While commercial shipping remained vital for maintaining global supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, measures imposed to control the spread of infection have disrupted crew changes and impacted interactions with port personnel and among crew members on board. Initial reports indicate that this affected work and life on board, the length of seafarers’ time on board as well as seafarers’ employment and family concerns. However, the consequences for seafarers’ well-being are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on seafarers’ mental health and chronic fatigue, and to analyze the role of potential mitigating factors, notably onboard peer support, external support and Internet quality. Survey responses from 622 seafarers on international commercial vessels were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings suggested that the impact of the pandemic increased seafarers’ fatigue and mental health problems. However, they also indicated ways of mitigating the negative impact of the pandemic and increasing resilience by enhancing support from fellow crew members on board, ensuring the availability of external support and providing fast and reliable Internet access.

In recent times, disturbances, such as pandemics, natural disasters, and social unrest have put universities in unstable situations, affecting educational processes. The duration of unstable situations is unpredictable and can be weeks or years. Despite these disruptions, universities have to continue to fulfil their mission to educate young people. This paper discusses the notion of the resilient university with a particular focus on academic continuity. In order to investigate the migration to online learning under the COVID-19 pandemic and examine student and faculty perceptions and lessons learned, a literature study on resilient organizations and academic continuity and a case study of the World Maritime University (WMU) were undertaken. The case study employed two methods: a focus group (qualitative) and online questionnaire (quantitative and qualitative). The results show that in order to ensure academic continuity and build resilience, the university has to develop anticipation, coping, and adaptation capabilities and act on lessons learned. The research findings revealed the capability of a university in coping with the unexpected challenges and a potential to become a resilient university.

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The employment of women on cargo ships, particularly at officer's level, is paid more attention in order to supplement the shortage of qualified officers. However, seafaring jobs are still overwhelmingly dominated by men, and there seems to be gender-related challenges for women in such work environment. Women seafarers in this research are those who work in the ship operational sections on cargo ships as deck officers, engineers or radio officers. A total of 36 female and 8 male seafarers from eight different countries participated in the project and shared their experiences of working on board ships. The research revealed that the occupational culture of seafaring often reflects masculine norms and values which could affect women seafarers' behaviour and attitudes. This paper further explores how women manage such situations on board by utilising various strategies in order to avoid gender-related problems. This study identifies a typical pattern of women seafarers' identity management and creates a model of women's strategic shifting patterns over time.

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