Dr Gekara is Associate Professor in the College of Business and Law at RMIT University. His research expertise is in the area of skills development and workforce planning in the context of industrial transformations and the future of work. In this respect, he has undertaken research and published journal papers and book chapters on seafarer training and the changing global dynamics of skills development and  labour supply in the shipping sector. He is the co-founder and leader of the Skills, Training and Industry Research Group (STIRN) at RMIT, which develops and disseminates important research in the general area of skills, work and employment. Prof. Helen Sampson has studied the shipping industry and seafarers since 1999. Her research and publications in this area have focussed on: work; skills and training; regulation; corporate social responsibility; gender; transnationalism; structured social space; health and wellbeing; ship-shoreinteraction and the use of mandatory equipment. Helen has also contributed to debates on research methods and has published articles and chapters on: researcher risk; Delphi groups; pilot studies; real life vignettes; and accessing elites. She is interested in the emerging area of Human-Animal Studies (HAS) and has undertaken research on horse welfare in Wales and power relationships between horses and their keepers. In 2014 she won the British Sociological Association/BBC prize for Ethnography for her book International Seafarers and Transnationalism in the Twenty-First Century.

• Part One: Going to Sea: 1 A taste of the Sea: Artisanal Fishing Communities in the Philippines by Nelson Turgo.- 2 Recruiting and Managing Labour for the Global Shipping Industry in China by Zhiwei Zhao.- 3 Can the UK Tonnage Tax Maritime Training Obligation Address Declining Cadet Recruitment and Training in the UK? by Victor Oyaro Gekara.- 4 Careers at Sea: Exploring Seafarer Motivations and Aspirations by Polina Baum-Talmor.- 5 Women Seafarers: An Analysis of Barriers for Their Employment by Momoko Kitada.- Part Two: Being at Sea: 6 Transitions and Adjustments Made by Seafarers Whilst at Sea by Helen Devereux.- 7 The Rhythms of Shipboard Life: Work, Hierarchy, Occupational Culture and Multinational Crews by Helen Sampson.- 8 The Experience of Being a Filipino Seafarer on a Multinationally Crewed Ship by Iris Acejo.- 9 Environmental Management at Sea, What Being ‘Green’ Means for Seafarers by Ngwatung Akamangwa.- 10 Safety Aboard Chinese Vessels by Conghua Xue.- 11 Multiple Roles and Role Conflict: Seafarers as Economic, Humanitarian and Security Actors by Amaha Senu.- Part Three: Support for Seafarers and Their Families: 12 Union Organising in the Context of Regional Labour Market Decline: The Case of Nautilus International by Victor Oyaro Gekara.- 13 Trade Union Representation in the Philippines by Ralph Buiser.- 14 On-line Support Groups for Families in China by Lijun Tang.