1. Conference Overview

The 2020 General Meeting and Annual Autumn Conference of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea (SNAK)  were held at the Changwon Exhibition Convention Center (CECO) on November 5th and 6th, 2020. The meetings were sponsored by Gyeongsangnam-do Province, Changwon City, Gyeongnam Convention Bureau (GNCVB), Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and The Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies. We express sincere appreciation to them in this writing.

The conference consisted of 22 general sessions for presentations on 85 journals and 10 poster research papers, and 14 project sessions with 68 journals introduced. In addition, a range of programs were provided with four special student sessions including the special lecture "Asking for the Direction of the Shipbuilding Industry of South Korea," Korea-UK joint sessions, and sessions for ship design contests, and an autonomous navigation boat competitive exhibition. It also prepared two special sessions of KTTC Experimental Fluid Dynamics Contest, poster sessions, "Young NAOE Open Talk" for undergraduate students' active participation in the society, and a lecture on editing ethics. Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was accessed through diverse ways including online and offline and hybrid channels to ensure the safety and success of the Annual Autumn Conference.

2. Contents

2.1 Conference

The conference started on November 5th (Thursday) and was held in eight seminar rooms and a convention hall in the Changwon Exhibition Convention Center. With the concern about COVID-19, there was a limit on the number of participants accommodated in a session room under the social distancing guidelines. Instead, we used some seminar rooms for online participation by those who could not join the sessions. According to the guidelines, lunch and dinner were not provided. All the sessions for journal presentation were broadcasted on ZOOM. Most of the journals were presented by the speakers on a face-to-face basis in the rooms but for some journals online presentations were prepared.

Unlike our experience last year, there were plenty of presentations on journals and diverse programs prepared. So, in parallel with the general sessions, project sessions, and special sessions, the General Meeting of SNAK and events including awards ceremony were held at the conventional hall, starting from 10:00 in the morning.

The technology seminar, by invitation of the Korean Register of Shipping and SNAK's 1st General Meeting, marked the beginning. They were followed by a total of 22 general sessions, 12 project sessions, and two Korea-UK collaboration sessions. Special sessions included two ship design contests, and two competitive exhibitions for autonomous navigation boats, a poster session, and an editing ethics lecture.

During the 22 general sessions, a total of 95 journals were introduced, including 85 oral presentations and 10 poster presentations. Table 1 shows the number of journals for each sector. The conference requested "extended abstracts" when receiving the journals, to deal with the issue we experienced last year in that some journals were submitted under restrictions for security reasons. In addition, for the efficient management of sessions' time, poster sessions were revived.

More sessions were organized for fluid performance and structure performance as they are the two fields for which many journals were published. For the total 22 general session, 85 journals were presented with the noticeable trends for increasing interest in maritime autonomous surface ships. Accordingly, one general session was particularly focused on the topic. Also, two project sessions for "technology development for maritime autonomous surface ships," and two special sessions for "autonomous navigation boats" showed the active movement in research and related capacity-building of our members.

Regarding ethics, Dr. Sung-Tae Hong, professor emeritus of Seoul National University College of Medicine and chairman of the ethics committee of the National Academy of Medicine of Korea, provided a lecture on academic journal publication ethics and research ethics.

Two joint sessions between Korea and the United Kingdom were held from 9:00 in the morning on the second day under the overarching theme "KOREA-UK Collaboration" and sub-titled "Maritime 4.0_Smart & Green," moderated by Dr. Do-han Oh (The Korean Scientists and Engineers Association in the UK), Dr. Young-won Lee (Europe Korea Marine and Ocean Engineers Association), and Dr. In-won Lee (director of international affairs of SNAK, Professor of Pusan National University). The project sessions were organized to promote collaboration among South Korea, the UK, and Europe attended by Lloyd’s Register and University of Strathclyde of the UK, and Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean engineering, Pusan National University, Korea Maritime Institute, and smart eco-friendly shipment, they actively participated in discussions and shared opinions. During the sessions, the project goal for Maritime 4.0 Smart & Green was introduced with 10 journals presented.

The special sessions included two sessions for ship design contest and the other two for autonomous navigation boat exhibition. The teams who won the prizes in the ship design contest made presentations for nine designation subjects and for nine free subjects. Their posters were also exhibited through the entire conference period at lobby on the third floor of the convention center. During the two sessions for the autonomous navigation boat exhibition, the ten teams that were awarded in last summers' contest presented their outcomes. Although it was their first participation in such contests and they were undergraduate students, we noticed their outstanding technical skills. In particular, the significant progress and achievements were recognized in the field of sensor utilization and algorithm development for the application to autonomous navigation, making our expectation even greater for the next conference.

2.2 General Events

General sessions and academic sessions were held in parallel with the 51st General Meeting starting at 10 AM on the first day. During the General Meeting moderated by the trustee of director Kwang-hyo Jung (Pusan National University), the president Hyun-soo Kim made a report on SNAK's proceedings in 2020. The members of the director board reported general affairs, business, and finance. They were briefed on the draft project plan and the draft budget plan for 2021 before discussing and approving them.

3. Closing Remarks

The 2020 Annual Autumn Conference provided us with the opportunity to confirm again the continuous passion toward academic activities preparing for the future of the shipbuilding and maritime sector, despite the nationwide risk from COVID-19. SNAK has made unceasing efforts through conferences to encourage academic activities and ensure the solid base for the shipbuilding and maritime sector with a wide spectrum of its member from students to researchers. The conference this time had a particular significance in presenting the outcomes of SNAK's activities so far that led us to gain the early achievements. Although it was not the original intension, the social distancing with COVID 19 provided a chance for us to get experience with operating the conference through both online and offline channels. We finally saw great success.

We would like to express sincere appreciation to all the members who attended the conference for their contribution to developing the academic field of the sector. We would also like to give words of encouragement to the young engineers who actively participated in different student programs of SNAK. Once again, we would like to thank the member organizations and partners for providing support to the 2020 Conference even in these difficult times.