News 23 Sep, 2021 Our Charity Partners - One year on In September 2020, West launched it’s long-term charity program and made commitments of financial support to three select charities (National Oceanography Centre, Sailors’ Society and Blue Marine). We worked closely with each of them to initiate activities and projects that would make a real difference and work towards our overall ESG objectives. Download PDF Over the last year, these charities have been undergoing and progressing these projects individually and have summarised just some of the highlights below. Our ambition is to continue building on these existing relationships with our key charity partners and also develop those with select local charities such as Feeding Hong Kong and Symplefsi , through our regional offices. National Oceanography Centre Last year, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) partnered with West P&I to develop a seagoing bursary programme. This year, due to Covid-19 restrictions the 2021 bursary had to be virtual, but we didn’t let that stop us creating a unique experience for our five recipients, joining from Ghana, Brazil and the UK. Students joined NOC scientists for a two-day workshop, enjoyed a bespoke 3D tour of NOC’s world class research ship, RSS Discovery and have now taken part in a 6-month mentoring programme with a NOC scientist in their specialist area. Dr Ben Moat who led the workshops, commented, “Research at sea and supporting the education and training of scientists and engineers is at the core of our mission as a charity. Despite Covid-19 restrictions the 2021 programme has been a great success and I look forward to following the students journey as they continue to develop the careers in oceanography.’’ As part of the West P&I funding a 3D tour of NOC’s world class research ship, RSS Discovery was developed. The tour uses photographic imaging and 360° scanning technology to enable an immersive journey through the ship to get a feel for what life is like on