Special focus on our collaboration with the University of South Australia (UniSA)

From October 16 to 19, IMT Atlantique organised a visit to France for a delegation from the University of South Australia (UniSA) with which we have been working as part of the WASAA (Western Alliance for Scientific Actions with Australia) consortium, led by Marie-Catherine Mouchot, head of strategic projects at the school, and Gilles Coppin, director of Lab-STICC (Research laboratory in the field of information and communication science and technology). The purpose of this visit was to put into practice the mobility of researchers and exchanges between students, and also joint research projects which could be shared by the different partners of the WASAA group.

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The creation of the Western Alliance for Scientific Actions with Australia (WASAA) in March 2017 is part of the contract signed by France and the Naval Group (formerly DCNS) in Australia, which opened up the possibility of both industrial and academic collaboration (training and research) between the two countries in the long term. WASAA consists of six higher learning institutes; IMT Atlantique, ENSTA Bretagne (graduate and post-graduate engineering school and research institute), ENIB (graduate school of engineering, Brest), the University of South Brittany (UBS), the University of West Brittany (UBO) and the École Navale, and draws on five research laboratories, including Lab-STICC and the IRDL (Research Institute of Dupuy de Lôme). The members of the group agreed on the offer of a consistent and multi-disciplinary proposal, drawing on the respective competencies of their institutes and research laboratories in the engineering field. The University of South Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with WASAA at the end of March 2017, expressing the desire to develop working relationships both in the area of research and in training, with the members of the group.

Student and researcher exchanges in 2018

The delegation from UniSA, led by Nigel Relph, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice President of External Relations and Strategic Projects*, spent three days in Nantes, Lorient and Brest, meeting the different WASAA partners, hosted by Gilles Coppin, director of Lab-STICC and Anne-Pierre Duplessix, from the Directorate of International Relations and Academic Partnerships. The visit began on the Nantes campus of IMT Atlantique, with the presentation of the laboratories' activities in the area of environment, energy and complex systems, and the department of automation, computer-integrated manufacturing and information technology. Naval Group also received the delegation on the Ocean Technocampus, to consolidate joint research thematics. The delegation then visited the University of South Brittany Lorient campus and observed the research activities in the area of modelling socio-technical systems, industry 4.0 and materials. The visit continued on the Brest campus of IMT Atlantique with the presentation of different research work (virtual and augmented reality and human factors, materials and corrosion (at the Institute of Corrosion), creativity and innovation, and Data Science) and at ENSTA Bretagne (structure and interaction, assembly, material fatigue and the cyber platform). Lastly, the delegation was welcomed by the École navale where they visited the hydraulic research laboratories and experienced a sailing simulator. The field of cyber defense was the subject of much discussion - future collaboration within the cyber defense chair are anticipated.

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The meetings and discussions between members of WASAA and UniSA allowed many collaborative themes to be identified, of which the first will be put in place from November 2017 in the form of a workshop on modelling and assistance to crew working in critical conditions, organised in Adelaide, Australia. Student and researcher exchanges are planned for early 2018