Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Marine activities, such as shipping, are important to Canada's economy and coastal communities. But they carry risks. For instance, regional disruptions to the marine transportation system can affect the delivery of goods and services to vulnerable coastal communities. Safety risks to ship crew and passengers in emergency situations require the efficient design and organization of Search and Rescue services. Acute environmental risks of shipping, such as oil spills, can have large economic, environmental, and socio-cultural impacts. Cumulative environmental stressors, such as underwater noise and pollutants discharge, can also have significant negative impacts on marine ecosystem health. Clearly, having sound approaches to analyze, assess, and control such diverse marine risks is important to support effective decision-making and risk mitigation. This is where Dr. Floris Goerlandt, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management and Resource Optimization for Marine Industries, focuses his applied research. He develops frameworks, models, and decision support tools to better understand and control marine risks, with a focus on safety and environmental risks of shipping. Using an interdisciplinary approach, he and his research team actively engage with Canadian and international academic, governmental, and industry stakeholders to achieve these goals. Various mathematical approaches, including simulation, decision analysis, data analytics, and applied optimization techniques are combined with qualitative systems analysis approaches and social science methods such as interviews and focus group discussions. Therefore, Dr. Goerlandt actively engages with domain experts, end-users, and stakeholders through workshops and seminars. It is also important to make sure that risk analyses and decision support tools achieve the desired aims, meaning that they provide useful and timely information while acknowledging the limitations of available knowledge. However, the importance of validating risk analyses has not received much explicit scientific attention, and practical approaches are lacking. Dr. Goerlandt's work will therefore also develop approaches to validate risk analyses, supporting better decision-making and use of organizational resources by advancing this aspect of basic risk science. Ultimately, his research on risk analysis and decision support tools for marine risks will contribute to safe and environmentally sustainable shipping in Canada and abroad.