Professor Dracos Vassalos FREng
Professor of Maritime Safety, University of Strathclyde and Chairman of Maritime Safety Innovations Ltd
Dracos Vassalos, a world-leading maritime safety expert, promotes the use of scientific approaches to address marine safety problems and transfers research advances into practical applications. He introduced the Design for Safety concept in the maritime industry and co-ordinated its development and implementation via the EC’s Thematic Network SAFER EURORO, involving some 200 organisations over eight years with 300M Euros funding.
This, together with his forensic investigations relating to the sinking of the bulk carrier Derbyshire and Ro-Ro ferry Estonia, led to step changes in maritime safety legislation, including safety level standards at IMO and risk-based design in the maritime industry.
More recently, he invented an expandable foam system to prevent ships from sinking/capsizing after damage, likely to save thousands of lives from recurring maritime accidents.