Jack Davies, National Composites Centre
EngD student at National Composites Centre and the Industrial Doctorate Centre at the University of Bristol; researching numerical methods for the monitoring and control of the infusion process used to manufacture wind turbine blades.
Attended the Sensing for Offshore Renewable Energy Structures Masterclass at University of Hull.
As an early career researcher, I was in a fortunate position to attend the offshore sensing masterclass, free of charge! But this wasn’t the reason why I chose to attend; the masterclass caught my attention through my interest in employing optical fibre sensors for the manufacturing process monitoring of wind turbine blades. The syllabus offered by the masterclass was very focussed and relevant for all things optical fibre sensing and it was delivered by the experts at the University of Hull. The state-of-the-art technical content during the two-day masterclass was both challenging and engaging. The industrially focussed background to offshore renewable energy was also very insightful and together with the hands-on laboratory sessions helped to link the theory to the real world and answer the all-important question “why should we care?”.
The network that I gained during the masterclass and from being a member of the Supergen ORE Hub network has helped me to gain sight of the work that is ongoing in the offshore renewable energy scene
The masterclass attracted attendees from all over the country, giving the opportunity to interact with the other attendees and build a useful network. The two-day event was in a friendly and encouraging environment, and with a uniquely focussed audience it made it easy to find attendees who were working on similar problems to me - in offshore renewable energy as well as a range of other fields - and from both academia and industry. Being able to share contact details with each other has made it possible to share knowledge on research challenges and discuss potential future collaboration. Recently, I attended an academic conference in Abu Dhabi, and coincidently I bumped into a couple of friends that I made at the masterclass. It was great seeing that they had put all the knowledge from the masterclass to good use in shaping their research.
The Supergen ORE Hub network has facilitated a unique collaboration between industry and academia and being a part of it really gave me a good steer on understanding the research challenges. The network that I gained during the masterclass and from being a member of the supergen ORE network has helped me to gain sight of the work that is ongoing in the offshore renewable energy scene, and it will initiate collaboration to accelerate research and have a greater impact on the things that matter. I am now looking forward to becoming a more integrated member of the network through participation in the future Supergen ORE Hub Early Career network forums!
