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ENHANCE Kick-off meeting: "You will come up with new solutions to avoid accidents"

Launch of the ENHANCE-project. Photo of ship-simulator at USN.
The ENHANCE-project is about safety in maritime and process-industry. Kongsberg Digital AS is one of the partners in the project. They have already provided USN with advanced simulators.

Prorector Kristian Bogen at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) says increased technological complexity both at sea and at land calls for a different kind of training, in order to avoid serious accidents caused by human errors.

Bogen spoke at the official kick-off meeting for ENHANCE, the Horizon 2020 project which involves ten partners from seven countries around the world.

Researchers and industry-partners gathered at USN’s campus in Vestfold on the 25th - 27th of February.

Important connection to the industry

"I am sure you will come up with new solutions, and the collaboration with the industry guarantees relevance. All the resources gathered here promise well for the project. You will provide new knowledge that can be integrated into the industry itself, as well as being published in papers. A lot of work has to be done, and it all starts today", said Bogen.

He gave huge credit to the USN-team which has worked on the project so far, as did Anne Kari Botnmark, Head of Department of Maritime operations:

"Network-projects are very important for us. We are working hard to build up maritime competence, and want to be the best in Norway in our field. We are very proud of this big project", said Botnmark.

VIDEO: Meet some of the partners in the ENHANCE project. Interviews with two of the industry-partners courtesy Kongsberg Digital AS.

 

Reducing accidents involving humans

Associate professor Salman Nazir is coordinating the project. Together with his team at TARG (Training and Assessment Research Group) he has already run more than eight workshops with maritime and process-industries, prior to the ENHANCE project. Dr. Nazir quoted Marie Curie in his opening speech.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

Nazir talked about the core of the project: reducing accidents where humans are involved at land (process-industry) and sea (maritime industry), thus saving lives and reducing costs for the industry.

"All science suggests that humans are involved in a major part of accidents, up to 96 %. It’s easy to blame someone, but that is not our focus. We want to reach solutions, and find the answers to what causes those errors. Then we will find out how we can enable operators to avoid accidents through new methods of training", said Nazir. 

Project coordinator for ENHANCE Salman Nazir at the kickoff. Photo
Will share research

Dr. Nazir stated that one of the most important aspects of the project is working together with the industry through knowledge sharing. The project ENHANCE will give opportunities for young researchers from around the world, a well as for the industry partners.

"We will also share our results with the public. Our findings will be accessible to non-academics, and we will use social media platforms and other media plattforms to communicate our results", promised dr. Nazir.

"Humans learn differently now than they will do in ten years, so we will have to develop our approach during the four year project time", concluded dr. Nazir.
 

The partners in the project celebrated ENHANCE-kickoff with cake. Photo

Project-name:

"Enhancing Human Performance in Complex Socio-Technical Systems: Developing and Implementing New Training and Assessment Solutions for Improved Safety."

The project is funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions specifically the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)

Project leader:

Associate professor Salman Nazir

Partners:

University of South-Eastern Norway

Liverpool John Moores University (UK)

Politecnico Di Milano (Italy)

RUHR Universitatet Bochum (Germany)

Kongsberg Digital AS (Norway)

Kongsberg Maritime AS (Norway)

RWE Power AG (Germany)

Institute of Technology PETRONAS SDN BHD (Malaysia)

National University of Sciences & Technology Pakistan (Pakistan)

Wuhan University of Technology (China)
 

Budget:

1,099,400 Euros 

Timeline

4 years