Project information
Project manager
Carl Hult
Other project members
Gesa Praetorius, Carl Sandberg
Financier
Trafikverket (Swedish Transport Administration)
Timetable
1 Dec 2017–30 Nov 2019
Subject
Maritime Science (Kalmar Maritime Academy, Faculty of Technology)
More about the project
Within the national and international maritime industry, there is a strong commitment in the development of intelligent transport systems aiming towards more efficient, environmental friendly and safer maritime transports. While national and international research and development projects have primarily addressed technical aspects of autonomous vessel operations, there is a lack of systematic research focused on the organizational impacts and role of the human operator(s) in future shipping.
The aim of this project is to shed light on future opportunities and challenges for organizational developments and the role of human operators in the shipping industry. The project adopts a broad organizational perspective to analyze the human role in an upcoming and probably revolutionary phase for shipping.
Four research questions
The study poses four specific research questions:
- What shapes may the organization of leadership and operational responsibility take in the future?
- How are professional identification and occupational commitment affected by current and future developments?
- How will the transport system's ability to resilience be affected by the integration of shore-control centers and other land-based services, such as VTS or pilotage?
- What challenges and possibilities will future changes cause for the Swedish maritime education and training?
These questions will be investigated from a broad organizational and Human Factor perspective. The main approach of the study is to collect, compile and analyze the different thoughts, opinions and perspectives on future shipping operations from a variety of relevant actors. The project uses a mixed methods approach (interviews, observations, study visits, questionnaire and workshops) to gain insights in various actors' perspectives and cooperates closely with a reference group consisting of representatives for industry, academia and the Swedish Transport Agency.
Enrich the technology development
Our expectation is that the results can enrich the current technology development and provide a social and organizational context to support ongoing developments and provide input to decision-making processes. Further, the project aims to provide guidance and recommendation for the future of maritime education and training in the light of an increased digitalization. We also hope that a clearer picture of future maritime occupations can be used to interest future students for the industry.
The project is part of the research in the Maritime science research group.
Staff
