Background:
In a wider context of increased autonomy and digitalization in the maritime transportation industries, there is a prospect of using emerging technologies to develop more efficient and sustainable practices in maritime pilotage. In the specific environment of the Saint Lawrence Maritime Corridor (SLMC), there is wide stakeholder interest in transforming the existing maritime pilotage regime to include the possibility of remote pilotage, in which pilots would rely on advanced communication technologies to support bridge crews in safely navigating vessels through the waterways. Apart from possible benefits in reduced safety risks to human operators and the maritime transportation system, such remote operations may have beneficial impacts on UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), such as SDG11, SDG13, and SDG14.

To support decision making about the possible implementation of remote pilotage in the SLMC or in certain waterway areas within this, a project supported by Mitacs, Clear Seas Centre for Responsible Marine Shipping, and key maritime stakeholders related to pilotage in Canada will be implemented starting in Winter 2025. This project will make a comparative analysis of the human and system safety risks associated with remote pilotage, and investigate wider aspects related to impacts on the marine environment and ecosystems, socio-economic aspects, and stakeholder concerns.

Position:
Our Industrial Engineering Department is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) in System Risk Analysis for Remote Pilotage Operations to play a pivotal role in research implementation, coordination, and management of a project focusing on these topics. The postdoc will join a dynamic, dedicated group under the supervision of Prof. Ronald Pelot and Prof. Floris Goerlandt in the Maritime Risk and Safety (MARS) Research Group at Dalhousie University, in further collaboration with professors from Dalhousie’s Faculties of Engineering, Computer Science, and Science.

The PDF will perform cutting-edge research to develop a new system risk analysis approach tailored to the specific context of the Saint Lawrence Marine Corridor (SLMC), to enable a comparative analysis of the occupational health and safety risks, navigation system safety risks, and environmental impacts associated with conventional and remote pilotage. This will require new conceptual and technical research, advancing the state of the art in risk analysis and management for maritime industries and maritime autonomous operations, by building on risk science, operations research, and systems engineering. The advancement and application of techniques such as Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA), structured expert elicitation, and Bayesian Networks (BNs) are foreseen, and active engagement with stakeholders and domain experts is expected.

The successful candidate will work closely with the project team to: (i) plan the research and refine research questions in a coherent framework; (ii) collect, integrate, and manage data, models and knowledge to answer the research questions; (iii) engage with stakeholders and experts through interviews and focus groups to support the data collection; (iv) develop frameworks, modeling approaches, and the technical implementation thereof to the SLMC case study context through coding and programming work; (v) support and provide scientific and technical advice to graduate students working in the project; (vi) write journal articles, conference articles, book chapters, and policy briefs to disseminate the research findings; (vii) support the development of specific models for the selected case studies; and (viii) perform project management tasks such as coordinating stakeholder engagement activities, preparing reports, and disseminating the results to diverse audiences.

The PDF will be employed by Dalhousie University (www.dal.ca) and must be physically based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The PDF will have opportunities to develop his or her own research agenda associated with the remote pilotage project, engage with graduate students in the MARS group, and have the opportunity for extending his or her professional network through various relevant research and stakeholder networks. Participation in academic career development programs offered by Dalhousie University is encouraged. Renumeration will be in line with