Shipping Data Research Specialist — Trace Data to Source, Assess Licensing, Conduct Outreach

Maritime Data Detective — Trace Data to Source, Assess Licensing, Conduct Research ABOUT THE PROJECT We're a long-established UK maritime services business. We are rebuilding the data layer of our platform. We currently access several maritime datasets through aggregators and intermediaries. We want to go upstream and find where the data originates. For Port State Control data, for example, that means establishing whether we can source directly from the issuing authorities — the regional MoU regimes (Paris MoU, Tokyo MoU, Indian Ocean MoU, USCG) and EMSA — rather than through a reseller. This is NOT a desk-search project. It's investigative and interactive. You'll trace datasets back to their origin, read the terms of use, work out whether a fee-charging commercial business can lawfully use each source, and draft outreach to the relevant authorities and providers to probe access tiers and pricing. We'll send the outreach from our side; you draft it, then help us interpret and act on the replies. WHAT YOU'LL DELIVER A structured source register covering, for each dataset: the originating issuer, access method (API / scrape / manual / direct feed / email request), data format, refresh frequency, licensing position for COMMERCIAL use, cost, and a reliability note. Plus a log of outreach drafted and responses received. SKILLS WE'RE LOOKING FOR -Investigative / provenance research — distinguishing an originating authority from a reseller dressed up as one Confident reading of licensing and terms-of-use, with sound judgement on commercial vs non-commercial/research permissions -Professional written business English and the ability to draft credible outreach to a national maritime administration or data provider -Disciplined cataloguing — clean, structured spreadsheet work Enough technical literacy to recognise an API vs a PDF dump vs a captcha-walled portal, and flag what's machine-ingestible (you won't build the pipeline — just assess feasibility) Maritime, shipping, logistics or regulatory-data experience is a strong plus but not essential. Investigative rigour matters more than sector background. TO APPLY In two or three sentences: pick any one public maritime or regulatory dataset, point us to where you believe it ORIGINATES (not where it's resold), and tell us whether a commercial business could use it and how you'd confirm that. Applications without this will not be considered.