Prof Adam Weintrit
Professor Adam Weintrit, PhD, DSc(Eng), FRIN, FNI, Master Mariner
Rector of Gdynia Maritime University,
2020 – 2024 and 2024 – 2028
Gdynia Maritime University – Faculty of Navigation
Professor Adam Weintrit specialises in the scientific disciplines of geodesy and cartography and transport (currently classified as: civil engineering, geodesy and transport). He has been connected with Gdynia Maritime University for more than 45 years (from 1980 to 1985 as a student of the Faculty of Navigation, and since 1985 as a member of the Faculty’s staff). After graduating, he began work at the Institute of Marine Navigation of the Higher Maritime School in Gdynia as an assistant.
In 1992, by resolution of the Council of the Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography of the Warsaw University of Technology, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences, and in 2004, the same council awarded him the postdoctoral degree of Doctor habilitatus (habilitation), also in the discipline of geodesy and cartography. In 2016, he received the title of Professor of Technical Sciences. From 2002, he was employed as an associate professor, and from 2016 – after being conferred the title of professor by the President of the Republic of Poland – he held the position of full professor at GMU. During the years 2003–2020 (with a break in 2017–2019), he served as Head of the Department of Navigation, and in 2008–2016 (two terms) he was Dean of the Faculty of Navigation.
Author
He is the author or co-author of nearly 400 scientific publications concerning the safety of navigation, maritime transport, navigation, geodesy and cartography, including more than 20 books and scholarly monographs, among them the English-language handbook The Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). Operational Handbook, recommended by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). He has edited more than a dozen monographs published by the Taylor & Francis Group.
Member and Chair of Committees, Councils, Societies and Associations
He is a member of many scientific and professional committees, councils and societies in Poland and abroad, including RIN, NI, IMSF, PNF, PSTT, SKŻW, PTN, PTBN, PTK, SHM RP, MENSA, as well as (by election) the Transport Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Geodesy Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the Coordinating Council for Offshore Wind Energy at the Ministry of Climate and Environment, and Deputy-Chair of the Technical Council of the Polish Register of Shipping (PRS).
In 2023–2025, he served as President of the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) and Chair of the IAMU International Executive Board, as well as Chair of IAMU committees: the Academic Affairs Committee (2020–2023) and the Policy and Planning Committee (2023–2025).
IMO Expert
An expert of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), he was a member of Polish delegations to sessions of the MSC Committee and the NAV, STW, NCSR and HTW subcommittees. He has served in IMO working groups on ECDIS; INS/IBS; navigational information presentation; radar equipment; AtoN AIS; e-Navigation; MASS; and S-100. He is a co-author of several dozen documents presented at IMO, co-author of the IMO Model Course 1.27 Operational Use of ECDIS, and co-author of provisions of the International STCW Convention concerning ECDIS simulators. For contributions to maritime navigation, he was awarded the prestigious titles FRIN – Fellow of The Royal Institute of Navigation (1995) and FNI – Fellow of the Nautical Institute (2008).
Co-creator of the International ‘TransNav’ Conference
He is the co-creator and chair of the biennial international scientific conference ‘TransNav’ and Editor-in-Chief of the English-language quarterly TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, published since 2007. He has participated in and led national and international R&D projects financed, among others, by the National Science Centre (NCN); the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR: Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju), formerly KBN/MNiSW); the EU; IAMU; and the Nippon Foundation, as well as numerous industry projects, including for PGE Group (Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A.); Dredging and Underwater Works Company Ltd. (PRCiP: Przedsiębiorstwo Robót Czerpalnych i Podwodnych); Polish Ocean Lines (PLO: Polskie Linie Oceaniczne S.A.; and the ports of Gdynia, Gdańsk and Świnoujście.
Doctoral Supervisor and Reviewer
Professor Weintrit has supervised the completion of three doctoral degrees. He has served as a reviewer in ten doctoral proceedings and in nine habilitation proceedings and procedures, as well as a reviewer of six applications for the title of professor and two opinions concerning the award of an honorary doctorate (doctor honoris causa). He is a member of programme committees of national and international conferences and of editorial boards of many specialist journals, including Journal of Navigation, WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs, Journal of International Maritime Safety and Environment Affairs (JIMSEA), The Archives of Transport, Pomorstvo, Scientific Journal of Maritime Research, Annual of Navigation, and MRT Maritime Research and Technology Journal.
Awards and Decorations
In recognition of original scientific achievements, he has received the Rector’s Award 18 times and twice received a Minister’s Award. He has been decorated with, among others: the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; the Bronze, Silver and Gold Cross of Merit; the Silver and Gold Medals for Long Service; the Medal of the National Education Commission; the Bronze Medal ‘For Services in the Defence of the Country’; the Medal of the 100th Anniversary of Regaining Independence (awarded by the Prime Minister); the Gold Cross of Honour and the Order of Honour of the Piłsudski Association of the Republic of Poland; the Pro Fluminibus Polonorum Medal and the ‘Pro Mari Nostro’ medal of the League of Sea and River; and the Bronze badge ‘Meritorious Maritime Worker’.
Initiatives During His Terms as Dean
During his two terms as Dean of the Faculty of Navigation (2008–2016), the Faculty gained the right to award doctorates in the discipline of transport. Preparations were also made and applications submitted to grant the Faculty the right to award habilitations in transport and doctorates in geodesy and cartography. Obtaining these rights opened the way for efforts to change the institution’s name from Gdynia Maritime Academy to Gdynia Maritime University.
On his initiative, the Faculty launched its first postgraduate programmes; the introductory candidate voyage on the training ship Dar Młodzieży for navigation students was reinstated; close cooperation with Shanghai Maritime University was established; and the RIDAM project proposal was prepared and submitted, under which several new laboratories were launched, including a modern Kongsberg Full Mission Bridge K-Sim navigation simulator. During his tenure as Dean, the Auditorium Maximum was built and the Faculty Planetarium was expanded and equipped with a modern ZKP-4 projector.
Professor Weintrit is co-founder and served as scientific supervisor of the ‘Navigator’ student research club, which in 2010 received the prestigious Red Rose Award for the best student research club on the Polish coast. As Dean, he contributed to raising the standing of Faculty publications; as many as five journals were included on the Ministry’s ranked journal list. Today, TransNav remains on that list and is indexed, among others, in Web of Science and Scopus.
Rector’s Term of Office 2020–2024
Professor Weintrit began his term of office as Rector (2020–2024) during one of the most difficult periods in the University’s history – during the pandemic and amid ministerial and governmental changes. He was elected Deputy-Chair of the Council of Rectors of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Chair of the Digitisation Commission of the Conference of Rectors of Polish Technical Universities (KRPUT) for the 2020–2024 term, a member of the Council of the National Chamber of Maritime Economy, and a member of the IAMU International Executive Board and Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) (2020–2023). He is the first GMU Rector in many years to hold the highest maritime qualification – an ocean-going master mariner (Captain) certificate – obtained in 1999, having served as an officer on merchant ships in international trade under the Polish, Norwegian, British, Cypriot, Liberian and Chinese (Hong Kong) flags.
In the first year of his term, he focused on creating conditions for the full integration of the Maritime Institute with GMU and on developing the University in offshore technology areas. He oversaw the preparation of a new University Statute adapted to emerging challenges, appointed the Maritime Institute Council, and established relations with major offshore-sector partners, including PKN Orlen; PGE Group; Maritime Agency Gdynia (Morska Agencja Gdynia); Mewo; the ports of Gdynia and Gdańsk; the Central Office of Measures (GUM), Remontowa Electrical Solutions; Maem; Geofizyka Toruń; Gdańsk University of Technology; and AGH University. Under the signed agreements, cooperation included chiefly R&D projects in offshore wind energy and education initiatives (new degree programmes, specialisations, workshops, laboratories and simulators), as well as student placements and internships. On the Rector’s initiative, an English-taught MBA programme for Offshore Wind sector managers was launched.
As Rector, he made the strategic decision to build the Centre for the Offshore Industry in Gdańsk near the Wisłoujście Fortress. The Centre is now the seat of the GMU Maritime Institute and the Offshore Wind Energy Centre, established in 2021.
During the 2020–2024 term, efforts were initiated to build a successor to the training ship Dar Młodzieży; talks with Angolan authorities continued regarding the third stage of building a maritime university in Namibe; and, for the first time in history, GMU hosted (at the Rector’s invitation) the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (KRASP). In the first year of the term, the GMU Senate awarded an honorary doctorate to Professor Daniel Duda; in subsequent years honorary doctorates were awarded to Professor Mirosław Jurdziński, Professor Hans Rummel (Hochschule Bremerhaven), and Professor Bradford Parkinson (Stanford University), creator of GPS. The term coincided with the University’s centenary celebrations, for which commemorative album publications were issued on the University’s history and founders.
In the final year of the 2020–2024 term, the University ceremonially opened flagship investments initiated by the Rector: the GMU Centre for the Offshore Industry in Gdańsk and the modern GMU Sports and Recreation Centre on the University campus. During this first rector’s term, GMU launched offshore-related programmes at all levels (Bachelor’s, Master’s, postgraduate and MBA) and achieved high evaluation categories B+ and B in five assessed scientific disciplines. To support better use of intellectual and technical potential and the transfer of research results to the economy – especially maritime innovation – the Rector established a Technology Transfer Office. In response to market expectations, a fifth Faculty was created within the University structure: the Faculty of Computer Science.
Rector’s Term 2024–2028
On 11 April 2024, Professor Adam Weintrit was elected by decision of the GMU Electoral College as Rector for the 2024–2028 term of office. In his address at the inauguration of the 2024/2025 academic year, he identified key challenges for the new term: preparing the University for the parametric evaluation process; launching new study programmes linked to the offshore sector; increasing internationalisation by targeting foreign students; strengthening cooperation among maritime universities within IAMU; expanding the campus (including construction of new student accommodation); developing the Faculty of Computer Science and admitting its first cohort; beginning construction of the GMU IT Centre; and finding a model and funding sources for building successors to the training ship Dar Młodzieży and – if possible – the ageing vessels Horyzont II and IMOR.
He became a member of the KRASP Commission for Science and the KRASP Commission for International Cooperation for the 2024–2028 term, as well as a member of the Council of the National Chamber of Maritime Economy. Within the Transport Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, he was re-elected Chair of the Water Transport Section.