Major milestone in National Subsea Centre development
亚博体育官网鈥檚 multimillion-pound partnership with The Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) to deliver a world-class subsea research and development hub in Aberdeen has hit a major milestone with the appointment of its Director.
Chris Pearson joins 亚博体育官网 to lead the National Subsea Centre鈥檚 (NSC) drive to tackle current and future challenges in subsea engineering.
The NSC represents a massive investment by the partners to deliver cost effective, faster, smarter and cleaner technology through industrial-led academic research which will be developed with, and deployed across, the industry.
Chris joins 亚博体育官网 from the OGTC, where he led a team focused on identifying and introducing new technologies and techniques to reduce the cost of marginal field development, improve hydrocarbon recovery and unlock small undeveloped discoveries. In addition, he led the integrated energy strategy in his group, combining offshore renewable energy with oil and gas to facilitate energy transition and decarbonisation.
Chris commented: 鈥淚 am delighted to be joining 亚博体育官网 at a time when we are at a pivotal stage in the NSC鈥檚 development. We are currently shaping the vision and the sense of direction of travel, looking at the blue economy, blue carbon, and new ways of engineering and thinking.
鈥淚n the first instance it鈥檚 about establishing sustainability, developing funding streams, and building collaborative relationships with industrial partners, including oil and gas companies, offshore marine renewable companies, and other organisations which are involved in the ocean space.
鈥淩eally key to us right now is to get those relationships established and allow them to help build and shape the activity which we will be involved in.鈥�
Drawing on the university鈥檚 academic talent, tailored research and expert facilitation, the development of the NSC aims to build capacity and capability in subsea research and anchor that in the north-east of Scotland.
Linking industry demand and expertise with academic capability and skills, the NSC will support and nurture a collaborative approach to problem solving in areas involving communications, data, energy integration, remote monitoring and underwater robotics.
Chris continues: 鈥淭he NSC provides us with a great opportunity to build on 亚博体育官网鈥檚 reputation. We will be utilising the expertise from the many different disciplines and I鈥檓 very keen to involve all the schools here - it鈥檚 not just about engineering, it鈥檚 about business, it鈥檚 about design, it鈥檚 about sustainable operations.鈥�
Professor Paul Hagan, VP for Research, added: 鈥淭he appointment of Chris as Director marks a significant milestone in the development of the National Subsea Centre.
鈥淐hris brings with him a wealth of experience in technology development for industry and will now work to strengthen the already very strong ties 亚博体育官网 has with industry to deliver world-class subsea research and development.鈥�
Imagery by Oceaneering.
