Personnel - NSBA :

Peter Howe - Principal of the Norfolk Broads School of Sailing

Peter acts as the Project Manager on this project for the Norfolk and Suffolk Boatbuilders Association.

He is Principal of the Norfolk Broads School of Sailing and has extensive experience in sailing and yacht hire on the Broads.

Personnel - Newcastle University :

Richard Birmingham - Professor of Small Craft Design

Richard act as the project co-ordinator at Newcastle University. He obtained a First Class BEng degree in Naval Architecture in 1991, and his PhD on structural design in 1994, both from Newcastle University. He has responsibility for teaching Naval Architecture and Small Craft Design. His research interests focus on aspects of marine design, and in particular on design methodologies as applied to small craft.

Recent research projects have been in the areas Design for Safety (he has had a pivotal role in the technical coordination of the EC project Safety at Speed), Design for Production of small craft (collaborating with researchers in Indonesia), and stability of working craft such as fishing vessels and tugs.

He is the author of two books on design and construction (including Boatbuilding Techniques Illustrated, a reference and text book on wooden boat construction), and his many publications include over 30 refereed Journal and Conference papers. Before becoming an academic he was a boatbuilder in East Anglia, working for Whisstocks Boatyard, Woodbridge, and as the training co-ordinator at the International Boatbuilding Training Centre in Oulton Broad.

Dr Martin Downie - Senior Lecturer in Offshore Resource Engineering

Martin has been a lecturer in the School of Marine Science and Technology for twenty years and over that period has taught and carried out research in a wide variety of topics. Undergraduate modules taught by him include Small Craft Science and Resistance and Propulsion. In his capacity as Course Leader for the MRes programme in Technology in the Marine Environment he has supervised such diverse research projects as the environmental impact of marinas, the aero/hydrodynamics of sailing boats and marine renewable energy devices.

One of his current projects, funded by UK Sports, involves analysing performance data provided by the UK Olympic Sailing Squad for refining their training programmes. His core research interests are hydrodynamics based, both theoretical and experimental, and he runs the School marine hydrodynamics laboratory. Other areas of research in which he is currently involved include: Control and Prevention of Marine Pollution due to Oil Spills; Artificial Reefs; and Biofouling.

Martin has a longstanding interest in sustainable boating having sailed (wind powered wooden boats) on the East Coast as a child, and later the family sailing cruiser on the Norfolk Broads.

Melanie Landamore - Principal Researcher

Melanie is the principal researcher acting full time on this project. She is a graduate of the School of Marine Science and Technology at Newcastle University, with First Class Honours in Small Craft Technology; and has since worked for Formation Design Systems in Fremantle and RORC Rating Office in Lymington. She provides the following personal statement:

" I have been brought up on the Norfolk Broads, and a large amount of my childhood was spent at the family boatyard or out on the rivers and broads on the family River Cruiser. I have also worked for a number of years teaching sailing and other water sports on Filby Broad, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and Whitlingham, the newest of the broads systems, and am acutely aware of the environmental impact of craft and people on the broads, and the measures currently undertaken to reduce this impact. I am a member of the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club, and a regular visitor to Oulton and Barton broads and the river Bure, as well as further afield, Walton, Brightlingsea and the Blackwater. "

University Support Staff

Support is provided by other academic members of staff with relevant expertise, including:

• Professor Tony Roskilly (marine engineering, emissions, fuel cells, bio diesel)
• Dr. Rose Norman (electrical propulsion)
• Prof George Bruce (boat production)
• Dr. Peter Wright (FRP)
• Prof. Mehmet Atlar (propulsion and wake reduction)
• Prof Chris Frid (marine systems ecology)