As autonomous vessels become more capable, human factors remain critical to safety and operational success. Examining defence applications, this research explores autonomy levels, function allocation and human-machine relationships. Findings highlight the cultural, organisational and engineering changes needed to build trust, resilience and effective oversight in highly autonomous maritime systems ahead.

Innovation is accelerating the maritime sector’s green and digital transition, but human safety risks cannot be overlooked. This research examines how emerging technologies, regulation and responsible innovation intersect, highlighting tensions and opportunities in adoption. The findings provide a framework for balancing technological progress, regulatory compliance and workforce safety going forward.

Virtual reality is transforming maritime design by placing operational experience at the centre of early development. By combining collaborative interface design tools with immersive 3D scenario reconstruction, this approach enables rapid evaluation of bridge concepts, integrates expert feedback and accelerates user-centred innovation for complex ship docking operations and beyond.

Augmented reality is showing strong potential to enhance safety-critical maritime operations by improving communication, shared situational awareness and collaborative decision-making. Through iterative prototype development and real-world trials, researchers identified both operational benefits and usability challenges, revealing how AR could support faster, more effective navigation in increasingly complex maritime environments.

AI-enabled autonomous ships promise greater operational efficiency, but human oversight remains critical to safe deployment. This research examines how system transparency, including visibility of decisions, intentions and reasoning, can improve supervisory control, reduce automation-related risks and strengthen operator performance, offering practical insights for the future of trusted maritime autonomy.

Ship bridge simulators are proving invaluable for evaluating maritime innovations before deployment. Using motion-based simulation to assess responses to parametric rolling, researchers demonstrate how early-stage testing can reveal operational insights without costly prototyping. The findings highlight a practical, user-centred methodology for accelerating safer, better-informed design decisions across industry today broadly.

Maritime disasters rarely result from missing rules alone. This examination of safety culture reveals how organisational pressures, weak accountability and tolerance of non-compliance can undermine established standards and oversight. By exposing challenges faced by those safeguarding public safety, it highlights practical measures to strengthen resilience, trust and governance going forward.

Operating Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships from Remote Control Centres introduces new decision-making challenges as operators lose direct proximity to vessels. Using the SWARM methodology and SAW taxonomy, this research identifies critical design principles around system transparency, display design, monitoring and training, offering practical guidance to improve situational awareness, decision quality and remote operational safety

Maritime digital interfaces may meet regulatory button-size requirements, yet usability challenges persist in demanding operating environments. This research introduces a novel interface design that enlarges functional interaction zones and reduces navigation complexity. Evaluated using Fitts’ law, the approach shows potential to improve accuracy, minimise errors and enhance decision-making at sea

Advanced human-machine teaming could transform maritime operations through holonic human cyber-physical systems. By creating digital counterparts for crew, equipment and processes, cooperative autonomous elements enable richer decision support and human-condition monitoring. The concept reveals how smarter collaboration between people and technology may enhance safety, performance and operational effectiveness at sea.

AMARIS is pioneering joint maritime and aviation emergency training by connecting previously separate ship and helicopter simulation environments into a shared operational scenario. Combining cross-domain simulation with human factors research, the initiative enhances communication, coordination and decision-making, offering a scalable, cost-effective approach to improving preparedness for complex search and rescue operations

Autonomous SWATH vessels could transform offshore wind farm maintenance by combining hybrid fuel cell-battery propulsion with highly stable hull designs optimised for harsh operating environments. Through numerical modelling and Shetland-based case studies, the research demonstrates superior operational availability, stability and ROV deployment performance versus conventional monohulls, supporting safer, more sustainable offshore operations.