Impact

Potential for academic impact of the proposed research

On an academic level, this project will create new directions for collaborative knowledge production in terms of theory and methods for understanding the automation shift. This kind of project and approach is not yet represented in the anthropological nor in the political ecology literature. ASMOG thus has a potential to create a new collaborative research model and theoretical framework for future research on automation and maritime operations. Our innovative use of simulation trainings is likely also to inspire other similar studies in other fields. ASMOG will develop the research agenda on automation and work, risk and safety, providing a better understanding of human-machine interaction, public(users)/machine interaction and shading light on inter-communication among the different parties. We will do this by developing important ethnographic knowledge and perspectives on the automation shift, as well as new understandings of interpersonal dimensions of simulation and human-machine interaction, providing an important basis for further studies in the field.

Potential for industrial impact of the research project

ASMOG’s results can be used to the training of seafarers that can further develop the important and fast arising field of automation. This will also benefit industries like Simsea and Knutsen OAS and public institutions like the NMA and the Municipality of Haugesund by contributing to key insights into the automation shift, and its meaning for society and the labor market. Further, ASMOG will reach out to IMO with proposals and guidelines for how seafarers can be trained in the future. Being placed at the intersection between science, industry and public institutions, ASMOG will develop important knowledge of interaction and communication between different groups dealing with automation. It will provide knowledge about coping and resilient mechanisms in overcoming challenges and minimizing risk, human and cultural factors affecting decision-making and the development/implementation of automation, dynamics of power relations and hierarchies at play, conflicts and resolutions. Further, on the basis of our close and innovative collaboration with the industries and public institutions, ASMOG will develop new forms and methods of collaboration of use also for similar projects in the future. Finally, much of the created knowledge and methodology will set a precedent to future projects aiming to facilitate the energy transition, like for instance in the fast-growing offshore wind farm project (Havvind).

Potential for societal impact and relevance for the UNSDG

The insights created through the project are envisioned to further inform the wider society about ongoing processes, challenges and possibilities related to the automation shift in the maritime sector. By wider society we mean the users of automation and the public in general. In addition, ASMOG will increase the knowledge about how to develop future strategies by providing concrete guidelines on how to make maritime operations impacted by the automation shift safer both for workers and for the environment. The competence developed through ASMOG and the planned project outputs will provide the basis for value creation in Norwegian businesses and development of the public sector. The project addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals as automation in the maritime sector is of benefit to at least 7 of 17 SDGs. (SDG3; SDG7; SDG8; SDG9; SDG12; SDG13; SDG14). This being a complex relationship, it needs the study and understanding from a social scientific point of view, especially considering that improvements to O&G production efficiency are often perceived as inimical to energy transition. Central for our rationale and motivation behind this project is that such improvements in many cases can directly transfer to the fast-growing maritime sector more generally.