The University of Western Australia is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Phil Watson to the role of Shell Chair in Offshore Engineering to strengthen research and industry collaboration in WA’s offshore petroleum industry.
Professor Watson succeeds Professor David White, who is taking up a new position at the University of Southampton. Since the Shell Chair was established five years ago, UWA research has been applied to 10 Shell projects worldwide, advancing research into important areas such as vessel motion under wave action and the development of oceanographic and geotechnical data.
Shell is committing to a five-year extension of the Shell Chair, which was created to strengthen WA as a hub for offshore engineering excellence, and has grown significantly through the 2016 launch of the $10 million five-year ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities, known as the OFFshore Hub.
UWA Director of the Oceans Institute Professor Erika Techera said the appointment of Professor Watson and the investment by Shell for a further five-year collaboration with UWA highlighted the importance of high quality cross-disciplinary research and education to address the challenges and opportunities presented in the ocean.