholly attributable
Bank charges	3,569	-	3,569	Wholly attributable
Committee expenses	-	-	-	Usage allocation
Computer maintenance	2,450	-	2,450	Allocated on time
Depreciation	375	-	375	Allocated on time
Insurance	661	-	661	Allocated on time
Postage	18	-	18	Usage allocation
Software Licences	2,776	-	2,776	Wholly attributable
Staff recruitment and training	115	-	115	Allocated on time
Salaries	57,211	-	57,211	Allocated on time
Stationery and office expenses	1,389	-	1,389	Usage allocation
Subscriptions	205	-	205	Apportioned equally
Telephone	515	-	515	Usage allocation
Marketing	4,094	-	4,094	Apportioned equally
Bad Debt	2,240	-	2,240	Wholly attributable
	─────	─────	─────
	£75,618	£11,250	£86,868
	═════	═════	═════

Where not otherwise stated, support costs as shown above have been calculated on a pro rata basis in line with the staff salaries allocation.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

Staff costs
	2023		2022
	£		£
Staff costs:
Wages and salaries	167,110		161,335
Social security costs	18,580		12,948
Defined contribution pensions	5,013		4,838
Other staff costs	-		-
	─────		─────
	£190,703	£	179,121
	═════		═════
The average number of employees, analysed by function was:
	2023		2022
Direct charitable activities		2	2
Management and administration of the charity		2	2
		══	══
The Trustees did not receive any remuneration or reimbursed expenses		during the year (2022: £nil)
Total employee benefits of key management personnel amounted to £81,097 (2022: £77,274).
Employees earning more than £60,000 during the year:
	2023		2022
£70,001 - £80,000		-	1
£80,001 - £90,000		1	-
		══	══

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

angible fixed assets
	Office furniture	Computers	Total
	and equipment
	£	£	£
Cost
As at 1 July 2022	4,477	45,045	49,522
Additions		1,053	1,053
Disposals	-	-	-
	─────	─────	─────
As at 30 June 2023	4,477	46,098	50,575
	─────	─────	─────
Depreciation
As at 1 July 2022	3,777	44,391	48,168
Charge for the year
On disposals	352	897	1,249
	─────	─────	─────
As at 30 June 2023	4,129	45,288	49,417
	─────	─────	─────
Net book value at 30 June 2023	£ 348	£ 810	£ 1,158
	═════	═════	═════
Net book value at 30 June 2022	£ 700	£ 654	£ 1,354
	═════	═════	═════

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

14. Fixed assets investments

14.1	Summary
			2023		2022
		£	£	£	£
		Cost	Valuation	Cost	Valuation
	a) Charities Official Investment Fund	39,659	213,750	39,659	207,510
	b) Listed investments	2,106	356	2,106	356
		─────	─────	─────	─────
		£ 41,765	£214,106	£ 41,765	£ 207,866
		═════	═════	═════	═════
14.2	Movements on investments
			2023		2022
			£		£
	Market value at 30 June 2022/2021		207,866		219,367
	Transfers/Disposals		-		-
	Gain/(Loss) on revaluation		6,240		(11,501)
			─────		─────
	Market value at 30 June 2023/2022		£ 214,106		£ 207,866
			═════		═════
14.3	Reconciliation of movement in
	unrealised gains on investment assets
			2023		2022
			£		£
	Unrealised gains at 30 June 2022/2021		166,101		177,602
	Realised gain on disposal				-
	Unrealised gains/(losses) in year		6,240		(11,501)
			─────		─────
	Unrealised gains at 30 June 2023/2022		£ 172,341		£ 166,101
			═════		═════
15.	Publications stock
				2023	2022
				£	£
	Books for resale			£ 9,779	£ 9,850
				═════	═════

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

16. Debtors

16.	Debtors
		2023	2022
		£	£
	Trade debtors	53,392	13,204
	Amounts owed by group undertakings	3,252	3,252
	VAT	-	6,385
	Prepayments and accrued income	160,697	28,495
	Other debtors	-	-
		─────	─────
		£ 217,341	£ 51,336
		═════	═════
17.	Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
		2023	2022
		£	£
	Trade creditors	4,430	2,777
	Deferred income	391,550	4,507
	Social Security and other taxes	23,329	956
	Accruals	9,077	9,020
	Other creditors	4,067	5,830
		─────	─────
		£432,453	£23,090
		═════	═════
17.1	Deferred income included in creditors due within one year
		2023	2022
		£	£
	Opening balance as at 1 July	4,507	12,829
	Deferred in the year	391,550	4,507
	Released in the year	(4,507)	(12,829)
		─────	─────
	Closing balance as at 30 June	£391,550	£ 4,507
		═════	═════

Income is deferred when it has been either invoiced or received in the current financial year but relates to future periods.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

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 £1,286. Key management personnel remuneration is disclosed at note 11.

There are no other disclosable related party transactions during the year.

21. Restricted funds

estricted funds
			Movement in Fund
	Balance	Incoming	Expenditure and		Balance
	30 June	Resources	Gains/(losses)	Transfers	30 June
	2022				2023
	Restated
Society for Underwater
Technology
Educational Support Fund	-	2,802	(2,802)	-	-
	─────	─────	─────	─────	─────

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.

Society for Underwater Technology (The) Notes to the Financial Statements Cont’d For the year ended 30 June 2023

22. Comparative Statement of Financial Activity

		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Total
		Funds	Funds
		2022	2022	2022	2021
		£	£	£	£
	Note
Income
Donations and legacies	2	2,583	1,322	3,905	53,554
Income from charitable activities:
Memberships, conferences and	3	263,460	-	263,460	195,357
events
Income from other activities:
Other incoming resources		1,909	-	1,909	63,820
Investment income	6	6,142	-	6,142	5,972
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Total income		£274,094	1,322	£ 275,416	£ 318,703
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Expenditure
Expenditure on charitable
activities:
Charitable activities	7	269,618	(1,322)	270,940	315,140
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Total expenditure		£269,618	-	£270,940	£315,140
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Net income / (expenditure)
before
gains / (losses) on investments		4,476	-	4,476	3,563
Net gains / (losses) on investments	14.3	(11,501)	-	(11,501)	28,175
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Net income / (expenditure)		(7,025)	-	(7,025)	31,738
Transfers between funds		-	-	-	-
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Net Movement in Funds		(7,025)	-	(7,025)	31,738
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward		299,814	-	299,814	268,076
		─────	─────	─────	─────
Total funds carried forward		£ 292,789	£-	£ 292,789	£ 299,814
		═════	═════	═════	═════

Nunn Hayward LLP 2-4 Packhorse Road Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire

24 November 2023

Dear Sirs

We confirm to the best of our knowledge and belief and having made appropriate enquiries of other Council Members and officials of the Society and the Group, the following representations given to you in connection with your independent examination of the Society's accounts for the year ended 30 June 2023.

1 We have fulfilled our responsibilities as Council Members under the Companies Act 2006 and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view and for making accurate representations to you as the independent examiner.
2 All the accounting records have been made available to you for the purposes of your independent examination and all the transactions undertaken by the Society have been properly reflected and recorded in the accounting records. All other records and related information, including minutes of all management and Council meetings, have been made available to you and unrestricted access has been provided to persons within the entity from whom you have deemed it necessary to request information from.
3 We acknowledge our responsibility for the design and implementation of internal control systems to prevent and detect fraud. There have been no irregularities (or allegations of irregularities) involving management, employees who have a significant role in internal control, or others that could have material effect on the financial statements.

We confirm that we have undertaken a review of internal financial controls during the year.

Correspondence Address

Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, England SL9 7QEN T: +44 (0)7947 911992 E: info@sut.org

Registered Office: Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, SL9 7QE Company Reg No. 932590 Vat Reg No. 242 3504 95 Reg Charity No. 256659 (England and Wales) and SC043942 (Scotland)

4 The Society has no liabilities or contingent liabilities other than those disclosed in the notes to the financial statements, along with all guarantees that we have given to third parties.
5 We confirm that the stock of the Society, valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value at the year end, was £9,779. We have no plans that will result in any excess or obsolete stock.
6 There has been no event since the balance sheet date which requires disclosing or which would materially affect the amounts in the accounts, other than those already disclosed or included in the accounts. Therefore, the financial statements are free of material misstatements, including omissions.
7 The Society has had at no time during the year any arrangement, transaction or agreement to provide credit facilities (including loans, quasi-loans or credit transactions) for Council Members, nor to guarantee or provide security for such matters.
8 We confirm that all related party relationships and transactions have been appropriately accounted for and disclosed in the financial statements. We confirm that we have disclosed to you all relevant information concerning such relationships and transactions and are not aware of any other matters which require disclosure in order to comply with the requirements of Company law or accounting standards.
9 The Society has satisfactory title to all assets and there are no liens or encumbrances on the Society’s assets, except for those that are disclosed in the notes of the financial statements. The Society has not contracted for any capital expenditure other than as disclosed in the financial statements.
10 Significant assumptions used by us in making accounting estimates, [including those measured at fair value], are considered reasonable.
11 We have no plans or intentions that may materially alter the carrying value or the fair value measurements or classification of assets and liabilities reflected in the financial statements.
12 We confirm that there are no laws or regulations that are central to the Society's ability to conduct its business.
13 All claims in connection with litigation that have been or are expected to be received have been considered when preparing the financial statements and these have been disclosed in accordance with the requirements of the accounting standards.
14 We confirm that, in our opinion, the Society will continue as a going concern for a period in excess of twelve months from the approval of the financial statements.

Correspondence Address

Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, England SL9 7QEN T: +44 (0)7947 911992 E: info@sut.org

Registered Office: Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, SL9 7QE Company Reg No. 932590 Vat Reg No. 242 3504 95 Reg Charity No. 256659 (England and Wales) and SC043942 (Scotland)

The disclosures in note one to the accounts are an accurate reflection of our plans and the reasons for confirming the Society’s ability to continue with its charitable activity.

We confirm that the Society will be able to pay outstanding invoices, bills and commitments as they fall due.

15 We confirm the specific representations made to you during the course of your independent examination:
We confirm that with the exception of SUT Norway NUF, we do not consider that the overseas operations qualify as ‘branches’ as defined by the Charities Act 2011 and Statement of Recommended Practice FRS102 and therefore consolidation of their results is not required. Consolidation with SUT Norway NUF is not necessary for the 2022 financial statements due the exemptions in Appendix 3 of the Charities SORP (FRS102) (2015).
We confirm that the £2,802 donations were received for the Educational Support Fund and are, therefore, restricted. These have been fully expended on the grants made in the year.
We consider that there is no requirement for a bad debt provision and that trade debtors of £53,392 are recoverable.
We confirm that the deferred income of £391,550 fairly reflects the income received in the financial year 2023 which relates to events and membership fees for the financial year 2024.
We confirm that the undrawn balance on the Paypal account at 30 June 2023 was less than £23,000 and is all income that would have been deferred into the financial year 2024.
We confirm that there have been no courses held by the SUT Norway in the 2023 financial year.
We confirm that all the SUT Norway assets and liabilities have been accurately recorded in the SUT Norway accounts as at 31 December 2018 and there is no material change in values between the subsidiary reporting date and 30 June 2023.
We confirm we consider £3,252 owing from SUT Norway to be fully recoverable.
We confirm that in our opinion the Group is adequately insured in respect of assets and potential liabilities that may arise.
We confirm that none of the Council Members of the Society for Underwater Technology have received any emoluments or expenses from the Group during the year under review.
We confirm that the Society has not received donations, with or without conditions, from Council Members or other related parties other than those disclosed in note 20 of the financial statements.
We confirm that we are not aware of any Council Member having been disqualified for any reason form acting as a trustee of a charity or a director of a company.
We confirm that no “serious incidents” have been reported to the Charity Commission by the Council Members.
16 We understand that Nunn Hayward LLP have prepared the financial statements on behalf of the Council Members. The financial statements have been fully explained to and discussed with us. These

Correspondence Address

Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, England SL9 7QEN T: +44 (0)7947 911992 E: info@sut.org

Registered Office: Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, SL9 7QE Company Reg No. 932590 Vat Reg No. 242 3504 95 Reg Charity No. 256659 (England and Wales) and SC043942 (Scotland)

discussions included the schedule of accounts preparation journals shown in the attached schedule. We are of the opinion that the financial statements show a true and fair view of the results for the year and the state of affairs at 30 June 2023.

17 We confirm that the above representations are made on the basis of enquiries of management and staff with relevant knowledge and experience (and where appropriate, of inspection of supporting documentation) sufficient to satisfy ourselves that we can properly make each of the above representations to you.
18 We acknowledge our legal responsibilities regarding disclosure of information to you as independent examiners and confirm that so far as we are aware, there is no relevant information needed by you in connection with preparing your report of which you are unaware. Each Council Member has taken all the steps that he ought to have taken as a Council Member in order to make himself aware of any relevant information and to establish that you are aware of that information.

Yours faithfully

On behalf of the Council

S John Chairman of the Council

N Carey Honorary Treasurer

Correspondence Address

Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, England SL9 7QEN T: +44 (0)7947 911992 E: info@sut.org

Registered Office: Nunn Hayward LLP, 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, SL9 7QE Company Reg No. 932590 Vat Reg No. 242 3504 95 Reg Charity No. 256659 (England and Wales) and SC043942 (Scotland)

2023-06-30-accounts

Contents

Branch Reports

President’s Foreword

Awards 2022-2023

Lennard-Senior Prize

President’s Award

Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration

Gwyn Griffiths Underwater Robotics Award

Council’s Summary of Activity 2022-2023

Membership Summary

Strategic Review

Membership

Council’s Summary of Activity contd.

Training

Awards

Finances

Educational Support Fund

Chair’s Report

Finance and Accounts

Branches

Chair’s Report

contd.

Special Interest Groups

Educational Support Fund

Awards

Chair’s Report

contd.

Officers and Council 2022-2023

President

Members

SUT Staff

SUT HQ

Chief Executive

SUT US

SUT Perth

Branch reports

Aberdeen Branch www.sut.org/branch/aberdeen

Andrew Connelly

Committee

Branch Committee Changes

Aberdeen Branch

contd.

2022-2023 Branch Activities

Australia Perth Branch

www.sut.org/branch/perth

Perth Branch Committee

Steve Duffield

Australia Branch

contd.

SUT Perth Branch Events

Conferences

Australia Branch

Courses:

1 x Subsea Awareness Course – May 2023

1 x Subsea Productions Systems Course – June 2023

Australia Branch

contd.

1 x Positioning and Survey Course – August 2022

Evening Technical Meetings

August 2022 ETM: Collaborative Technology Deployment - Julimar

February 2023 ETM: Decommissioning

April 2023 ETM: Our floating future in Offshore Renewables

June 2023 ETM: Decarbonisation

Australia Branch

Australia Branch contd.

Golf Day – September 2022

Branch Administration

Australia Branch

Branch Support

Branch Initiatives

Branch Strategy

Engagement

Finance

Australia Branch

contd.

Marketing

Membership (Perth and Melbourne) as at 30 June 2023:

Remote Members:

Australia Branch