Gdynia Maritime University GMU

Professor Adam Weintrit, DSc(Eng), FRIN, FNI, MM

Rector of Gdynia Maritime Academy, 2020 - 2024

Gdynia Maritime University - Faculty of Navigation

Professor Adam Weintrit specialises is a specialist in geodesy and cartography, and transport (Currently known as Civil Engineering and Transport). He has been connected with Gdynia Maritime University for more than 40 years (from 1980 to 1985 as a student of the Faculty of Navigation, and since 1985 as a Faculty member of staff). Following the completion of his studies, he began work as an assistant at the Faculty of Navigation of Gdynia Higher Maritime School.

In 1992 he was conferred a doctorate in Geodesy and Cartography by the Warsaw University of Technology and in 2004 a postdoctorate in the same discipline. In January 2016 he was granted the title of Professor of Technical Sciences and has since been employed at the University as a full professor During the years 2003-2017 and 2019-2020, he was the head of the Department of Navigation, and in 2008-2016 Dean of the Faculty of Navigation.

Author

He is the author of more than 300 publications on topics concerning the safety of life at Sea, maritime transport, and navigation, including 15 books and scientific monographs, such as "The Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) Operational Handbook, on behalf of The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). He is also the editor of several monographs published by the Taylor & Francis Group and a  member of many scientific committees, councils and associations, both in Poland and abroad, including RIN, NI, IMSF, PNF, PSTT, SKŻW, PTN, PTBN, PTK, SHM RP, MENSA, as well as an elected member of the Transport Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and chair of the Marine Transport Section.

IMO Expert

Professor Weintrit is an expert on IMO affairs. He was part of the Polish delegation that attended the sessions of the MSC committee, the NAV, STW, NCSR, and HTW subcommittees, a member of the IMO working groups for ECDIS and INA/IBS affairs, the presentation of navigation information, radar equipment, AtoN AIS and e-Navigation. He is the co-author of several dozen documents presented at the IMO forum, the IMO's Model Course 1.27 - Operational Use of ECDIS, and The International STCW Convention (chapters on ECDIS simulators). For services to maritime navigation, he was awarded the prestigious titles of FRIN – Fellow of The Royal Institute of Navigation (1995), and FNI Fellow of the Nautical Institute (2008).

Co-creator of the International TransNav Conference

He is the head and co-creator of the bi-annual international scientific conference "TransNav" and the editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal "TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation", published since the year 2007. , He has been an active member and head of scientific research projects in Poland and abroad financed by the National Science Centre - Poland (NCN), The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR), the EU, IAMU and the Nippon Foundation, in addition to many other projects for industry.

Doctoral Supervisor and Reviewer

Professor Weintrit has supervised the completion of two doctorates. He has reviewed nine doctoral dissertations and ten postdoctoral dissertations and proceedings. He is a member of the programme committees of national and international scientific conferences as well as the publication committee of many specialist journals, including the "Journal of Navigation", "WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs", "Journal of International Maritime Safety and Environment Affairs (JIMSEA)", "The Archives of Transport", "Pomorstvo", "Scientific Journal of Maritime Research", and the "Annual of Navigation”.

Awards and Decorations

He has been recognised 18 times for original scientific achievements with a Rector’s Award and on two occasions a Minister's Award.  He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Bronze, Silver and Gold Crosses of Merit, the Silver Medal for Long Service, the Medal of the National Education Commission, a Bronze Medal "For Services in the Defence of the Country", the Gold Cross of Honour of the Piłsudski Association of the Republic of Poland, and a Bronze Badge for "Meritorious Maritime Personnel".

Initiatives as Dean

During his two terms as dean of the Faculty of Navigation (2008-2016), the Faculty gained the right to award doctorates in transport. The necessary preparations and applications were made for the Faculty to also be granted the right to award postdoctoral degrees also in transport as well as doctoral degrees in geodesy and cartography. The Faculty's attainment of these rights paved the way for Gdynia Maritime Academy to begin the process for recognition as a University. On his initiative, the Faculty of Navigation opened its first postgraduate degree programmes, the tradition of giving candidates for navigation programmes a taste of life at sea before beginning their studies was reinstated, the University entered into close cooperation with Shanghai Maritime University, and an application for funding was submitted to the Operational Infrastructure and Environment Programme (as part of the University's RIDAM project and resulted in the installation of several new laboratories, including a Kongsberg Full Mission Bridge K-Sim navigation simulator.

Professor Weintrit is a co-founder and the administrator of the “Navigator” scientific circle. In 2010, the group received the Red Rose Award for the best student circle on the Polish coast. As the dean of the Faculty of Navigation, he contributed to the increasing recognition of the Faculty's publications, with as many as five journals included on the Ministry of Education and Science's journal ranking list. Included in the ranking today is the journal TransNav which is indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus database.

GMU Rector

The beginning of Professor Weintrit's term of office as Rector coincided with one of the most difficult periods in the University's history as a result of the Corona Virus Pandemic and ministerial and government changes. He was also elected Chair of the Council of Pomeranian Rectors, Head of the Commission for the Digitalisation of Technical Universities (KRPUT) for the term 2020-2024, a member of the National Court of Maritime Affairs, the International Executive Board (IBB), Head of the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), and the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU), with which he had been involved since the year 2001. He is the first Rector of Gdynia Maritime University for many years to hold a qualified master mariner's certificate of competency - the highest grade of seafarer qualification - which he gained in 1999 as an officer sailing onboard merchant ships under the Polish, Norwegian, British, Cyprian, Liberian and Chinese (Hong Kong) flags.

The first year of his term as rector focused on establishing the conditions necessary for the complete integration of the Maritime Institute with the University, as well as development in relation to offshore technology. Other tasks included overseeing the drafting of new Articles of Association adapted to better reflect new challenges faced by GMU, the appointment of the Council of the Maritime Institute, and the establishment of relations with major companies from the offshore industry, including PKN Orlen, PGE, MAG, Mewo, Port Gdynia, Port Gdańsk, the Central Office of Measures, Remontowa Electrical Solutions, Maem, Geofizyką Toruń, PG, and AGH. Agreements concluded with the above include R&D projects in offshore wind energy, involvement in the development of new areas of study, specialisations, workshops, laboratories and simulators as well as the organisation of work experience and internship opportunities for Gdynia Maritime University students. Professor Weintrit also initiated the development of an MBA programme specially dedicated to the Offshore Wind Energy sector.

As Rector, he took the strategic decision to undertake the biggest investment of the last few decades - the construction of an offshore technology centre near the Wisłoujście Fortress. The decision was in response to the dynamic development of offshore technology and the offshore market in Europe and around the world and allows the University to become a fundamental pillar of support whilst providing the necessary scientific research infrastructure for the development of the Offshore Wind industry and wider maritime economy in Poland.

Other notable developments during the term of office of Professor Weintrit so far are the initiation of plans for the construction of the successor to the "Dar Młodzieży", the continuation of talks with Angolan officials on the 3rd phase of the building of a maritime academy in Namibe. For the first time in history, at the invitation of the Rector, the University hosted the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (KRASP). The first year of Professor Adam Weintrit's term of office also saw the conferral of the title of Honorary Doctor upon Daniel Duda, and also coincided with the centenary year of the Maritime University's existence, in celebration of which two commemorative albums were published on the history of the institution and those who contributed to its creation and development.