SEAFLOWER develops on the collaborations of three institutions: the University of Bologna, beneficiary of the action through Alessio (the MSCA fellow) and Laura (principal supervisor); the COFS of University of Western Australia with participation of Christophe and Phil; the INRAE in Grenoble under the supervision of Franck. The SEAFLOWER's team is presented in the following.
Senior Assistant Professor
PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Bologna in 2015, Alessio is the Individual Fellow working on SEAFLOWER. He developed the project idea after the experiences on the use of metamodelling techniques developed in his post-doc years thanks to the cooperation between Laura and prof Guido Gottardi at UNIBO and Franck at INRAE. Also based on Laura’s competences in offshore foundations, Alessio decided to apply these innovative methods in a new field of interest.
With SEAFLOWER he aims at contributing toward overcoming the actual technical barriers to the deployment of offshore wind in deep waters.
Associate Professor
Laura Govoni is Associate Professor at UNIBO. Her research interest on offshore foundations dates back to the PhD studies, partly carried out at COFS, and extends to date as member of ISSMGE Technical Committee 209 ‘Offshore Geotechnics’ and professor of Offshore Geotechnical Engineering. Director of the Master Degree Programme in Offshore Engineering at UNIBO, Laura is a firm supporter of renewable energies and has partaken to the first feasibility study for an OWF in the North Adriatic Sea.
Working with Alessio since his PhD studies, she will supervise the research activities during the 3 years.
Professor
Christophe is Director of COFS since 2017 and Head of the Oceans Graduate Schools (OGS) of UWA. He is an internationally renowned expert on anchor foundations, with interest in their application to marine renewables as also Founding Director of the Wave Energy Research Centre (WERC) in Albany (WA). His main expertise is in centrifuge modelling since his PhD studies at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes and following work at the National Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility of UWA.
Since he joined UWA in 2003, Christophe has raised and managed over $6M of industry funding and over $40M of government competitive funding. Christophe has also played a leadership role in the establishment and development of the $14M ARC Centre of Excellence in Geotechnical Science and Engineering, and of the $10M ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub in Offshore Floating Facilities. He is collaborating with multiple academic institutions and industries worldwide.
Having supervised 23 PhD students during his career, Professor Gaudin will guide Alessio on reaching the SEAFLOWER's research objectives.
Professor
Phil is Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering and Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub on Offshore Floating Facilities at UWA. He is a highly experienced offshore geotechnical engineer, with over 25 years oil and gas experience and previously held the position of Global Director of GeoConsulting for Fugro. Phil is also Chair of ISSMGE Technical Committee 209 ‘Offshore Geotechnics’.
Thanks to his expertise in the field and network with industries, Phil will ensure that the project addresses the actual needs of the market and helps in reaching out upfront industries support.
Senior Researcher
Franck is HDR researcher at INRAE. He is an expert on the joint use of statistical and mechanical modelling approaches and particularly on the use of metamodelling techniques.
Franck already cooperated with Alessio during his podt-doc and will supervise the metamodelling research activities of the project.
