Award for academic’s research into seafarers’ working conditions
15 December 2025
An academic has picked up a top award for her research into the lives of people working at sea.
Emeritus Professor Helen Sampson, former director of the Seafarers’ International Research Centre, won The Maritime Foundation Award for Best Book at the Maritime Media Awards for Sea-Time: An Ethnographic Adventure.
The book exposes the appalling conditions many seafarers work in, the ways in which autonomy and authority have been eroded, and how working lives have deteriorated in recent years. It explains the demise of family-owner shipping firms by takeovers, consolidation and mergers, painting a previously unseen picture of shipboard life.
Professor Sampson, based at the School of Social Sciences said: “When I first went to sea in 1999 for this research, I was astonished to hear that many seafarers felt their lives were a necessary sacrifice in order to be able to provide for their families. I wanted to write about that in this book to raise awareness of some of the conditions and issues faced by more than one million people working at sea.”
I am grateful for this award and dedicate it to the seafarers who shared their stories with me. My hope is that this research will lead to much-needed improvements in the working lives of people who play such important roles, yet whose efforts and challenges are so often overlooked.
At any one time, there are more than 1.5 million people working at sea around the world, often in difficult and demanding conditions. It is believed there is widespread underreporting of the challenges on board, with people working precarious contracts nervous of jeopardising their employment.
Professor Sampson has spent the past two decades investigating these issues, sharing the findings with the maritime industry to argue the case for better support and improvements.
Speaking following the awards ceremony, Richard Clayton, Chair of the Maritime Foundation said: “Once again these awards revealed some surprises, highlighted serious concerns, and celebrated excellence across the full spectrum of maritime media. Communication is key to successful security and business, and there is nothing more rewarding than to hear how people of all ages respond to good storytelling.
“The strength of the Maritime Foundation is its ability to encourage maritime to salute best practices while shaming the worst behaviour.”
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