International and Local Collaboration
The oil & gas industry is an international business and SIRIUS’ work is of interest and relevance far beyond the Norwegian Continental Shelf. It is essential that work done in Norway influences and is influenced by the work done by companies and Universities in North and South America and Asia. We have already set up collaborations in Brazil, and in 2019 have appointed Keith Lewis in a 20% position as International Advisor and Beacon Manager. Here, Keith presents his perspectives on digitalization in the global oil & gas industry.
SIRIUS has a key role in SINOS, Norway’s common academic engagement with the oil and gas sector in Brazil. We provided the keynote address at the annual November conference in Rio de Janeiro in 2017 and chaired the programme committee for the same conference in 2018. This engagement is funded by the Ministry of Oil and Energy 2018-2020. From these foundations we have built a collaboration with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Petrobras, Shell and Total.
SIRIUS is the University of Oslo’s node in the GEMINI Centre for Big Data. GEMINI centres are a model for strategic research coordination between parallel research groups at SINTEF, NTNU and the University of Oslo. Their aim is to develop large-scale technical centres that produce higher quality results collectively than the individual groups would achieve independently. The GEMINI Collaboration enables collaborating groups to grasp new opportunities and bring them to fruition in the form of better value generation and profitability. The Big Data centre brings together researchers from SIRIUS, SINTEF Digital and NTNU to work together on problems related to accessing and analysing big data.
SIRIUS has a broad network with global reach. We work with leading groups in our computer science disciplines and host visiting researchers from these groups. As the beacon projects in SIRIUS have developed, we have also established links with groups working in engineering, geosciences and petroleum engineering.
We believe that European Programs is a natural source of support and financing for SIRIUS’ beacon projects. Successful participation in these programs requires effort and investment in building networks and alliances with European companies and researchers.
The Alan Turing Institute (ATI) is the United Kingdom’s national centre for data science. SIRIUS participates in the ATI through the University of Oxford’s partnership in the centre and through direct participation of SIRIUS researchers in the centre. In 2018 two SIRIUS researchers, Ernesto Jimenez-Ruíz and Evgenij Thorstensen have been visiting fellows at ATI.