Sustainable Maritime Operations in Global Context

He has been working on the safety of ships both in open water and in ice. His main expertise over a 40-year career has focused on full-scale measurements of ice-induced loads and analysis of ice load statistics, simulation of ship performance in ice, development of advanced structural solutions for ships, and development of system-level safety of marine traffic. He has also served as Vice Dean of the School of Engineering at Aalto University, with responsibilities related to the impact and innovation activities of the School. Kujala has extensive national and international cooperation experience, including heading the Center of Excellence for Safe Arctic Shipping funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation in London.

His research interests focus on how computational methods and high-performance computing can be applied to solve problems in ship hydrodynamics effectively and reliably. He is particularly interested in the interaction between waves and ships, including phenomena such as wave loads and added resistance caused by waves.

He works on both basic and applied science of marine technology with a focus on ship design and analysis of thin-walled structures. His research focuses on design and optimization with different optimization criteria related to technology and end-user experiences. His research on structures focuses on large-scale structures but also contributes to the mechanics of structures at smaller length scales.

His research focuses on ship performance in ice and ice-induced loads on the ship hull measurements in model-scale and full-scale. He is specially interested in measurement methods and technology related to these topics. In addition, ice conditions measurements and determination (e.g. mechanical properties of ice and ice thickness) have been closely related to his research. Currently, his research has been focusing more on model-scale testing and scaling methods (representation of full-scale processes in model-scale testing in ice). He has been conducting full-scale measurements on board different vessels and ice field in the Baltic Sea, Canadian Arctic and Antarctic waters.

Tapaninen has over 30 years’ experience in logistics and maritime transport in academia, public and private sector. She has worked in key positions in two Finnish shipping companies (bulk and RoRo sector) and worked as a senior expert at City of Helsinki in charge of maritime cluster development. Presently, she in board of Port of Helsinki, one of the busiest intenational passenger ports in the world. She has published dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and reports as well as other publications in scientific and non-scientific journals. She is a frequent speaker in seminars. She has published a textbook Maritime Transport by Kogan Page presenting the fundamentals of maritime business. She also publishes a blog ullatapaninen.net presenting contemporary issues in maritime transport.

His research focuses on the analysis of marine risks and safety systems engineering, with applications in smart shipping and ship winter navigation. His work involves the development of methods, processes, and tools for modeling and analyzing the risks, safety, and resilience of ship and marine systems, supporting the design of advanced ship concepts and technologies, and ensuring the management of safety in maritime traffic operations.