Hamed Majidian is a sophomore PhD student majoring in Ocean Engineering from the School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering. He has been conducting research under the guidance of Professor Wang Lei.

His research project on Sea State Estimator (SSE) Monitoring System has currently been awarded the Stanley Gray Fellowship and he will act as the Imaerst scholar in academic communities.  The Stanley Gray Fellowship is an award that is judged by the senior member of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) every year for a Doctorate (PhD) or post-Doctorate level candidates in marine engineering/science/technology who could be recognized as a potential outstanding piece of research work. This award is presented in honour of Stanley Gray, Chief Mechanical Engineer at the Port Directorate of Basra during the 1950s and 60s. The applications are evaluated based on the written submission and a panel interview conducted by the senior committee.

He was admitted to the program in 2020, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. So he has been doing research online and keeping in touch with his supervisor. Although the pandemic and border closure slowed his research activities, they could never stop him from what he was really passionate about.  His Ph.D. project is entitled "Sea state estimator (SSE) monitoring system". The project is basically going to enhance the operational efficiency of floating marine vessels through the indication of real-time seaway data for decision-makers in a piece of equipment onboard. In fact, wave data is the major source of induced forces to a floating structure in any form and dimension, so acquiring wave information is imperative for increasing the maneuverability efficiency, especially on-site wave characteristics. In the beginning, coping with the situation was very difficult and cumbersome, especially for majors that essentially required practical tests and experiments. However, as time went by, he figured out how to deal with issues.  As such, flexibility is a must-have trait. Although his project was intended to be more extensive and different at the beginning, he set the milestones according to the available and prevailing facilities and conditions.

To conduct a productive research, talking to his supervisory team, he was inspired to shift the focus of the project from ships to offshore platforms. Not to say that his supervisor, Professor Wang Lei, and the supervisory team, especially Dr. Yiting, have had a crucial role to play in this accomplishment.  Many thanks to Professor Wang who guided him to set up the research workflow, kept Hamed Majidian connected to his students and research team, and also, has supported him with a strong recommendation letter to the panel members of ImarEST. The hierarchy of the research team constructed by Professor Wang has assisted him being in direct touch and contact with students and people who work in a relatively similar field and so accelerated his research activities. As a result, he never felt left behind during this period.

The following are his thoughts about winning the prize

Speaking of IMarEST, I am deeply honored to announce that I will serve as IMarEST ambassador and scholar at SJTU. As a student member, I lodged my application to the Stanley Gray Fellowship scheme, while many documents concerning the research work have to be included in the portfolio, comprising the abstract, details of the research subject, primary and secondary objectives, scope, brief literature review, and a project plan in Gantt Chart outline describing the progression of research through key milestones such as timeline papers, and publications. In addition, a testimonial from the supervisor and supervisory team regarding the candidate's potential and capabilities must have been added, where Dr. Wang's and Dr. Enshaei's letters (Co-supervisor from Australian maritime college (AMC)) have enhanced my application dramatically. After primary assessment by the IMarEST committee, I was shortlisted for a panel interview, where I presented my project to the audience and answered many questions in the following Q & A session. Almost after one month, I got the award-winning email from the institute when I was burning from fever due to the Omicron variant, and to my surprise, all pains and fever disappeared once I got the email!

At the moment, two papers as the result of the project have been submitted and published in the prestigious journal of Ocean Engineering, and another conference paper is going to be presented in NAOME 2022 or conference of international ship control system symposium ISCSS2022. Regardless of the limitations of in-person attendance at the conference, they helped me stick to my research schedule.

Aside from tremendous honour and communal recognition, the Stanley Gray Fellowship could support me financially in developing the primary prototype, and examining the function of the SSE unit for practical purposes. Ultimately, being an IMarEST nominee for this prestigious award itself has been a great pride, let alone winning that, so the words cannot convey my humblest appreciation not only because of fellowship but also for fueling my incentives during the lockdown.

As a piece of advice to my peers, I would recommend flexible research projects to keep the boat on the right track. In addition, the combination of a research team and a supervisor is of great significance.  It ought to be said, the accessibility to a high processor computer station through applications like "Team-viewer" and SJTU online library has been so helpful to me. Thankfully, I have been working in a team with the highest global standards, whereas the supervisor has provided all support and possibilities for everyone. I am enthusiastically looking forward to seeing our team in person soon.