appointment of shell professor of offshore engineering and ... · the shell chair supports a team...

Appointment of

Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering and Director, ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating FacilitiesInformation for Candidates

Appointment ofShell Professor of Offshore Engineering and Director, ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities

Introduction | 2

The University of Western Australia | 3

Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences | 4

Shell Chair in Offshore Engineering and ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities | 5

Role, key responsibilities and selection criteria | 7

Western Australia and Perth | 11

Applications | 12

The Director of the ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities leads a major transdisciplinary initiative supported by the Australian Research Council and national and international industry. The role involves leadership, representation and coordination of a team of >10 academics and >15 PhD students, collaborating on transformational research and innovation.

The university will make one or two appointments to fill the roles. The appointee(s) will join the Oceans Institute within the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, and be based in the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre – a major and vibrant new facility on the UWA campus, with world-leading facilities.

I invite you to consider the possibilities available in these roles in a university with a reputation for excellence and the vitality and excitement of an innovative research environment.

Professor Dawn FreshwaterVice-Chancellor

A dynamic and progressive institution with a reputation for international excellence in teaching, learning and research, The University of Western Australia is a member of the prestigious Go8 partnership of leading Australian research- intensive universities. The University continues to build on its reputation for excellence and is a major research contributor in the engineering and energy sectors, and other areas that align with national research and innovation priorities.

Applications are invited for appointment to the positions of Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering and Director, Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities and I welcome your interest in these roles.

The Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering provides leadership to a well-established partnership between UWA and Shell Australia, contributing academic leadership across research and teaching. The role requires a strong record of published research, industry impact and innovation, and the ability to foster the research of others.

Professor Dawn FreshwaterVice-Chancellor

Welcome

2 The University of Western Australia

The University of Western Australia is a high-quality research-intensive university with a broad and balanced coverage of disciplines in the arts, science and major professions. It is Western Australia’s oldest university, established in 1911, and currently has a student population of approximately 24,500.

The University of Western Australia

The University has an international reputation for excellence and enterprise and is regarded as one of Australia’s top research institutions. Its strong research culture sees it attract high levels of competitive research funding. At the same time the University places great emphasis on high quality teaching and learning, and is committed to the development of innovative and responsive programs. It has focused on the teaching-research nexus, so that teaching and learning take place in an atmosphere of research scholarship.

The University’s high quality teaching and research ensure it remains the university of preference for Western Australia’s highest achieving school leavers, as well as attracting high-calibre undergraduate and postgraduate students from around the nation and overseas. The quality of the student population is high by national and international standards.

The University is recognised globally for the quality of its academic staff and has strong strategic partnerships with industry, the professions and government. It operates in collaboration with other research-intensive universities in Australia and around the world. Graduates of UWA are highly competitive internationally, achieving success in higher study and providing inspiration throughout wide‑ranging fields of employment. Many graduates have risen to prominence in leadership roles in industry, government, education and the professions.

At UWA we want you to pursue what others deem to be impossible, challenge convention and be inspired by all of the possibilities. We offer you an environment in which you can really make a difference to the world and encourage others to do so too.

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‘Empowering people to change the world’One of UWA’s founding faculties, the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences has educated Rhodes Scholars, Fulbright Scholars, Eureka Prize winners, CEOs and seven of the most influential engineers in Engineering Australia’s Top 100 list. The Faculty prides itself on its track-record for producing graduates who not only perform well in their chosen profession, but are equipped with the skills and social capital they need to be the very best.

The Faculty has an international reputation for excellence in research and its research teams benefit from global partnerships with industry, attracting research income of more than $27 million a year – well above the national average. The Faculty’s vision is to be part of the world’s top 100 engineering faculties by 2020 and the top 50 by 2050. It is capitalising on its location at the hub of Australia’s resources industry ‑ and a stone’s throw from the head offices of Australia’s biggest resource industry players – to revolutionise engineering research and position Western Australia at the forefront of Engineering for Remote Operations (ERO).

ERO provides an integrated and collaborative approach to seeking solutions to the challenges in resource development, agriculture, health, transport, energy, water supply and

Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

communities. The Faculty is seizing the opportunity to become a world leader in this growing area of engineering, as well as building upon existing research strengths in biomedical engineering.

Our Offshore Engineering capabilities are concentrated within the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, which opened in 2016, bringing together Australia’s largest concentration of marine researchers. We host world-leading facilities for modelling offshore systems, including Australia’s National Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility, the Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders and three O-tube cyclone simulation flumes – which are uniquely capable of reproducing extreme metocean conditions at the seabed.

This is an exciting time for the Faculty, as it celebrates extraordinary achievement amongst its staff, including a new Shell Professorial Chair, Australian Academy of Science Award winners and Australian Laureate Fellowships, whilst looking to the future to plan new multi-million dollar infrastructure. We are beginning construction of the new Engineering Zone development, an inspirational and flexible teaching and research space, which will help to enrich the student experience and foster further collaborative research innovation for the benefit of the Australian and International Communities.


Shell businesses in Australia are part of The Shell Group, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. Our aim is to meet the energy needs of society, in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally viable, now and in the future.

Shell has been operating in Australia since 1901, with interests in petroleum refining, products and distribution, as well as oil and gas exploration and production. This ‘upstream’, business is headquartered in Perth, and finds, develops and supplies LNG, condensates and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to overseas markets and natural gas to domestic customers in WA. Shell was a foundation partner in the North West Shelf project, and is also a joint venturer in the Gorgon, Browse and Sunrise projects.

Shell Australia has a record of investing in the communities where it operates and has collaborated with UWA since 2013 via the Shell Chair in Offshore Engineering. This partnership was initiated when Shell selected Australia as the location for the first deployment of its unique FLNG technology, on the Prelude project.

The Shell Chair supports a team of academics and PhD students working on challenging aspects of offshore engineering, with Shell colleagues in Australia and overseas. Since the Chair was established, UWA research has been deployed on several Shell projects globally.

The Australian Research Council (ARC), in partnership with four industry organisations – Shell, Woodside, Lloyds Register and Bureau Veritas – established in 2016 the Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities – known as the OFFshore Hub – hosted at the University of Western Australia, to undertake a $10M five‑year program of research.

The OFFshore Hub is tackling the critical engineering challenges for the next generation of offshore oil and gas projects by creating novel designs, new technologies and new operating procedures through industry-academia collaboration.

The OFFshore Hub involves 5 interlinked multi-disciplinary projects that are developing new technologies required for the design of safe and efficient offshore projects in the areas of ocean forecasting, riser and mooring longevity, vessel motion and offloading, and novel anchoring and subsea foundations. The research program involves a blend of physical and numerical modelling supported by fieldwork and analysis of observations from existing facilities.

The OFFshore Hub industry partners are Shell, Woodside Energy, Bureau Veritas and Lloyds Register. Each partner organization is committed to help shape the research directions, drive the technology transfer, and assist with the mentorship of the researchers and students.

Shell Chair in Offshore Engineering

ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities

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Roles

Shell Professor of Offshore EngineeringThe Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering will play a leading role to sustain and develop the University of Western Australia, in partnership with Shell Australia, as a centre for world class research and education in offshore engineering.

UWA has unique facilities and a critical mass of researchers in the key offshore engineering disciplines of metocean, fluid mechanics, structural engineering and geotechnics. The Shell Chair, which was established in 2013, is a partnership between UWA and Shell Australia to conduct world-class research to support excellence and innovation, and to deliver education and training at graduate level and into industry. The Shell Chair partnership supports a team of academics led by the Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering, based in the UWA‑hosted Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (IOMRC).

The Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering will provide senior leadership to draw together the offshore engineering capabilities within UWA as a comprehensive program of research, teaching and innovation. The program of activity overseen by the Shell Chair will continue to be focused on key challenges faced by the offshore energy industry, both in Australia and globally, with a focus on oil and gas.

The appointee will be responsible for continuing and expanding the Shell-UWA collaboration, which over the past 5 years has led to research that has been applied to Shell projects globally and has gained wide adoption in industry practices. The appointee will contribute to the leadership of the UWA Oceans Institute and will engage across the marine disciplines, to bring additional strengths to the Shell-UWA partnership beyond their own personal research.

The Shell Professor will work in accordance with the University’s policies, procedures and values, to promote excellence through integrity, inclusiveness, innovation and professionalism.

At the time of appointment, a tailored support package and workload allocation will be agreed with the the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty Engineering and Mathematical Sciences to enable the key responsibilities of this role to be delivered.

The term of the appointment will be initially for a period of up to five years.

Director, ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities The ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities, known as the OFFshore Hub, is a $10M 5-year research initiative jointly funded by industry and the Australian Research Council, which commenced in 2016. The OFFshore Hub is addressing the critical engineering challenges associated with offshore floating facilities for oil and gas development, through the activity of >10 academics and >15 PhD students.

The Director has overall responsibility for the success of the OFFshore Hub, providing leadership, representation and co-ordination, within the research team and between the researchers and the industry partners (Woodside, Shell, Lloyd’s Register and Bureau Veritas). The Director is supported in this role by the Hub Manager, Dr Andrew Grime. The Director holds ultimate responsibility for the Hub successfully meeting or exceeding the Key Performance Indicators, and will make a personal contribution to the research activity within the Hub.

The Director will foster productive relationships between the partners, promoting and facilitating close interaction between researchers and industry, to ensure positive outcomes and impact from the OFFshore Hub. The Director will seek to widen the funding and partnership scale of the Hub to ensure sustainability beyond the initial funding period of 5 years, supported by UWA’s Business Development team.

The Director will work in accordance with the University’s policies, procedures and values, to promote excellence through integrity, inclusiveness, innovation and professionalism.

At the time of appointment, a tailored support package and workload allocation will be agreed with the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences to enable the key responsibilities of this role to be delivered.

The term of the appointment will be initially for a period of up to five years.

Roles, key responsibilities and selection criteria

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Director, ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities• Lead, direct and represent the OFFshore Hub, to achieve

the key aims: to deliver transformation research to improve the design and operation of offshore floating facilities and related infrastructure, with outcomes that impact on industry practice in Australia and globally;

• Maintain continuous engagement with the OFFshore Hub researchers and industry partners to ensure the Hub research program is tailored towards industry needs and draws on the strengths of the research team and the available facilities;

• Maintain and develop a program of activities to maintain a culture within the OFFshore Hub that promotes effective research and innovation, and efficient technology transfer, to maximise the potential of the researchers and their activities;

• Raise the profile of the OFFshore Hub through engagement with industry and academia in Australia and internationally, to promote the activities and outcomes of the Hub.

• Develop new relationships and funding streams to support and grow the OFFshore Hub, as well as the wider activities of UWA, with the goal of sustaining the transdisciplinary critical mass;

• Contribute via personal research to the OFFshore Hub program.

Key Responsibilities

Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering • Sustain a vibrant research team across Offshore

Engineering, with particular strength in the Chair’s personal discipline, involving wider collaboration across UWA, the IOMRC, nationally and internationally, and leading to high impact outcomes for industry and the community.

• Lead, represent and coordinate the Shell-funded research team at UWA, composed of the current two Shell Research Fellows, and a new Shell Research Fellow in Ocean Technology (to be recruited after the Chair is in post), and recruit a cohort of 2-3 Shell-supported PhD students;

• Maintain a close partnership between UWA and Shell, in Australia and globally, facilitating knowledge transfer and collaboration across the disciplines of Offshore Engineering, and reporting and promoting the achievements of the Shell-UWA partnership;

• Developing and delivering education short courses and Shell in-house presentations in consultation with the Shell and the Chair’s Advisory Committee;

• Actively supporting the Director of the UWA Oceans Institute and the Executive Dean of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, to strengthen industry and community engagement across UWA’s broader Oceans and Engineering programs, and to foster a culture of communication, innovation, commercialisation, entrepreneurship and impact;

• External engagement associated with offshore engineering at UWA through involvement in professional associations, through the promotion of STEM education and through outreach and citizen science;

• Work in accordance with the University’s values, policies, delegations, financial regulations and other procedures, promoting academic excellence;


Selection Criteria

QualificationsPhD or equivalent is essential, in a discipline relevant to offshore engineering;

Leadership and ValuesApplicants are required to demonstrate:• Ability to engage with, manage and lead multidisciplinary

teams to achieve world competitive academic (teaching and research) outcomes, with a demonstrated capacity to convert research outcomes into industrial applications with impact;

• Leadership and clear vision; ability to articulate clear vision and secure commitment to that vision; to earn credibility; to inspire colleagues; to accept responsibility; demonstrated integrity and fairness.

• Communication and interpersonal: the ability to negotiate, and listen; effective oral and written communication, presentation and media skills; ability to network and act as an advocate; and demonstrated capacity to promote and maintain relationships.

• Management of people: the ability to develop staff; establish and communicate clear standards and expectations; delegate effectively and appropriately; make best use of skills; acknowledge and reward good performance; address poor performance; build trust, morale and teamwork.

• Commitment to diversity: the ability to set a diversity agenda and demonstrate strong leadership in implementing that agenda to drive cultural change;

• Tolerance and open mindedness: demonstrated understanding of the diverse nature of the University’s community and a willingness to work with staff, students and visitors from a wide range of backgrounds and with a wide range of personal responsibilities;

Research and Scholarship.Applicants are required to demonstrate:• Successful research leadership through the supervision

and development of individuals and groups in an offshore engineering discipline and in the development and leadership of major new research initiatives;

• A record of outstanding achievement in the identification, development and delivery of innovation and research in offshore engineering;

• Ability to undertake successful supervision of postgraduate research students and projects;

• Ability to develop, articulate and deliver a strategic vision for offshore engineering research and scholarship within UWA and the Western Australian community.

Education and TrainingApplicants are required to demonstrate:• Experience in the creation and delivery of teaching

programs in Offshore Engineering;• Innovation in the development of education and training

resources and activities.• The ability to inspire in their communication• Development of people: the ability to create a culture of

mentorship and sponsorship benefitting staff and students across all intersectionality.

Conditions of employment• An attractive and flexibly constructed remuneration

package will be negotiated and will include:• Employer contribution to superannuation of 17% (standard

employee contribution is 7%);• Recreation leave of 20 working days per annum;• Long service leave;• Opportunity for consultancy work within policy guidelines;• Eligibility for sabbatical leave;• Relocation assistance including airfares for the appointee

and dependents and short term accommodation.

UWA is an Employer of Choice for Women.

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The resource-rich state of Western Australia is the economic powerhouse of Australia. Western Australia is the principal Australian supplier of natural resources and energy to international partners, including China, India, Japan, South Korea and much of South-East Asia. Western Australia’s diverse inventory of minerals and energy, as well as its agricultural and fisheries resources, account for 25 per cent of the nation’s exports and place the state at the heart of Australian economic growth and transformation.

Western Australia and its capital Perth occupy the same time zone as 60 per cent of the world’s population and the nations that promise the greatest economic growth of the 21st century. Western Australia is also Australia’s largest state, covering some 2.5 million square kilometres and 12,500 kilometres of coastline, including some of the most ancient landscapes in the world. The state’s population is matching the rapid growth of the economy and is over two million.

Perth is a cosmopolitan city, with wide ethnic and cultural diversity. The city centre is on the Swan River 12 kilometres from the Indian Ocean port of Fremantle.

The city enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with more hours of sunshine than any other capital city in Australia. Summers are hot and dry and the winters mild and wet. Perth’s world-famous beaches and rivers, extensive parklands and variety of restaurants and cafes provide a superb living environment. For more information see: tourism.wa.gov.au

Perth is well served with art galleries, theatres and cinemas and is home to the WA Symphony Orchestra, the WA Ballet and the WA Opera. The cultural highlight of the year is the Perth International Arts Festival, founded and owned by The University of Western Australia: uwa.edu.au/perthfestival

Western Australia’s five universities and wide variety of public and private schools, vocational institutions and English language colleges provide quality assured education with flexible study pathways and state‑of‑the‑art facilities. Perth continues to build its reputation as a destination for international students seeking a quality education: studyperth.com.au

Western Australia and Perth

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Thank you for your interest. If you wish to proceed, the following information will assist you with your application. Refer also to the selection criteria on page 7.

Your application must include the following:• A statement that clearly demonstrates the extent to which

you satisfy each of the selection criteria;• Evidence of the impact of your research beyond academia,

such as through contributions made to economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life;

• A curriculum vitae that provides your personal details, qualifications and work history;

• A list of any publications;• The names, email, mailing addresses and telephone

contact details of three referees who can be contacted for a confidential report. Please note that your permission will be sought before referees are contacted.

The University of Western Australia provides visa sponsorship for international appointees.

ApplicationsLodging your application

Applications must be submitted online at: jobs.uwa.edu.au/executive

If you wish to discuss the position in confidence please contact: Professor John DellExecutive Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical SciencesTelephone: +61 6488 3704Email: [email protected] David White Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical SciencesTelephone: +61 6488 3086 Email: [email protected]

Closing date

The closing date for applications is:Friday 12 May 2017


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CRICOS Provider Code: 00126G UWA DCS 000099

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