Crew on vessels from the shipping, cruise and superyacht industries will take part in a new ISWAN onboard research project using wearable and mobile technology to track the impact of social interaction on their wellbeing.
The research is part of a long-term initiative by the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) to improve the health of seafarers by promoting increased quality social interaction and rest time.
The research partners for the Social Interaction Matters (SIM) Project include AIDA Cruises, MY Savannah, V.Ships and Y.CO. This will be the first time that the cruise and superyacht industries are represented within the SIM Project.
Each vessel taking part will have two Social Ambassadors – one on board and one shoreside – to facilitate social activities, encourage crew to engage, and work directly with ISWAN’s SIM Project team.
All participating crew will use their phones to answer one wellbeing-related question each day and will wear Fitbit devices to track the impact of social activities and other key influencers on their overall health. ISWAN has also announced a partnership with PsyFyi to leverage its data collection technology SeaQ for the project.
“After many months of development, we are tremendously excited to be announcing the partners for this important next stage of the SIM Project,” said ISWAN’s Projects and Relationships Manager Georgia Allen.
“ISWAN and the SIM Project team are incredibly thankful to all for recognising the value in this research and the future benefits to all those who live and work at sea, and for being brave enough to take the plunge and sign up. We are excited to work with such diverse vessels and crew and are certain that the data and insights we will gather will be extremely interesting and useful.”
“ISWAN’s strategy is not only to highlight crew welfare issues, but to provide the sector with actionable, preventative solutions. We hope the resulting refreshed guidance and recommendations, which have been evaluated for their effectiveness in real time, will be taken forwards as a long-term, collaborative, valuable tool for the sector to improve the health and wellbeing of seafarers worldwide.”
