Highly-skilled professionals to lead Britain’s maritime future are to be trained in Liverpool under a UKRI co-funded project.

The £9million Centre for Doctoral Training will be unique in the UK and co-led by the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University.

Professor Zaili Yang, of LJMU’s School of Engineering and Maritime, said the Centre, was “a fantastic opportunity to apply the expertise of Britain’s oldest maritime education provider, LJMU, to the future of UK industry.”

The Centre for Net Zero Maritime Energy Solutions (N0MES), was launched on October 23, 2024 at The Spine in Liverpool and attended by UoL’s Vice-Chancellor Tim Jones, former Science Minister and president of the Resolution Foundation David Willetts, academic teams and partners.

In all there are 33 industrial and governmental partners including Liverpool City Region, Peel Ports, EDF, RWE, Mersey Maritime, the Marine Management Organisation, Liverpool Freeport and numerous SMEs and charities.

Mersey has the largest offshore wind farms in the UK and is the second-largest tidal energy generator in the UK.

CDT Director, John Bridgeman, Professor of Engineering at UoL, said the project would provide more than 50 PhDs with skills in areas identified by industry. LJMU will train 22 PhD.

Candidates will come from industrial partners and also be selected from outstanding PGRs. They will spend four years working towards a PhD and will also be prepared professional management and leadership skills.

“It is tremendous to see universities preparing top researchers for industry as well as for academia,” said Baron Willetts.

The theme of the training will be maritime energy with four areas needing high-level skills, according to industry – energy generation, distribution, environmental impact and decommissioning. Doctoral students will spend around 75% of their time developing skills working directly with a company. The remaining time will be spent on PhD-level research projects with taught modules.

“This is a huge opportunity for people to pursue a career in maritime who wish to aid the global transition to net zero,” said LJMU’s Professor Jin Wang.

Both LJMU and UoL are driving maritime as a key piece in the future of the regional economy.

Professor Tim Jones said: “Liverpool is fundamentally a port city and this CDT a place-based scheme which puts the skills exactly where they are needed, which is here.”

LJMU’s CDT team also involves Professor Trung Thanh Nguyen and Dr Eduardo Blanco Davies.

IMAGE: Professor Zaili Yang (LJMU) with N0MES Director Prof John Bridgeman and Prof Andy Plater (UoL).