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Coventry University to help secure UK’s underwater infrastructure in emergencies
Dr James Malcolm
Monday 28 July 2025
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Coventry University researchers are working to improve how information is shared during emergencies to help better protect the UK’s undersea pipelines and cables.
The research is being funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s SALIENT Hub, with Coventry University the only UK institution to receive awards for two projects in the competitive funding round.
Led by Dr James Malcolm from the university’s Research Centre for Peace and Security, the project will investigate why it’s often difficult for governments, private companies and international partners to share information effectively when undersea pipelines and cables that carry data, electricity, oil and gas come under threat.
Recent incidents, such as the NordStream 2 pipeline explosion in 2022 and subsequent damage to several subsea cables in the Baltic Sea, have shown how vulnerable this infrastructure is to sabotage. With around 99% of the UK’s internet traffic depending on these cables, protecting them has become a growing concern.
The researchers will examine when and why communication breaks down during emergencies, speaking with UK government and industry experts to understand how information is currently shared, where the barriers are and what steps are needed improve coordination and speed up responses when undersea infrastructure is under threat.
To understand how real crises have unfolded, the team will review past incidents, identifying what supported effective responses and where problems emerged. They will visit countries that have recently dealt with threats to their own subsea networks, such as Estonia and Finland, to learn from their experiences and draw out lessons that could be applied to the UK.
The findings will inform a new framework to improve collaboration, speed up decision-making and support quicker recovery when undersea infrastructure is threatened, helping to protect the UK’s energy and communication systems and strengthen cooperation with international partners.
Undersea cables and pipelines are critical to how we live and work yet protecting them in a crisis isn’t straightforward. When a threat emerges, multiple organisations often need to act fast but delays or confusion over who knows what, and who’s responsible, can slow everything down.
Being awarded not one, but two projects in such a competitive funding round is a real vote of confidence in Coventry University’s ability to lead world-class research in security and resilience. We were up against the UK’s top institutions in a blind review process — and came out as the only university to receive two awards and the only post-92 institution to be funded at all.
Dr James Malcolm, Project Lead
Find out more about the project: Securing UK Subsea Infrastructure: Information-sharing in times of crisis | Coventry University.
