Innovative approaches to promoting maritime careers

Innovative approaches to promoting maritime careers • John Hepburn

PROMARC • PROmoting MArine Research Careers • Create and analyse database of regional/national/EU schemes • Identify drivers and key success factors • Recommend existing schemes for support • Propose new schemes to take forward

Database • Simple structure – Excel spreadsheet, .txt notes, links to more detailed information • 64 entries from 5 countries • UK centric • Ongoing

Analysis • Taxonomy • Key success factors • Performance measures • Enabling bodies • Scored projects against 10 key drivers

Analysis - Taxonomy • Curriculum Resources • Careers Promotion • Games & Challenges • Courses, Diplomas & Scholarships • Popular / New Media • Ambassadors • Sector Promotion

Analysis – Key Success Factors • “Success is determined more by having the right people than by having the right systems”

Analysis - Performance measures • Difficult • Generally not done • Some measures: • Feedback from attendees/participants • Follow up interviews • Internet activity • Recruitment levels • “none of the outcomes are rigorous enough to confirm that the project in question brought new candidates into the maritime sector”

Analysis - Enabling bodies • Clusters, coastal partnerships • Trade bodies (includes learned societies) • Individual companies (includes charities) • Further and higher education bodies • And, occasionally, governmental bodies

Analysis – Key drivers 1. Perceived low level of political/strategic importance by governing bodies 2. Lack of knowledge and understanding about the marine surface transport sector 3. Sector not as attractive to young people as other sectors 4. Financial reward and pay seen to be unattractive 5. Inability to compete for the best talent from universities and colleges

Analysis – Key drivers 6. Traditional industry unable/unwilling to change working methods. 7. Traditional industry unable/unwilling to change recruitment methods or embrace research. 8. Lack of interaction between industry and academia on the development of education and research. 9. Poor exposure in the media. 10. Insufficient information at school and college level about the sector

Weighted Top 10 activities • Sea your Future - IMarEST • Maritime Clusters • Maritime Magazine • Oceans of Opportunity (SUT) • Science and Engineering Ambassador (SEA) • Marine Careers Opportunities - IMarEST • Mersey Maritime - Quay Skills • French Maritime Clusters • Dover Maritime Careers Fair • Maritime Strategy for the Westpomeranian Region

Analysis – Top scoring schemes • Curriculum Resources • Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (57.5) • Careers Promotion • Sea your Future – IMarEST (73) • Games & Challenges • Maritime Enterprise Game (43) • Courses, Diplomas & Scholarships • Mersey Maritime - Quay Skills (61) • Popular / New Media • BBC Series "Coast“ (41) • Ambassadors • Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador (63) • Sector Promotion • Maritime Clusters (70)

Project lies at junction of 3 policies: • Maritime • Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths • Youth Youth Maritime STEM

STEM Ambassadors • “What’s my line?” visits to schools

STEM Ambassadors • Participation in Engineering Education Scheme • Ambassadors mentor school teams finding solutions to real world engineering problems

Curriculum Resources • Marine environment attractive topic • Lead into maritime activities • Increase interest in maritime careers • Must involve teachers to be valued • Also needs personal touch – internet is not enough! • The “Beach Litter” project

Beach Litter Project • Asks students to write back story of 4 items of litter • Background information • Litter • Sources • Shipping • Fishing • Ocean currents, winds, tides • Images • Powerpoint presentation

Beach Litter

Where does litter come from? • The Marine Conservation Society runs a survey of beach litter every year. • The four main sources of beach litter are from the public, fishing, sewage and shipping Source: Marine Conservation Society Beachwatch Survey 2008

Where does litter come from? • Shipping litter - 1.8% - 39 items per km • Includes items such as pallets, strapping bands and oil drums. Some items of public litter may have come from ships. Source: Marine Conservation Society Beachwatch Survey 2008

Ships • Ships are not the worst polluters. • They are more than dots on the horizon. • They carry more than 90% of the stuff you buy. • They carry stuff that would otherwise go by road. • What sorts of ships are there, and what do they do?

How did these get to Wembury? • Rope • Balloon • Oil drum • Radar aerial

Clusters and Careers Promotion • Sea Vision UK • Maritime Magazine • New edition for the “U Tube Generation” soon

Clusters and Careers Promotion • Maritime Plymouth proposed local guide • Working with Blue Sound • Sea is an amazing environment (marine) • Sea offers amazing opportunitities (maritime) • Shared marine and maritime information resources • Tailor to individual needs • Marine and Maritime Ambassadors

Plymouth Local Guide – Shared Resource Wildlife There are many sea creatures below the surface, or exposed by the tide. These are some that you might see from a boat. Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus Very common in and around the Sound, this is the biggest gull you will see, but not as bid as a gannet. It eats almost anything.

Plymouth Local Guide – Shared Resource What does that ship do? Product Tanker Product tankers carry refined oil to the fuel tanks in Plymouth, reducing road haulage, and keeping local petrol prices low

Plymouth Local Guide – Shared Resource Leisure Boating People go boating in all kinds of different boats Bermudan Sloop A Bermudan sloop has two working sails, both triangular. The mainsail, behind the mast has no spar of its own. The sail in front of the mast can have several names. Most usual are jib or foresail. This yacht has a jib which goes up to the top of the mast, and a long low foot at the bottom and is known as a masthead genoa, or “genie.” This sort of boat sails well upwind. When sailing with the wind behind, the crew will sometimes hoist another sail called a spinnaker. This rig is popular on a range of sizes of boats, from small dinghies to huge yachts.

Plymouth Local Guide – Shared Resource People in Plymouth who use the sea for pleasure or profit Kate Reed - Business Analyst for Infospectrum I graduated in “Maritime Business with Maritime Law” from Plymouth University in 2007 as a mature student. This gave me a practical knowledge of the management and operation of ships, and to the carriage of goods by sea, and research and analysis skills, which, combined with my previous work experience in business, fitted me for my job. Infospectrum is a leading independent provider of commercial intelligence to companies active in shipping, commodity trading, ship finance and insurance. I write reports on companies, principally in the marine, energy and commodities sectors. I have to use different levels of research, covering many international jurisdictions, while keeping up to date on current industrial issues, before analysing my various findings and presenting them in a written report. The clients often require the information within very tight deadlines. The diversity and uniqueness of the companies I cover means that no two days in the “office” are the same. Working from home in Plymouth lets me do a job in an exciting and varied industry and live by the sea.

Plymouth Local Guide - Tailored Landmarks of Plymouth Sound Match up the pictures with the letters on the map (10 points each) A ^ Breakwater Fort B C D < Fort Bovisand ^ Drake’s Island Total points Fort Picklecombe >

Plymouth Local Guide - Tailored Marine Wildlife Fins & Flippers There is a wealth of life under the water which you can only see by diving, or by poking around when the tide is out. What you might see from a boat are mega fauna—which is how scientists describe big animals. Whales, dolphins and porpoises are mammals like us, and they need to breathe air, which they do through a blow-hole in the top of their head. You are not likely to see a whale in the Sound, but dolphins (right) often come in and play around the bows of ships and boats. Porpoises are much smaller and their dorsal fins are much less conspicuous. All these animals are known as cetaceans. 50 points for any cetacean (plus 10 points for each extra one). (Photo: Simon Middleton) Basking sharks (below) are our biggest fish. But they live on the smallest of sea creatures—plankton and would not be interested in you as food. If the plankton is close to the surface you may see their dorsal and tail finas, and maybe their snouts as they hoover up the plankton with their wide open mouths.. 90 points for a basking shark. (Photo: Seals (right) are difficult to spot as you only usually see the head, and that not for long. But they are curious animals and my come to have a closer look at you. You are more likely to see a grey seal than a common seal, and they are not easy to tell apart. 70 points for a seal. Total points

Plymouth Local Guide - Tailored Cornubia Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters used to take pilots out to the big ships coming in from sea. The pilots knew the local waters better than the ship’s own captain and could take them safely into harbour. Cornubia was built in Polruan, Cornwall in 1911, but she has had a lot of work done to her recently . As a cutter she has one mast, and can set two or more sails in front of the mast, and a mainsail behind the mast. When racing we set a topsail above the mainsail. The crew will help you tell which sail is which. Match up the names to the letters. Jib Foresail Mainsail Topsail 5 points for each one The port side is the one on your left as you look towards the bows (sharp end). The other side is called starboard. Which side of the boat are we looking at in the picture on the right? 5 points A B C In the picture to the left we are looking aft, at the stern (blunt end). Ropes which are used to control the angle of the sails are called sheets. Which one is this? 5 points D Total points

Plymouth Local Guide - Tailored Sea Power You will see many warships in Plymouth Sound and the River Tamar. Devonport Royal Dockyard is Europe’s biggest ship repair facility. It maintains many Royal Navy ships, and some are based here. Others come here to train, along with warships from other countries. You will also see Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships. You can tell what sort of ship it is from the letter at the beginning of its pennant number which is painted on its side. Why not make a note of the pennant numbers and names of any warships you see? Destroyers have pennant numbers beginning with D and frigates with an F. These are the work-horses of modern navies. The frigate below is HMS Cumberland 15 points for a destroyer or frigate 10 extra points for a foreign one To the left is a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship. It carries spare fuel for ships away from harbour—a sort of floating service station. It is a merchant ship—RFA Black Rover not HMS Black Rover RFAs fly a blue ensign at the stern, rather than the white ensign. 15 points for an RFA. HMS Ocean, on the right, is the Navy’s biggest ship. It carries commandos and can land them by landing craft, helicopters, or straight onto a jetty. 30 points Total points

Plymouth Local Guide - Tailored People Here are some of the people whose work in Plymouth involves them with the sea. Would you like to work in, on or by the sea? John Hepburn - Freelance business support consultant, and author of Time in the Tide (below) Mike Pumphrey - Havenmaster, Plymouth Yacht Haven (left) (Photo: Mike Pumphrey) Charlotte Marshall - Research scientist at Plymouth's Marine Institute (right) (Photo: Charlotte Marshall)

Innovative approaches to promoting maritime careers • The three most important things: • People • People • People

Innovative approaches to promoting maritime careers