Oceans’ 17/MTS/IEEE Aberdeen Conference Summary

The Marine Technology Society (MTS) and the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES), cosponsored the "OCEANS '17 MTS/IEEE Aberdeen”, from 19-22 June 2017, at the AECC in Aberdeen, Scotland. OCEANS Aberdeen was the 60th edition of this premier global ocean engineering and marine technology forum.

“The overall conference was a great example of local Scottish marine technology, and, at the same time, brought to Aberdeen marine science and technology experts from around the globe,” said Professor John Watson, Chair for OCEANS Aberdeen. Over 25 countries were represented at the four-day conference by 775 attendees. Over 480 marine technology papers were presented during the conference. Subjects ranged from subsea engineering and operations, optical sensing, imaging and instrumentation, fisheries and aquaculture, to exciting cutting edge technologies like marine renewable energy, and unmanned underwater vehicles in defense applications.

OCEANS Aberdeen featured over 43 exhibitors, including local companies and exhibitors from as far away as Japan. The Gold Patron for OCEANS Aberdeen, was SUBSEA UK. Other supporters included the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, Visit Scotland, AECC, Visit Aberdeenshire, Kongsberg, International Oceans Systems, ROV Planet, DECOM North Sea and Subsea and Offshore Service Magazine.

Donna Kocak, President of MTS, and Christian de Moustier, President of OES, stated jointly “We were delighted with this venue, conference, and the quality of the attendees. OCEANS has an amazing 60-year history and an equally bright future.”

The Plenary speakers at the 60th Anniversary of OCEANS included: Professor Dame Anne Glover, University of Aberdeen, Dr. Gareth Davies, Aquatera, Dr. Stef Kapusniak, SMD and Dr. Eric Delory, Plocan. A robust Student Poster Competition (SPC) was also part of the OCEANS Aberdeen conference, sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the two sponsoring societies, MTS and OES. The winners of this year’s competition were Klemen Istenic from the University of Girona (First Place), Bilal Wehbe from the DFKI Robotics Innovation Center (Second Place), and Habib Mirhedayati Rouds from Dalhousie University (Third Place). The winners of the SPC receive $3000, $2000, and $1000 prizes, respectively, and all twenty competitors’ travel expenses are paid for with funding from ONR, MTS, and OES.

For further information visit MTS and IEEE OES websites.