Ph.D. Programs

Principal areas of research

Most doctoral research falls within one of the following topics, but the WMU programme also offers excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary projects, allowing doctoral candidates to pursue their own, and their organization’s, particular interests.

Marine Environmental Management

This research area covers environmental issues in oceans and on coasts, particularly those related to maritime issues such as shipping. Interdisciplinary issues involving oceanography, pollution and environmental management also fall within this area of research. Recent projects include ballast water management issues, PSSAs, oil spill contingency planning, climate change and integrated coastal and ocean management.

Maritime Administration: Law, Policy and Security

This research area covers the legislative, regulatory, and enforcement roles of governments and administrations in the context of specific problems facing the maritime industry. These include security, law of the sea, seafarer’s rights, labour standards, marine environmental law, and other issues in the public or private domain that have a direct impact on the development of maritime law and policy. Recent research projects include comparative analyses of the recently adopted Rotterdam Rules and a critical evaluation of the international legal framework for piracy and other unlawful acts at sea.

Shipping and Port Management

This research area explores all areas of shipping and port management, and offers the chance of carrying out in- depth investigation within the fields of maritime economics, ship or port operations and management, and shipping and port policy, as well as in the related fields of logistics, ship finance, cargo handling, and port governance.

Maritime Technology and Education

The research area covers both technical developments in the shipping industry and educational processes, including cultural, gender and linguistic issues. It includes interdisciplinary work linking technical innovation and education, such as simulation training, information/ communication technology and organizational knowledge management. Recent activities include the development of IMO model courses on energy-efficient ship operation, the establishment of an accreditation system in maritime education, collaborative learning in maritime education and women seafarers and identity management.

Maritime Risk and System Safety

This research group specialises in developing multi- disciplinary research angles in the area of maritime risk governance and management with a special focus on maritime safety and human-related issues. Technical developments, such as the concept of e-navigation or the use of simulation to help maritime risk assessment are also considered. The group has been very active over a long period in a wide range of EU-funded projects including MarNIS, ADOPTMAN, IMPACT and TeamSafety, as well as other projects such as ProGreenShipOperation and research on SAR for passenger ships.