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Report
The SUT held its AGM and annual awards ceremony aboard HQS
Wellington, moored at London's Embankment, on 11 December.
The highlight of the evening
was an informative and revealing presentation entitled, 'The SERPENT
Project: using industry remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to
investigate the mysteries of the deep', given by Dr Andrew Gates of
SERPENT Project, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
The SERPENT (Scientific and
Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology)
Project, which has been running since 2002, is a collaborative
research project between science and industry to make use of
industrial deep-diving ROV technology.
Dr Gates gave an overview of
SERPENT, describing the work that its scientists do with the
opportunities provided by its industrial and academic collaborators,
including oil and ROV companies, as well as rig operators. The work
ranges from exploration of deepwater ecosystems to increase
knowledge of biodiversity, to assessing the impacts of drilling
disturbance using molecular biology or ecological mapping
techniques.
The presentation concluded
with an impressive array of images captured using the high quality
cameras available on the ROVs. This topic sparked a lively debate
among the SUT members, with many expressing curiosity in finding out
more about SERPENT and its missions, and discussions continued over
wine and cheese.
Preceding this presentation
was the SUT awards ceremony, which featured various awards honouring
those who have made exceptional contributions to underwater
technology.
The Tom Patten Memorial
Award for outstanding final year undergraduate student was awarded
to Jan Seiler of the University of Wales, Bangor. Since he was
unable to attend the AGM, arrangements had been made for him to
receive the award via post.
Sandra Forrest of the
University of Southampton was presented the Platinum Award for
outstanding postgraduate student.
This year, SUT inaugurated a
new award jointly sponsored by BP for the best thesis in offshore
and subsea engineering and technology. It is awarded for both the
undergraduate and postgraduate categories and comes with a cheque
for £500. This year's undergraduate winner was Blair Anderson of the
Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde for his project, 'A Riser
Concept: The Dynamic Buoyancy Tank'. The postgraduate award will be
presented at the Subsea Engineering Dinner in Aberdeen in June 2009.
The Houlder Cup was awarded
to Dr Martin Sayer for his contribution to underwater operations and
his indefatigable, operational, underwater scientific pursuits in
advancing the standards of scientific diving and its reputation. The
David Partridge Commemorative Award, jointly sponsored by the SUT
and the former Offshore Energy Technology Panel, was made to Peter
Turner.
The President's Award this
year was presented to Ian Gallett in recognition of his long and
distinguished career in underwater technology and his tremendous
contribution to the success of the Society in recent years. Everyone
was delighted that Ian could attend the AGM as a guest to receive
his award.
SUT Fellowships were awarded
to Prof David Lane, LtCdr Roland Rogers and Dave Stables. Others
receiving Fellowship awards to be given locally are Graham Bonner
and Geoff Hogg in Perth, Australasia, and Dr Hayden Marcollo in
Melbourne, Australasia.
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