The challenge.
Although Dorset is an area of relative affluence within the UK, parts of Weymouth rank very poorly on multiple deprivation indices and are social mobility cold spots within the country.
With a strong connection to the sea and conscious of the good jobs that the maritime industry can provide to people from all backgrounds, Weymouth College and its partners requested Expressions of Interest to carry out a research project to investigate whether it is feasible to deliver a maritime curriculum locally and, if so, what such a curriculum should look like.
The solution.
A project of this scope required a broad range of expertise and so we were honoured to be asked to join the project as the Subject Matter Expert (SME). We did so in a consortium led by experienced market researchers from IRN Research and supported by the skills and strategy gurus from Mirabilis Management.
Our role was threefold: to offer our deep insight into the maritime industry and the maritime training space; to reach out to our extensive network of industry contacts for interviews; and to lead development of the proposed course offerings.
The first element of the project was to work with IRN and Mirabilis to develop our target list of employers, training providers and industry bodies to approach for interviews, as well as the questions that we would ask them. That done, we assisted the team with the interviews of key stakeholders and ensured that the interviewee’s responses were being interpreted correctly by the non-seafarers in the team.
With the interviews and other desk-based research in hand, we were then able to start analysing the data and zeroing in on the course offerings we wished to recommend, along with expected timelines, estimated employer demand and potential synergies with existing offerings. A key element of this was a thorough risk analysis to ensure that the client was fully aware of the potential pitfalls of each option.
In their own words.
“Working with Dragonfly Maritime on the Dorset Maritime Training Programme project was a pleasure. They brought invaluable maritime training knowledge and contacts to the team and ensured that all of our research and findings were realistic and relevant to the sector. We look forward to working with them on similar projects in the future.”