Tuesday, October 24, 2023
OSRL is pleased to announce the annual ITAC meeting will take place at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, from the 24th to the 26th of October 2023.
The 3-day programme will include various talks along with a tour of NOC and generous time slots for discussions and networking. There will be drinks on the evening of the 23rd at The HarBar within the Harbour Hotel in Ocean Village, Southampton. The usual ITAC evening meal will be hosted at the Dancing Man (dancingmanbrewery.co.uk) on the evening of October 24th.
This year’s top 6 subjects will be:
Dispersants –including supply chain logistics, regulatory implications and updates on key products…
Plastic Nurdles – new shoreline response tools, field guides and novel enzyme degrading solutions for waste management…
Oil Spill Response R&D – research updates, PhD projects, future of industry R&D, Herder trials….
Responder Training, Competency & Resilience – managing under pressure, emergency services perspectives, new oil spill competency training…
Digital/Technology/Autonomy/AI – how do we keep up? Digital twins, new autonomous system applications…
Future Scenario Management Workshop – responding to emerging/alternative fuels, climate change-induced incidents….
The full programme can be downloaded here.
ITAC's membership comprises the oil industry (i.e. members of OSRL and other GRN OSROs), international organisations (ITOPF, IMO, IOPC etc), and Governmental organisations (USCG, NOAA, etc...) R&D institutes (SINTEF, CEDRE, GoMRI etc...). It also includes academic institutes involved in industry-backed studies and other organisations with a non-commercial interest in improving oil spill response.
The connection with academia is an important feature of the ITAC model, recognising that the industry is a big financial supporter of university-based research but sometimes there has been a disconnect with the sharing of knowledge and outputs from these studies with “industry” which ITAC tries to address.
Additional information:
ITAC is an industry-led group that addresses issues and advancements in international oil spill preparedness, response, and applied science and technology. ITAC seeks to expand knowledge and exchanges within the industry and with response organizations, government regulators, and the academic, science, and technical community. ITAC typically holds its annual forum in conjunction with marine and oceanographic institutions, such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and the National Oceanography Centre.
The story so far
ITAC is a technical forum that was established in 1996 to address oil spill response (OSR) issues of interest to its member organisations and the wider response community. ITAC projects sought to provide advice, technical support, good-practice guidelines and benchmarking on key issues such as new technological developments in oil spill response techniques, training and response capabilities.
ITAC has evolved over the last twenty years and its model has changed in recent times. Recognising that much of the delivery industry technical outputs are now being channelled through the IOGP/IPIECA JIP and the API projects in the US. ITAC has now been cast in the role of supporting outreach and communication for those industry technical outputs to reach a broader church of stakeholders in the wider oil spill community. As such ITAC no longer “delivers” tangible work items but now offers a forum for knowledge sharing and information exchange.