The 35th International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference (ISOPE) was recently held in Goyang, South Korea. At the conference, the 2025 ISOPE Scholarship for Outstanding Students was awarded to recognize young scholars worldwide who have demonstrated excellence in ocean and polar engineering research. Wang Wei, a doctoral student from the School of Ocean and Civil Engineering (OCE), received this honor and became one of only three global awardees this year. 

“The journey of scientific research is long and full of challenges. Only through dedication, truth-seeking, and innovation can one continuously push the boundaries of knowledge and make higher-level contributions in the professional field.”

— Wang Wei

Wang Wei is a PhD student of the 2024 cohort in Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, supervised by Professor Feng Aichun. His research focuses on hydrodynamic interactions between multi-ship systems. He has published six papers in SCI journals as first or corresponding author, as well as one EI-indexed conference paper. His recent ISOPE 2025 paper, “Parametric Investigation of Shielding Efficiency in Side-by-Side Vessel Arrangements”, presents an in-depth study on the shielding effect between vessels operating in close proximity.

The research introduces a new parameter to quantify shielding efficiency and systematically evaluates how key factors—including vertical distance, horizontal distance, and wave angle—influence vessel motions. The study demonstrates that:

1. Vertical distance has the greatest impact on roll motion.

2. Horizontal distance significantly reduces shielding when separation increases.

3.Wave angle strongly affects sway motion, with beam seas producing the most pronounced shielding effect.

Validation against analytical solutions and experimental data confirmed the robustness of the numerical model employed. These findings not only provide theoretical foundations for predicting vessel behavior under wave loading but also offer practical guidance for offshore engineering applications, such as the safe design and operation of vessels in side-by-side configurations.

Founded in 1989, the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE) is one of the most influential international academic organizations in the fields of ocean engineering, offshore engineering, civil engineering, and polar engineering. Its annual international conference has become a globally recognized high-level platform for academic exchange. This year’s event attracted more than 1,000 experts and scholars from over 40 countries, including universities, research institutes, and industry representatives. The conference covered a wide range of frontier disciplines such as ocean engineering, polar engineering, and coastal engineering, and showcased the latest international research achievements and engineering practices.