Maritime Innovative Technologies

The maritime sector stands at a crossroads. On the one hand, there is society’s demand for even safer and cleaner ships and on the other, there are technological developments in the fields of sensors, data processing and AI. The Maritime Innovative Technologies (MIT) professorship at the Willem Barentsz Maritime Institute (MIWB) conducts applied research into technological innovations in these fields, for the benefit of the wider shipbuilding and shipping industry.
 

Research assignment

The Maritime Innovative Technologies professorship is led by professor Herbert Koelman and is part of the Maritime Research Group. The mission of this maritime research group is:

 To strive for sustainable and safe ships and seas through innovation.

To fulfil this mission, the research group focuses on three research themes, with digitalisation supporting the themes of sustainability and safety:

Collaborations

Within the research group, there is close collaboration with the European maritime sector, with research institutions such as Delft University of Technology, MARIN, the Netherlands Defence Academy and TNO, and with other (maritime) educational institutions such as Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. These collaborations mainly take the form of specific research projects, the Professional Doctorate pilot, the maritime professors platform and the Maritime Master Plan.

Innovative education

The professorship actively contributes to education in various ways. All research projects are carried out in collaboration with students, with the professorship bringing together students from different study programmes so that they can learn from and with one another. From this, the professorship has developed a new minor, Advanced Engineering Tools for ShipX (AETS), which is designed to provide insight and knowledge about digital design tools, maritime optimisation, Computational Fluid Dynamics and (maritime) data science.

In addition, the research group is actively involved in developing simulators, such as the stability game, which conveys an understanding of ship stability without too much maths or theory. This game, developed with support from the Verolme Trust, is available for anyone to download from stabiliteitsgame.nl. The concept of learning through simulation has recently been further developed in a digital simulator of the Frisian World Heritage Site, the Woudagemaal.

Professional Doctorate: pursuing a doctoral degree at a university of applied sciences

Since 2023, NHL Stenden has been offering a new professional programme, the Professional Doctorate, which trains candidates to become research-oriented professionals. The Professional Doctorate is of great value to the professional field, as it meets the demand for professionals who possess extensive knowledge and skills, particularly in the area of applied and scientifically underpinned innovative solutions. This pilot was set up by the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with, amongst others, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Two Professional Doctorate candidates are currently working at the research group:

• In the field of data-driven ship design, carried out as part of the EU Horizon SEUS project.
• In the specialist field of damage control on ships, as part of a broad multidisciplinary research project in collaboration with two other Dutch universities and the Ministry of Defence.