Centre of Excellence to help the maritime sector reduce its emissions is soon to launch

The Data-centric Engineering for Clean Oceans (DECO) will bring together researchers from a range of disciplines, focused on maximising the benefits of the data being collected in service to decarbonise the maritime sector. It builds on a number of strengths at the University of Southampton to provide immediate reductions in fuel usage across the maritime industry.

The aim is to help create immediate reductions in emissions, as Data-centric approaches are cost effective and easy to install. This is demonstrated by a growing number of software developments at the University of Southampton, already released into industry and making a real-world difference. In the longer-term these tools will be vital in reducing the cost of net-zero fuels and in providing a loop back to design for further efficiency savings.

The Centre, led by expert Adam Sobey and co-directors: Dominic Hudson, Tim Norman, Rand Ismaeel and Tom Cherrett, will work with the SMMI to bring together researchers from a broad range of disciplines interested in helping the Maritime Industry Decarbonise. It will help communicate the world-leading research performed in the University to an industry that is notoriously closed and will maximise the benefits to Southampton from the growing reputation in this area.  It will complement the other two new centres, the Low Carbon Comfort Centre (LCCC) and Light & Electrochemically Activated Processes for Chemical Industries (LEAP) Centre, to help bring together the University of Southampton community in decarbonisation. A new PhD student will be appointed to determine how coastal transport can effectively be blended with current road and rail infrastructure to provide more efficient cargo transport. Additional opportunities for internships, PhDs and grant writing support will be available soon.