Maritime DTU has just welcomed two new professors: Professor Jasmine Siu Lee Lam and Professor Anders Christiansen Erlandsson. Together with the Head of Maritime DTU, Mette Sanne Hansen, they will develop and strengthen both maritime research and study programmes to ensure that future engineers from DTU have the right competences and insight in the maritime sector, nationally as well as internationally.
The two professorships are funded in collaboration between DTU, the Danish Maritime Fund, and Dampskibsselskabet Orient’s Fond. The co-funding has made it possible to employ not just one, but two high-profile professors.
“We’re very pleased at Maritime DTU that we’ve succeeded in employing two such talented professors with deep insight into the challenges faced by the maritime sector—financially, technically, and in relation to the green transition. I’m thrilled to embark on a further development of our entire subject area along with Jasmine Siu Lee Lam and Anders Christiansen Erlandsson. It will be a clear boost that will benefit us as a university, the students, and, not least, the maritime sector,” says Mette Sanne Hansen, Head of Centre, Maritime DTU.
Research at the highest level and great sector insight
Jasmine Siu Lee Lam and Anders Christiansen Erlandsson will each bring their own area of expertise with them to DTU and ensure broad focus on the maritime area together with increased interdisciplinary collaboration.
Professor Jasmine Siu Lee Lam is one of the world’s leading researchers in the maritime sector. She comes from Nanyang Technological University Singapore, where she headed the Maritime Studies programme. She also founded the University’s Centre for Maritime Energy and Sustainable Development, which is a research centre run in collaboration with maritime companies.
At DTU, Jasmine Siu Lee Lam will continue her world-class research and also build up a new general introductory course for all DTU students which will give them basic knowledge of the maritime world and its engineering challenges. The purpose of the course is to ensure both a general increased understanding of this field and help attract students to the maritime programmes.
Professor Anders Christiansen Erlandsson has most recently worked at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping and has in-depth knowledge of the maritime industry. At DTU, he will conduct research into a number of areas, including fuels for ships as part of the green transition, with the focus being on combustion, emissions, storage and transport of fuels, etc. Part of Anders Christiansen Erlandsson’s research will deal with techno-economic energysystem models directly applicable to the maritime industry.
Increased focus on study programmes
Concurrently with the appointment of the two new professors, DTU has initiated a number of initiatives aimed at highlighting the study programmes that can qualify students to work in the maritime industry. The aim is to attract more students to these study programmes, including through the information material that guides the students in their choice of study programmes. Here, it has now become significantly easier to get an overview of the available maritime study programmes, which have also been given a more formal status, as it is specified in the exam certificate that the graduate has specialized in the maritime area.
“The industry has a great need for more graduate engineers. With the appointments and initiatives to make the maritime study programmes more visible, we hope to be able to give the area a significant overall boost, in terms of new research, new knowledge, and more students,” says Mette Sanne Hansen.
The initiatives also please Danske Maritime.
”Both the new professors, the new new specialisation of the Master of Science in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering and the new website offering an overview regarding the maritime studies is really good news for the maritime industry. We are in great need for more high qualified labor and have emphasized the need for an upgrade of the maritime faculty at DTU for a long time. Now it’s happening and we are happy to continue our dedicated collaboration with DTU to show future students just how much we have to offer in the maritime industry. It’s extremely positive with more strong profiles on board in that work and we also look forward to expand the many activities that we are already a part of alongside our members.”
Jasmine Siu Lee Lam and Anders Christiansen Erlandsson will be employed from spring 2023 and, based on their expertise, they will be attached to two different departments: DTU Management and DTU Construct.
