Researcher
Project Coordinator, Technical Manager, Work Package Leader WP1 & WP5

Spending more than 2 years in designing the AIRCOAT concept and planning the project, I am delighted that it is finally underway. I am very excited to coordinate the great AIRCOAT team and looking forward to the project’s achievements!

Johannes Oeffner works at CML in the field of innovative technical shipping solutions. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Biomimetics/Locomotion in Fluids. He completed his Master Thesis “The hydrodynamic function of shark skin and two biomimetic applications” at Harvard University. Prior to the CML, he was working as a Hydroacoustics scientist at a research institute in New Zealand. Besides AIROCAT, he recently initiated the European research projects RoboVaaS that focuses on developing robotic-vessels-as-service solutions. The AIRCOAT projects combines his main fields of interest: Biomimetics, Fluid Dynamics, Innovative Solutions and Shipping.

Researcher
Project Coordinator’s Assistance

I believe in the benefit of learning from nature and expect a significant impact on emission reduction and a positive environmental impact of the AIRCOAT project.

Vincent Emanuel Focke holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Biomimetics. With his research focus on maritime Biomimetics, he gained expertise in experimental and computational fluid dynamics, leading to his Master Thesis to develop a fish-inspired fin propulsion system for autonomous underwater vehicles.

Group Manager
Administrative Manager

Even though I’m just the administrative coordinator, I’m very excited to see how the team will ensure by AIRCOAT’s biomimetic approach that natures best practices will help making maritime shipping more sustainable and efficient.

Hans-Christoph Burmeister is Group Manager of Sea Traffic and Nautical Solutions™ at Fraunhofer CML in Hamburg. He studied industrial engineering and holds a diploma from the University Erlangen-Nurnberg. Besides his activities in industrial research projects, he coordinated the internationally known European research project MUNIN on unmanned vessels as well as the Autonomous Navigation Test-Bed development for DSME. Thereby, his main focus is on collision avoidance algorithms. Furthermore, he acts as the technical coordinator of the European Maritime Simulator Network EMSN within the STM Validation Project and recently initiated the German project FernSAMS developing a remote-controlled tug.