Congratulations to our Cohort 5 Aura CDT doctoral students, who celebrated the progression from their PG Dip studies to focusing on their PhD research projects with a mini-conference last week. The students will now take up their places at their host universities: Durham University, the University of Hull, Newcastle University or the University of Sheffield.

A group of Aura CDT students from Cohort 5

In Session 1 on Technology and AI in Offshore Wind Energy we saw presentations from:

• Soheil Navvabi on the Optimisation of Wind Turbine Blades
• Osama Akabat on Computer Modelling of Irregular Nonlinear Surface Waves and their Effects on Offshore Wind Turbine Structures
• Akash Kumar on Human-Informed AI for Improved Health Monitoring of Offshore Wind Turbines
• Louis Donaldson on Explainable Artificial Intelligence for the Optimisation of Offshore Maintenance

In Session 2 on Environmental Challenges in Offshore Wind we saw presentations from:

• Zoe Bainbridge on the Impact of Offshore Wind Development on the Marine Benthos
• Benjamin Whitcombe on Primary Production and Carbon Export and its Interaction with Offshore Wind
• Teri Farthing on the Investigation of Biofouling on Dynamic Subsea Cables using ROV Technology
• Frances Longbottom on Sustainable Recycling of Plastic Covers for Wind Turbine Transition Pieces via Photocatalysis

During Session 3 on Engineering Challenges and Solutions in Offshore Wind we enjoyed presentations from:

• Sarah-Jane Tonks on the Effect of Blade Surface Contamination on Wind Turbine Energy Production
• Beth McMahon on Vibration Control of Wind Turbines
• Charlotte Atkinson Effects of Extreme Weather on the Response of Upscaled Floating Wind Turbines
• Isobel Wood on Biochar from Wind Turbine Waste for Carbon Capture

In the final session on the Effect of Hydrodynamics on Wind Turbine Infrastructure we saw presentations from:

• Seph Sanderson on Interactions Between Internal Solitary Waves and Offshore Wind Structures
• Michael Anya on the Characterisation of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Dynamic Cable motion: Is Biofouling a Challenge?
• Di Huang on Offshore Wind Infrastructure in Stratified Seas: Interactions Between Waves and Wakes
• Raveena Singi Reddy on The Impact of Estuary Dynamics on Offshore Wind Infrastructure

Follow the links for more information on our students and their research.