ASMOG's objectives
- To identify key technological innovations, challenges and possibilities in the automation shift.
- To build knowledge and create concrete methods and solutions to overcome challenges related to the automation shift.
- To set the theoretical and methodological ground for collaborative and experimental research with the industries.
- To bridge the knowledge and communication gaps between the industry, the seafarers and the public spheres.
- To investigate the impact and deep meaning of automation in the labor market for various stakeholders.
- To conceptualize the automation shift as a complex machine-society-nature system.
Research levels of this collaborative project will include: a) initiatives by the industry and responses by seafarers; b) their perceptions and experiences, or questions about top-down/bottom-up dimensions in implementation of various automation systems; c) role of seafarers, engineers and managers, and overarching interaction with the NMA and with the public.
The project takes as specific case the nexus of automation and labor in the offshore oil and gas industry and the social dynamics at different levels situated and illustrated in the exemplary case of the maritime city of Haugesund. The project takes this maritime cluster as point of departure in researching the automation shift related to oil and gas industry as the maritime sector interconnects both in terms of the service, shipping and supply to the oil and gas industry. The activities related to the oil and gas industry offshore are: tanking, oil and gas transport, subsea operations and rig operations. “Automation shift” is the paradigm against which the study will take place. Placed at the center of this study are different dynamics in which technological advancement (namely automation), risk assessment, labor rights and safe relationship with the ocean are being evaluated, discussed and theorized. The research team will develop concrete solutions to dampen risk and increment security in maritime operations and it will develop a way to communicate to the public about the automation shift’s societal impact.