Over the past several years, there has been a growing international recognition that security and risk issues of marine systems such as container line supply chains (CLSCs) need to be reviewed urgently. Serious accidents such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the lock-out of the American West Coast Ports in 2002, the blast on the Madrid commuter trains in 2004 and the blast on the London commuter buses and underground trains in 2005 have shocked the whole international shipping and logistics supply industries and prompted this urgency. CLSCs, with many complex physical and information flows, have not only contributed to economic prosperity but also rendered themselves uniquely vulnerable to many risks ranging from delay of cargo delivery to environmental pollution and from terrorist attacks to damage of economic stability. Security is becoming one of the most important criteria for measuring the performance of the design, control and management of marine systems. The term security may in general be defined as freedom from vulnerability which is an exposure to serious disturbances arising from threats. In this research, risks associated with threats will be referred to as security risks. Whilst conventional hazard-based risk is a combination of the probability of occurrence of an undesirable event and the degree of its possible consequences, security risks are different from hazard-based risks and need to be modelled differently. As a result, security and risk assessment is a process of analysing both threats and hazards in a system and making respective decisions on suitable strategies against the potential vulnerability of the system. Previous research in this and related areas has greatly increased our understanding of vulnerability, risks, threats and hazards. However, few studies have generated appropriate supporting tools for security and risk studies in CLSCs from both the engineering and managerial viewpoints. This project is aimed at developing a security and risk-based framework and also assessment models suitable for marine operations. To achieve this aim, several challenging research questions need to be investigated. First of all, most relationships among different security and risk variables may emerge at a variety of spatial, temporal or functional scales, which might be better represented if each relationship were described at or between the dynamic and interactive levels of detail, rather than treating static and steady scale processes identically. In this project, a novel hybrid reasoning network combining Bayesian networks, fuzzy sets and evidential reasoning, referred to as the ER-RN model, will be developed in order to estimate the occurrence likelihoods of threats and hazards in CLSCs. Secondly, information for security and risk assessment in CLSCs is inherently uncertain, caused by imperfect understanding of the domain of a CLSC, incomplete knowledge about the state of the domain, randomness in the mechanisms governing the behaviour of the domain, or a combination of them. It is therefore a great challenge to handle such uncertain information. In this project, a novel belief rule based (BRB) system approach will be investigated in order to use such uncertain information for estimating risks associated with both threats and hazards by modelling the damage capability, recall difficulty and damage probability of threats as well as the possible consequences of hazards. Thirdly, the assessment of security and risk control measures (SRCMs) requires the simultaneous consideration of multiple criteria such as system risk, the costs of implementing a SRCM and the benefits from reduced risk and cargo transfer delay. In this research, a multiple attribute decision-making method will be developed, which can process various types of information with uncertainty generated from the proposed ER-RN and BRB models. Case studies will be conducted to demonstrate the proposed network, models and analysis methods.

Over the past several years, there has been a growing international recognition that security and risk issues of marine systems such as container line supply chains (CLSCs) need to be reviewed urgently. Serious accidents such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the lock-out of the American West Coast Ports in 2002, the blast on the Madrid commuter trains in 2004 and the blast on the London commuter buses and underground trains in 2005 have shocked the whole international shipping and logistics supply industries and prompted this urgency. CLSCs, with many complex physical and information flows, have not only contributed to economic prosperity but also rendered themselves uniquely vulnerable to many risks ranging from delay of cargo delivery to environmental pollution and from terrorist attacks to damage of economic stability. Security is becoming one of the most important criteria for measuring the performance of the design, control and management of marine systems. The term security may in general be defined as freedom from vulnerability which is an exposure to serious disturbances arising from threats. In this research, risks associated with threats will be referred to as security risks. Whilst conventional hazard-based risk is a combination of the probability of occurrence of an undesirable event and the degree of its possible consequences, security risks are different from hazard-based risks and need to be modelled differently. As a result, security and risk assessment is a process of analysing both threats and hazards in a system and making respective decisions on suitable strategies against the potential vulnerability of the system. Previous research in this and related areas has greatly increased our understanding of vulnerability, risks, threats and hazards. However, few studies have generated appropriate supporting tools for security and risk studies in CLSCs from both the engineering and managerial viewpoints. This project is aimed at developing a security and risk-based framework and also assessment models suitable for marine operations. To achieve this aim, several challenging research questions need to be investigated. First of all, most relationships among different security and risk variables may emerge at a variety of spatial, temporal or functional scales, which might be better represented if each relationship were described at or between the dynamic and interactive levels of detail, rather than treating static and steady scale processes identically. In this project, a novel hybrid reasoning network combining Bayesian networks, fuzzy sets and evidential reasoning, referred to as the ER-RN model, will be developed in order to estimate the occurrence likelihoods of threats and hazards in CLSCs. Secondly, information for security and risk assessment in CLSCs is inherently uncertain, caused by imperfect understanding of the domain of a CLSC, incomplete knowledge about the state of the domain, randomness in the mechanisms governing the behaviour of the domain, or a combination of them. It is therefore a great challenge to handle such uncertain information. In this project, a novel belief rule based (BRB) system approach will be investigated in order to use such uncertain information for estimating risks associated with both threats and hazards by modelling the damage capability, recall difficulty and damage probability of threats as well as the possible consequences of hazards. Thirdly, the assessment of security and risk control measures (SRCMs) requires the simultaneous consideration of multiple criteria such as system risk, the costs of implementing a SRCM and the benefits from reduced risk and cargo transfer delay. In this research, a multiple attribute decision-making method will be developed, which can process various types of information with uncertainty generated from the proposed ER-RN and BRB models. Case studies will be conducted to demonstrate the proposed network, models and analysis methods.

Coastal hazards pose a significant risk to people, property, and infrastructure worldwide and in the UK. For example, over 1.8 million homes are at risk of coastal flooding and erosion in England alone and coastal flooding is recognized as one of the top two environmental hazards in terms of impact in the 2020 National Risk Register. The occurrence, intensity and impacts of coastal flooding and erosion are projected to increase with climate change and will have major socio-economic consequences. Historically, coastal protection has relied on overwhelming use of hard engineered defence schemes, but adverse effects and high costs of these schemes have driven advocacy of coastal practices that are based on Working with Natural Processes (WWNP). However, future changes in regional sea level, storms, pluvial and fluvial inputs, coastal habitats, and their interrelations lead to significant epistemic uncertainties (due to limited knowledge) about controls on flooding and erosion and limit the implementation of WWNP schemes. Questions remain on how multiple terrestrial and marine drivers of extreme hydrodynamic conditions will combine to control coastal flooding and erosion in the future, on the vulnerability and efficacy of protective services afforded by coastal habitats, and on the performance of WWNP solutions on coasts that already have partial protection by traditional engineered coastal defences. Event-scale coastal flooding and erosion mainly occur in response to synoptic scale meteorological events. These meteorological events can result in a series of individual hazard components to coastal environments, such as storm surges, extreme waves, extreme rainfall, and extreme river flows. However, these hazard components are not independent of each other, and coastal flooding and erosion commonly arise from the collective impact due to interrelated and/or successive hazard components. In other words, coastal flooding and erosion are controlled by multi-hazards. The CHAMFER project will characterise how multi-hazards at the coast control coastal flooding and erosion and determine how these multi-hazards will respond to climate change and coastal management. We will deliver a new community modelling system coupled across terrestrial and marine sectors, numerical simulations of which will be used to support multi-hazard analyses under present and future scenarios. This will be combined with an assessment of the role of coastal habitats resulting in national maps for protective services and vulnerabilities of coastal habitats to climate-driven multi-hazards. We will provide tools to analyse the efficacy of future WWNP schemes. CHAMFER will rely on a multi-scale approach both spatially, by considering UK/GB scales and more local spatial scales, and temporally, by considering responses to meteorological events under long-term climate-related or management-related changes. CHAMFER includes significant elements of co-design with stakeholders and we will work with government departments, public sector organisations, and industry users to inform and support coastal protection and adaptation options.

The Government's commitment to increasing offshore and marine renewable energy generation presents significant technological challenges in designing, commissioning and building the infrastructure, connecting offshore generation to onshore usage, and considering where these new developments are best placed, whilst balancing the impact they have upon the environment. In tandem, this commitment presents opportunities to advance UK capabilities in cutting-edge engineering and technologies in pursuit of net zero. Liverpool is home to one of the largest concentrations of offshore wind turbines globally in Liverpool Bay, the second largest tidal range in the UK, some of the largest names of maritime engineering alongside numerous SMEs, and the Port of Liverpool, a Freeport and Investment Zone status. The latest Science and Innovation Audit (2022) highlights Net Zero and Maritime as an emerging regional capability, and is an area in which the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has stated its ambition to grow an innovation cluster. The University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University each host world-class research expertise, environments and facilities relevant to addressing these maritime energy challenges, and have an established, shared track record in collaboration with industrial and civic partners. The Centre for Doctoral Training in Net Zero Maritime Energy Solutions (N0MES CDT) will play a vital role in filling critical skills gaps by delivering 52 highly trained researchers (PGRs), skilled in the identification, understanding, assessment, and solutions-delivery of pressing challenges in maritime energy. N0MES PGRs will pursue new, engineering-centred, interdisciplinary research to address four vital net zero challenges currently facing the North West, the UK and beyond: (a) Energy generation using maritime-based renewable energy (e.g. offshore wind, tidal, wave, floating solar, hydrogen, CCS) (b) Distributing energy from offshore to onshore, including port- and hinterland-side impacts and opportunities (c) Addressing the short- and long-term environmental impacts of offshore and maritime environment renewable energy generation, distribution and storage (d) Decommissioning and lifetime extension of existing energy and facilities The N0MES CDT will empower its graduates to communicate, research and innovate across disciplines, and will develop flexible leaders who can move between projects and disciplines as employer priorities and scientific imperatives evolve.

The Ocean-REFuel project brings together a multidisciplinary, world-leading team of researchers to consider at a fundamental level a whole-energy system to maximise ocean renewable energy (Offshore wind and Marine Renewable Energy) potential for conversion to zero carbon fuels. The project has transformative ambition addressing a number of big questions concerning our Energy future: How to maximise ocean energy potential in a safe, affordable, sustainable and environmentally sensitive manner? How to alleviate the intermittency of the ocean renewable energy resource? How ocean renewable energy can support renewable heat, industrial and transport demands through vectors other than electricity? How ocean renewable energy can support local, national and international whole energy systems? Ocean-REFuel is a large project integrating upstream, transportation and storage to end use cases which will over an extended period of time address these questions in an innovative manner developing an understanding of the multiple criteria involved and their interactions.