Prof. Heidi Kuusniemi (Coordinator for the ESABALT project) was selected to become a member of the GNSS Scientific Advisory Committee (GSAC) of the European Space Agency (ESA) for a period of four years, starting from the beginning of 2013. The GSAC acts as an advisory body to the ESA Programme Board for Navigation and the ESA Executive in setting priorities and selecting proposals for the scientific exploitation of the Galileo satellite navigation system and the EGNOS space-based augmentation system.
Prof. Kuusniemi also serves on the Mobility as a Service Finland Committee. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a completely new view on mobility. With one order and payment it is possible to combine traffic services (possibly including maritime services) of several service providers into integrated travel chains, packages that travelers can order as needed. The idea is to develop new ways of traveling and to decrease the dependence on private transportation, thus reducing transport costs and carbon footprint.
Prof. Kuusniemi is also the President of the Nordic Institute of Navigation and with Dr. Sarang Thombre (ESABALT Technical Project Manager) is in its Administrative Board.
The Nordic Institute of Navigation is a non-profit, independent and non-political organization for professionals working within the field of navigation from the Nordic Countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The focus of NNF is on all aspects of positioning and navigation related to marine, air, land, and space based applications. NNF is working to: improve qualifications of professionals within navigation by aiming at better educational opportunities, safety for personnel, the environment, and for financial assets, and improve overall efficiency. NNF arrange conferences, symposia, and courses to inform on subjects, ideas, and experiences related to the field of navigation. NNF is a member of the “European Group of Institutes of Navigation” (EUGIN) and of the “International Association of Institutes of Navigation” (IAIN), and members of NNF obtain discounts when participating in international conferences arranged by these bodies.
Prof. Zbigniew Pietrzykowski (leader of the project team from Maritime University of Szczecin) participated as a member of Polish delegation in the first (30.06 – 4.07.2014) and second (9.03 – 13.03.2015) session of IMO Sub-committee on Safety of Navigation, Communication, Search and Rescue NCSR session in London. He was a member of Correspondence Group of e-navigation, whose work was aided also by Polish representatives, on “Implementation plan of e-navigation strategy”. He participated also on work of Correspondence Group on Harmonization of Guidelines related to e-navigation, which resulted with Guideline on Software Quality Assurance and Human Centred Design for e-Navigation. Both mentioned issues concern activities directly related to the ESABALT project.
Prof. Janusz Uriasz is a member of polish delegation to International Maritime Organisation and the work of Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping. He has been involved in amendments of Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers Convention. He has been coordinator of recently completed comprehensive review of Polish maritime legislative instruments concerning coastal waters and internal waters. He is co-author of MET curriculums and ECDIS IMO model course. He was an expert in arbitrage case after sinking of m/v Angeln at New York court and expert for international requirement standards related to ship’s voyage data recorders in the arbitration case ad court in Hong Kong. Prof. Janusz Uriasz is a member of Council of Polish Navigation Forum and a member of Polish Nautical Society.
We understand that ESABALT is currently in its initial phases of implementation and therefore, there is a period of incubation before its results are significant enough to transform into recommendations for new policy initiatives. However, in each of the above instances, the project members continually strive to identify opportunities for influencing European and also Nordic policy and scientific strategy directions based on the best practices (especially in the maritime and navigation domains) learnt during the implementation of the ESABALT project.
Collaboration with other research programmes
ESABALT members are involved in number of other European Projects, which are focused on maritime safety and security matters, mariner’s qualification and skills, development of new technologies, introducing existing technologies into maritime field. Few relevant projects are listed here:
- Critical Maritime Routes Gulf of Guinea, under the instrument for contributing to Stability and Peace (EuropeAid)
- Framework Contract for the Instrument for Stability Lot 3 – Critical infrastructure and Counter-terrorism
- Projects involving route optimization and collision avoidance based on statistical collection of global AIS information, in the MONALISA 2.0 project
- Winter-time and optimized ice-aware maritime navigation through the STORMWINDS and VORIC projects
BONUS ESABALT 