Rewarding researchers
What makes for an outstanding peer-reviewed research paper? As six Denny medals are awarded, editors of the Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology (JMET) and the Journal of Operational Oceanography (JOO) give us their insights.
Each year, the IMarEST celebrates the best paper published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology (JMET) and Journal of Operational Oceanography (JOO) with the Denny Silver Gilt Medal. With the COVID-19 crisis putting the awards on hold for the past few years, this year saw six awards – one medal for each journal for 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Professor Wang, co-editor of the JMET, and Dr Ralph Rayner, editor of the JOO, share why these six pieces of research are worthy of a medal.
2020 JOO Awardee: Martin et al. Observation impact statement on satellite sea surface salinity data from two operational global ocean forecasting systems
Rayner: “Making observations of surface ocean salinity from space is a recent development in operational oceanography. Dr Matthew Martin’s paper provides a rigorous comparison of how these observations can improve the accuracy of two different global sea surface salinity models. Such models have important practical applications in understanding and predicting the onset of extreme climate events, such as El Niño, and variability in the global water cycle.”
2020 Denny Silver Gilt Medal award recipient Gerasimos Theotokatos receiving his Denny medal from IMarEST President Martin Shaw
2020 JMET Awardee: Theotokatos et al. Simulation-based investigation of a marine dual-fuel engine
Wang: “This paper makes a contribution to achieving cost-efficient compliance with environmental regulations for dual-fuel engines. In the paper, an integrated model composed of an engine thermodynamic simulation module and an engine control system functional module is developed to investigate potential safety implications that can arise during the engine operation, when fuel changes from gas to diesel and diesel to gas.”
2021 Denny Silver Gilt Medal award recipient Johannes Röhrs shaking hands with IMarEST President Martin Shaw
2021 JOO Awardee: Röhrs et al. Surface currents in operational oceanography: Key applications, mechanisms, and methods
Rayner: “Observations and predictions of surface currents have many practical applications in areas such as predicting the trajectory of spills, vessel route planning and the design, installation and operation of offshore installations. Dr Johannes Röhrs’ excellent paper provides a synthesis of the challenges associated with defining, observing and predicting surface currents, set in the context of different practical uses of such data and information.”
2021 Denny Silver Gilt Medal award recipient Jun Hui Tam accepting his award from IMarEST President Martin Shaw
2021 JMET Awardee: Tam. Overview of performing shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship compatibility studies for LNG bunker vessels
Wang: “This study makes a contribution to effective LNG transfer operations on LNG carriers and bunker vessels. Shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship compatibility studies in LNG transfer operations are carried out. The paper’s findings can be used for facilitating ship design and construction.”
2022 JOO Awardee: Neville Smith, guest editor of the 2022 Copernicus Ocean State Report (and guest editor for all of the previous reports)
Rayner: “Unusually, the 2022 Denny medal has been presented to a guest editor rather than an author. Neville Smith has made an outstanding contribution to the JOO in his role as guest editor for the Copernicus Ocean State Reports, published annually as special issues of the journal. He has brought to bear his broad background in operational oceanography, to ensure that each report provides a coherent review of important changes in the global ocean over the six years that these reports have been published. This represents an enormous amount of detailed and exacting work, worthy of recognition.”
2022 Denny Silver Gilt Medal award recipients Wenwen Liu (left) and Yuanchang Liu (right) with IMarEST President Martin Shaw
2022 JMET Awardee: Liu et al. Filtering based multi-sensor data fusion algorithm for a reliable unmanned surface vehicle navigation
Wang: “This paper makes a contribution to the safe and reliable design and operation of unmanned surface vehicles. Liu et al. develop multi-sensor data fusion algorithms to deal with the raw measurements from different sensors and obtain improved navigational data for unmanned surface vehicle operation in a practical environment.”
Applications are welcomed for the Journal of Operational Oceanography (JOO) editorial board. To find out more, get in touch with [email protected].
Dr Sam Andrews is a marine ecologist and science writer .