To date, autonomous shipping appears to primarily have been about a technology push rather than considering and providing sociotechnical solutions including re-design of work, capturing knowledge and addressing human factors in modern shipping. Autonomous shipping is frequently claimed to reduce human error, whereas in reality, any issue connected to humans will arguably move with the people from ship to shore in that different people will make different mistakes; with possibly more severe consequences. Furthermore, autonomous shipping is likely to require changes to regulation and increased attention to cyber security and other IT human-centred quality factors if it is to succeed. What the HUMANE project is interested in is how (in certain scenarios) the human collaborates with, hands over to, or takes over from the technology/automation to achieve an overall safe state of the system. The aim is to map and investigate a potential gap between current human skills, training and education and an autonomous maritime future, and to provide insight to enable mitigating change. The main project method is expert workshops, performed in a focus group style. Four workshops are planned and to date (mid 2019), two have been performed. The topic of the first was technology, and the second was legal, class and insurance implications. For this paper, we have analysed the data relevant to future skills. Results show that not only is the skill set imagined to be needed very different from that of today, it also contains many contradictory elements and, occasionally, demands for abilities that humans do not possess, and are unlikely to evolve.

Increasingly disruptive cyber-attacks in the maritime domain have led to more efforts being focused on enhancing cyber resilience. From a regulatory perspective, there is a requirement that maritime stakeholders implement measures that would enable the timely detection of cyber events, leading to the adoption of Maritime Security Operation Centers (M-SOCs). At the same time, Remote Operation Centers (ROCs) are also being discussed to enable increased adoption of highly automated and autonomous technologies, which could further impact the attack surface of vessels. The main objective of this research was therefore to better understand both enabling factors and challenges impacting the effectiveness of M-SOC operations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine M-SOC experts. Informed by grounded theory, incident management emerged as the core category. By focusing on the factors that make M-SOC operations a unique undertaking, the main contribution of this study is that it highlights how maritime connectivity challenges and domain knowledge impact the M-SOC incident management process. Additionally, we have related the findings to a future where M-SOC and ROC operations could be converged.

Assessment in maritime simulator-based education has traditionally been informal and subjective based on instructor experience. Recent research suggests that a more objective and formal approach could be beneficial. Formative assessment has attracted significant attention from higher education institutions. Thus, this study aimed to examine the current practice of formative assessment in maritime simulator-based education, with a special emphasis on simulator instructors’ teaching methods. A qualitative approach with observations and interviews was used in the study since it could provide deep insights into educators’ motivations and understandings of how to meet the educational needs of their students. The findings inform the formative assessment strategies may explicitly enhance maritime education.