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Thank you to everyone who joined us in Helsinki on for the ISWAN 2023 Seminar, hosted by the Finnish Seamen's Service, on 16 November!

Our theme this year was: 'Addressing the maritime recruitment crisis: Seafarer wellbeing in a changing world'.

The maritime sector faces a growing recruitment and retention crisis. Increased workloads, reduced shore leave, an unwillingness to undertake long contracts, and the over-occurrence of issues such as bullying and harassment, are just some of the factors leading seafarers to seek alternative careers. At the same time, the need for highly skilled, experienced seafarers to steer the maritime sector through the transition to zero-carbon has never been greater.

The seminar aimed to take a solutions-focused approach to exploring how the maritime sector needs to address the recruitment and retention gap, providing the opportunity to hear from a range of industry experts.

Read about the event in our post-seminar article here

We will publish a short paper with key outcomes from the seminar soon.

Watch the live stream recording of the ISWAN 2023 Seminar here:

Timings in Eastern European Time (EET), i.e. GMT+2:

08:15 - 09:00: Registration & coffee

09:00 - 09:30: Welcome presentations

• 09:00 - 09:10: Simon Grainge - Chief Executive, ISWAN
• 09:10 - 09:15: Guest of Honour: Tiina Tuurnala - CEO, Finnish Shipowners' Association
• 09:15 - 09:20: Gold Sponsor: Roll Group
• 09:20 - 09:30: Karin Orsel - Chair of ISWAN; CEO, MF Shipping Group

09:30 - 10:30: Session 1: The voices of seafarers

• Panel Host: Jason Zuidema - ISWAN Trustee; Executive Director, NAMMA; General Secretary, ICMA
• Suneeti Bala - Former Chief Engineer; Trustee, International Women Seafarer's Foundation
• Mika Behm - Shop Supervisor, Eckerö - M/S Finlandia
• Tommy Björklund - Seafarer, Neste & Writer, FSS Magazine Vapaavahti
• Capt. Steve Oertel - Captain, MF Shipping Group
  
• Melanie White - Former superyacht chef; Co-founder, Seas the Mind

10:30 - 11:00: Networking break

11:00 - 12:30: Session 2: Fair working conditions

• 11:00 - 11:10: Andrew Stephens - Executive Director, Sustainable Shipping Initiative
• 11:10 - 11:20: Sadie Saunders - Maritime Policy Adviser, International Transport Workers' Federation
  
• 11:20 - 11:30: Isabelle Rickmers - Founder & CEO, TURTLE
  
• 11:30 - 11:40: Maria Carrera Arce - Research Associate, World Maritime University
• 11:40 - 12:30: Panel discussion - Panel Host: Charles Boyle - ISWAN Trustee; Director of Legal Services, Nautilus International

12:30 - 13:30: Networking lunch

13:30 - 13:40: Finnish Seamen's Service 50th anniversary

13:40 - 15:10: Session 3: Inclusive culture

• 13:40 - 13:50: Sofie Trier Jensen - Marine Culture Project Manager, Maersk
  
• 13:50 - 14:00: Susanne Justesen - Project Director, Human Sustainability, Global Maritime Forum
• 14:00 - 14:10: James Stockbridge - Co-Founder & Trustee, NeurodiversAtSea.org
• 14:10 - 14:20: Dr. Caitlin Bentley - Lecturer in AI Education, King's College London
  
• 14:20 - 15:10: Panel discussion - Panel Host: Karen Waltham - ISWAN Trustee; HR Director/Independent People Management Consultant
• Daniel Smith - Founder, NeurodiversAtSea.org

15:10 - 15:30: Networking break

15:30 - 16:30: Session 4: Changing technologies - Impact on wellbeing

• Panel Host: Sue Henney - ISWAN Trustee; Head of Marketing, IDWAL Marine
• Chirag Bahri - International Operations Manager, ISWAN
• Dr. Christos Kontovas – Reader in Sustainable Maritime Transportation and Logistics, Liverpool John Moores University
• Catherine Logie - Direct to Consumer Services Director, Ocean Technologies Group
• Rob Parkin - Business Development Specialist, BazePort

16:30 - 17:00: Final thoughts

17:00 - 18:00: Free time

18:00 - 19:30: Welcome drinks

19:30 - Late: Networking dinner & drinks

We are extremely grateful to our sponsors, who have made this event possible:

Gold: Roll Group

Silver: Bahri, Isle of Man Ship Registry and Nautilus International

Bronze: BazePort, Emarat Maritime, GENCO, Haque & Sons, International Chamber of Shipping, London P&I Club, NorthStandard, Scorpio Group and Seafarers' Pension Fund (Merimieseläkekassa)

Dinner: UK P&I Club

Travel: ATPI

Media Partners: SAFETY4SEA and The Maritime Executive