Michael Kasinis, a master’s student at City St Georges University, has received Maritime UK’s award for the best MSc dissertation, recognising his research among entries from universities across the UK.

Michael, supervised by Dr Ioannis Moutzouris, received the award at a ceremony held at Clarksons’ London offices, celebrating the quality and relevance of his MSc research to the maritime sector.

Michael Kasinis delivering a Maritime Masters presentation on research implications and recommendations to an audience.
Michael Kasinis presents the implications and recommendations from the award-winning research at the Maritime Masters 2026 awards ceremony.

The project was sponsored by Veson Nautical, an industry partner of the UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub, and received financial support from the UK MaRes Hub. Bringing together education, research and industry, the project demonstrates the value of collaboration in developing the next generation of maritime researchers.

The research has already progressed beyond the academic dissertation. A related white paper titled “Capesize Voyage Speed Optimization: A Reinforcement Learning Model for Fuel, Earnings, and CII” has been published by Veson Nautical and shared by the UK MaRes Hub with policymakers.

 

Michael acknowledged the UK MaRes Hub’s support during his presentation at the awards ceremony.

Michael’s success, supported by Dr Moutzouris’ supervision, is a strong example of the Hub’s wider impact across education, research, industry and policy, supporting talented researchers while helping high-quality research reach those working to shape the future of the maritime sector.

Congratulations to Michael and Dr Moutzouris on this fantastic achievement.