Liverpool John Moores University

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is a public research university in Liverpool, England, with approximately 25,000 students. Its maritime and engineering departments have a strong track record in applied maritime safety research, reflecting Liverpool's historic role as a major port city. LJMU is one of the post-1992 universities that has built competitive research capacity in specialist applied fields.

LJMU leads the FAVOR project, a £1.2m Horizon Europe-funded research programme launched on 1 June 2026 to recommend a unified regulatory architecture for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships. The project spans regulation, risk assessment, cybersecurity, human factors, education and training, sustainability, and maritime workforce transition: the full set of policy gaps the IMO MASS Code left for others to fill.

LJMU's lead role places a UK institution at the centre of an EU-funded cross-European study, reflecting the UK's Horizon Europe re-association formalised in 2023. FAVOR's output is intended to inform the Experience Building Phase that follows the MASS Code's 1 July 2026 entry into force and to feed into the binding framework the IMO is targeting by 2032.