Invited Speakers | ICMTI & TSCRDT 2026

Tony Graham

Head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors

Short bio

Tony Graham sustained a highly successful track record in engineering and programme/project management inside the Ministry of Defence over a 34 year career. Tony trained as a Naval Constructor and achieved the rank of Constructor Rear Admiral alongside his appointment as Head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. He is well known for his 7 year leadership on the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier programme. His final role in the UK Ministry of Defence was as Director Ships procuring and supporting all ships of the Royal Navy. More recent private sector shipbuilding roles have included Cammell Laird (Chief Operating Officer) and OCEA Shipbuilding UK Ltd (currently Chairman). His other portfolio roles include being a Visiting Professor at Liverpool John Moores University, a member of the UK Health and Safety Executive Science Quality Assurance Group and a panellist for REF2029.

Title

“Eight Ways of Looking” to boost Maritime Innovation

Abstract

Maritime innovation has never been more needed or more prized. The conditions for innovation are perfect: (1) the dismantling of prescriptive regulation, (2) demand for improved performance in increasingly competitive markets (3) demand for decarbonisation and greater sustainability, (4) a revolution in digital technology and artificial intelligence (5) a global skills shortage, and (6) a wealth of eager investors. New ideas are easily generated in such a fertile environment, but such ideas offer no real world value until they become innovations. An idea is simply the initial mental concept or "spark" of creativity. An idea only becomes an innovation when it solves a specific challenge, satisfies a market need, or improves an operational workflow. Simply put, ideas are the raw materials for innovation but to be innovations they must be drawn out from the cerebral world and made productive and commercialised in the physical world. There are many approaches to innovation, but the speaker has chosen to repurpose the Project Leadership framework of 6-ways of looking into a useful tool for maritime innovators because it encourages holistic thinking and has its origins in real world delivery.

Danielle Lane

Director of Offshore Development UK for RWE

Short bio

Danielle is Director of Offshore Development UK for RWE. She joined RWE in January 2022 from Vattenfall where she worked from 2018 as Director of Asset Value & Partnering as part of the offshore leadership team and as Vattenfall’s UK Country Manager. Danielle has worked for leading energy companies delivering offshore wind for almost 25 years including Ørsted, The Crown Estate and Centrica.

Title

The Offshore Wind Paradox: Success Has Made It Harder work?

Abstract

Offshore wind has been extraordinarily successful. Turbines are larger, farms are farther offshore, and capacity auctions are measured in gigawatts rather than megawatts, however this success has created a paradox. As projects scale up supply chains become stretched, global commodity pressures have resulted in costs rising and the installation, operation and maintenance of site is increasingly constrained by maritime capacity. Add then to this increasing environmental, social, and regulatory tensions the challenges facing Offshore Wind Sector is as great as ever, more so in fact, as we also have emerging complexity of how we consider decommissioning of our early sites. This is why centres like the N0MES CDT are so important as they create the focal points as to where engineering centred research evolves and provide solutions to these problems.

Carlos Guedes Soares

Fellow of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering Academician of European Academy of Sciences and Arts Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Short bio

Carlos Guedes Soares is a Distinguished Professor of the Engineering School (Instituto Superior Técnico) of the University of Lisbon. He founded the Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC) in 1994, a research centre at the University of Lisbon funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, and is its Scientific Coordinator. He concluded his postgraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, in 1976 and at the Norwegian Institute of Technology of the University of Trondheim in 1984. Since then, he has been at the University of Lisbon (formerly the Technical University of Lisbon, until 2013). He has supervised over 75 PhD students at IST and co-supervised over 50 PhD students from foreign universities, and his publications have garnered more than 50,000 citations in the Web of Science. In the Stanford World Ranking of the 2% highly cited scientists during their career, he ranked between first and fourth from 2019 to 2025 in the area of Civil Engineering, which includes Marine and Ocean Engineering (out of a total of 62,000 authors). In the same period, he ranked first among all Portuguese scientists from all scientific areas. He is now Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Marine Science and Application (Springer), the Journal of Reliability Science and Engineering (IOP Press) and the Autonomous Transportation Research Journal (Elsevier). He is also a member of the Editorial Board of more than 15 Journals. He is the Chairman of WEGEMT, the European Association of Universities on Marine Technology, with 40 universities. He is a Member of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering and the European Academy of Sciences and an International Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He received the Friendship Award in 2024 and the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award in 2026 from the Chinese Government.

Title

Evolution towards green and intelligent ships

Abstract

An overview of the main trends identified in commercial shipping is provided as technology is developed and implemented in new ships and retrofitted into some existing ships. Decarbonization of the world fleet is being progressively implemented, with new technology incorporated into new ship designs and constructions and the adaptation of the existing fleet through different types of retrofits. The generic approach is to implement short- and medium-term solutions to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while research and development efforts focus on new fuels that do not emit greenhouse gases. The long-term solution requires new fuels to become widely available through appropriate infrastructure at the main ports that the relevant ships demand. It also requires developments in ship machinery systems to adapt them for use with the new fuels. Another important trend in the evolution is the increasing adoption of intelligent technologies and digitalisation. Automation has been implemented for many years in various shipboard systems, but the recent trend is an increased level of intelligence, as systems incorporate higher levels of decision-making across an increasingly wide range of operations. This trend is more evident in prototypes of autonomous ships being tested in various countries.

Jin Wang

Short bio

Prof. Jin Wang has been Director of Liverpool Logistics, Offshore and Marine (LOOM) Research Institute at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) since 2003 and was Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at LJMU from 2015 to 2025. His research interests are in design and operation of large maritime engineering systems such as ships and offshore wind, oil and gas installations. He has published extensively in this area, making him among top 60 in Civil Engineering (including maritime engineering and naval architecture) in terms of publications and citations in the World Ranking of Scientists worldwide annually since 2021. He has led a number of research projects funded by sources such as UR research councils and EU. He has won several awards for his research work including the Outstanding Contribution Award 2025 from the IMarEST and the 2017 RINA - Lloyd’s Register Maritime Safety Award for Lifetime Achievement. Prof. Wang has been a sub-panel member (Engineering) in the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, 2021 and 2029, for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences in 2023 and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2022. He was Chair of the UK-Malaysia University Consortium (UK-MUC) of 16 UK and 20 public Malaysian Universities from 2022 to 2024 and has been a co-chair since 2025.

Title

Holistic Risk-based Design and Operation of Large Maritime Engineering Systems in the Era of Decarbonisation and Digitalisation

Abstract

The maritime sector is undergoing a profound transformation driven by the twin imperatives of decarbonisation and digitalisation. Large maritime engineering systems including ships, ports, offshore infrastructures, and integrated logistics networks are becoming increasingly complex as they adopt low-carbon technologies, alternative fuels, green energy generation and data-driven operational frameworks. These developments introduce new forms of uncertainty and risk that challenge traditional engineering design and operational practices. This presentation explores how holistic risk-based design and operation can support the safe, reliable, and efficient transition of large maritime systems in this evolving landscape. The talk will present a systems-oriented perspective that integrates engineering design, operational decision-making, and lifecycle management under a unified risk framework. Particular attention will be given to emerging risks associated with decarbonisation technologies as well as the opportunities and challenges introduced by digitalisation. The presentation will demonstrate how probabilistic risk assessment and decision-making technologies can enhance resilience, safety and sustainability while supporting innovation.

Min Xie

Chair Professor of Industrial Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR Fellow of IEEE and IISE, Member of European Academy of Sciences and Arts

Short bio

Min Xie has been a Chair Professor of Industrial Engineering at City University of Hong Kong since 2011. He entered USTC in China in 1978, and went to Sweden in 1979 to complete his undergraduate studies at the Royal Institute of Technology. He later earned his PhD in Quality Technology from Linkoping University in 1987. He was with the National University of Singapore from 1991 until 2011. Professor Xie has conducted extensive research in reliability and safety engineering focusing on general complex systems, and completed many projects, including a large scale maritime transportation safety research project funded under Singapore-Poland collaboration scheme. Prof Xie has published over 400 journal papers and 10 books, is also a Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2025. He has mentored about 80 PhD students who now excel in industry and academia across continents. Prof Xie is a fellow of IEEE, elected to European Academy of Sciences and Arts and currently also chairs the Fellow Evaluation Committee of IEEE Systems Council.

Title

Safety and Reliability of Intelligent and Autonomous Systems – some challenges and research issues

Abstract

Maritime transportation systems are becoming increasingly intelligent. That brings many new challenges—particularly from a safety and reliability point of view. Beyond traditional safety engineering and system-reliability issues, we must also address maritime-specific issues such as sensor degradation in harsh sea environments, data-quality problems from intermittent communications, and the operational performance of learning algorithms under varying weather, traffic and cargo conditions. Explainability, scalability, and robust adaptation of AI models are also critical for decision making related to autonomous ships, smart ports, etc. For AI-assisted systems, socio-technical factors and human–AI interaction are also important. Regulatory further complicate system modelling, verification and certification. This talk will examine these challenges and discuss some possible solutions and directions for future research issues.

Xinping Yan

Short bio

Professor Xinping Yan is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chair of the Academic Committee of Wuhan University of Technology. He is Director of the State Key Laboratory of Maritime Technology and Safety, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Smart Shipping and Maritime Safety, and the Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Base of Intelligent Shipping and Maritime Safety. He also serves as Chief Scientist of the National Engineering Research Center for Water Transport Safety. Professor Yan concurrently serves as the 10th President of the China Institute of Navigation, Deputy Director of the Energy and Transportation Division of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Education, and a member of the Expert Committee of the Ministry of Transport and Advisory Committee on the Strategy of Building a Shipbuilding Power of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He has long been engaged in teaching and research in transportation engineering, and is committed to the research of intelligent, safe and green technologies for waterway transportation.

Title

Development of Next-Generation Shipping Systems and Reflections on Future Innovation Directions

Abstract

This speech provides an overview of the concept and key features of next-generation shipping systems, introduces our research group’s innovative practices in this system, and discusses future directions for technological innovation in shipping, with a focus on green, intelligent, and resilient development.