20 Mar 2025

March Update on Council Development 

An update from Yves De Leeneer, IMarEST President

Two years ago we started re-energising the Council. A lot has happened since, and this message summarises what has been done, what is underway and what is still to be done. One of our goals is wider participation by the members and some opportunities are included here.

The Council's Role

  1. Representation of the membership of IMarEST and providing advice on membership views to the Board of Trustees - One of the objectives of the re-organisation was to improve ‘line of sight’ with key membership groups, such as SIGs, Branches, Seafarers and Early Career Professionals.

  1. Oversight of the professional, technical and learned societies activities of the Institute - To improve this oversight, the Council Executive Committee (CEC) was formed.

Council Structure 

  

Structures (committees, networks and teams) are enclosed in the diagram above by solid lines. Explanatory notes are enclosed by dotted lines and these notes explain the composition of each structure. Initials used later in the text are explained in the diagram. 

Anything outlined in green relates to Role 1, those in red to Role 2. Where it relates to both it is outlined in orange.

Presidential Team

A key feature of the new structure is an active Presidential Team. The President is the Chair of Council and responsible for it's leadership, in which they are supported by the Presidential Team.

The team meets every two weeks to review progress and to  set the direction for the Council and plan future Council activity. 

Council

The Council currently meets face-to-face twice a year and, in between these meetings, there are a further two calls. The face-to-face meetings' agenda includes:

  1. Council formal business, which is usually covered in half a day.

  1. Breakout sessions working on the development of the five ‘segments’ that make up the bulk of IMarEST membership. The development of all of these segments are vital for our future:

Marine Engineering (Commercial/Merchant Shipping, Naval Engineering, Offshore)

Marine Science 

Marine Technology 

  1. A full day is usually spent on workshopping specific issues. Over the last two years a number of issues have been discussed and have been, or are being, integrated into the working of the Institute, including: Ship Management, Early Career Professionals, Seafarers, Branches Committee, volunteer motivation, mentoring, communication with members, and communication with the Executive. 

Council Executive Committee

This committee manages the ‘oversight‘ role. The committee coordinates the activity of committees of Council, as well as to manage issues and risks that affect Role 2.

Relationships with the Executive

The positive and constructive relationship between the Council, it's structures, and the Executive is critical to the success of the Institute.

All of the structures are ‘tagged’ to, and work closely with, functional teams within the Executive. The functional tags can be found in the Council Guide. They also have access to marketing, events and administrative support.   

Council Development

The following changes are under way.

Creation of SIGs Network and changes to the Technical Leadership Board (TLB)

Improving line of sight to key membership groups was one of the reorganisation objectives. The Branches Committee was set up to improve line of sight to branches and is developing and delivering.

An attempt to improve line of sight to SIGS by merging with the Technical Leadership Council (TLC) was not successful, with neither structure achieving its full potential. A ‘conscious uncoupling ‘ of the two structures was agreed by the Council in February and endorsed by the Board of Trustees.

The revised committees of Council will be able to focus better on their core functions. The bigger challenge is to manage the interactions between the two structure to deliver technical leadership. The figure above shows the structures and highlights the critical interfaces.

SIGs Network

The SIGs are one of the most important groups of volunteers and essential to technical leadership. The Network will represent the views of the SIGs to the Council by the Chair(s) attending Council. It will  work with the other committees of Council at the Council Executive Committee and will share ideas on how to improve our processes. It is also expected that the SIGs will work more closely with the Branches.

Technical Leadership Committee (TLC)

The TLC will concentrate on technical leadership and its priority is creation of a short, medium and long term outlook for the earlier-defined segments, as well as identifying opportunities where we can ‘put the cherry on the cake’ by collaborating across the segments.

The outlook will  inform who we influence, our products, and the SIG portfolio. The TLC will work closely with the Technical and Policy Director to deliver these results.

The Interface

Managing the interface while leaving the SIGs and TLC to focus on their core roles is challenging. The objectives, as with much that the Council does, are:

  1. Being respectful of volunteers workloads, especially SIG Chairs.

  1. Offering these roles as widely as possible to members who want to make a difference. We are making wider use of the Volunteering Opportunities section of our website to increase opportunity.

In the figure above, those roles highlighted in red will be added to the Volunteering Opportunities page.   

SIG Organisation

The success of a SIG rests with the leadership qualities of the SIG Chair(s). The best of SIGs make a huge difference to the industry and the Chairs(s) often become industry figures.

While some SIGs have co-Chairs and Vice Chairs, there are different roles in a SIG which may attract different skill sets which may further spread the load.

These roles in addition to the SIG Chair, will all be members of the SIG Committee:

  1. SIG Honorary Secretary - This role supports the running of the SIG by organising meetings, developing and managing processes. It is intended that the SIG Guide will be re-written shortly with the help of the Honorary Secretaries.

  1. SIG Technical Lead (SIGTL) - The SIGTL should be the source of all knowledge on the various technical tasks underway within the SIG. They will coordinate with the Segment Technical lead on TLC issues.

All of these roles are appointed by the SIG Committee from within the SIG. If you are interested in them please contact the SIG Chair. 

SIG Network Organisation

All SIGs will be represented in the SIG Network. In general this will be the Chair, but there is also the option for another Committee Member to be the permanent representative at the SIG Committees discretion.

Given that there are more than 20 SIGs, a smaller SIG Committee will be formed and will be led by:

  1. SIG Network Chair(s) - This role will provide leadership to the SIG Network and to represent the SIGs at Council and the Council Executive Committee. As a committee of Council chair this role will be reviewed by the Nominations Committee and approved by Council. This is a high profile role and the preference is for someone who has experience of running a SIG.

Technical Leadership Committee (TLC)

The composition of the TLC (formerly TLB) has been changed and is made up of the following roles:- 

  1. TLC Chair(s) - This role leads the Technical Leadership Committee and will represent the TLC at the Council and Council Executive Committee. As a Committee of Council Chair this role will be reviewed by the Nominations Committee and approved by Council. The preference is for someone who has experience of technical leadership.

  1. Segment Technical Coordinator (STC)  - This will create the body of technical knowledge for each segment and will integrate it with the other segments. The STC will work with the SIGs to 'build the picture'. This important role will be reviewed by the Nominations Committee and approved by the Council.

  1. TLC Specialist Members - These roles will bring specialist subjects not represented by the segments to the table. They will be appointed by the TLC. 

Seafarers Network 

We commenced the creation of a Seafarers Network last year and it was launched by the Secretary General of the IMO. Fees for seafarers have been revised and the main outstanding item is a place for seafarers to share views and ask for help.

The intention is that the network will also generate a committee, the Chair (s) of which will attend the Council to represent this important constituency. A message will go out shortly calling a meeting to progress this. Malek Pourzanjani is the nominated Council lead.

Early Career Professionals 

IMarEST has an older age profile and the Council reflects that age profile. Our younger members are our future.  We commenced the creation of an Early Career Professional Network last year and a number of members have said they are interested.

The intention is that the network will generate a committee, the Chair(s) of which will attend the Council to represent this important constituency. A message will go out shortly calling a meeting to move this forward. Alex Walster is the nominated Council lead.

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