Ralph, BSc Mechanical Engineering ‘20

"Currently completing an MSc in Sustainable Energy Technology in TU Delft in the Netherlands and working in collaboration with Seawind Ocean Technologies, a Dutch OEM of floating offshore wind turbines, for my thesis project.

I completed my BSc in mechanical engineering from UCD in 2020. Following this, I moved to TU Delft in the Netherlands to begin a Masters degree in Sustainable Energy Technology, a renewables focussed engineering program. Here, I am currently completing my thesis project in collaboration with Seawind Ocean Technologies, a Dutch developer of floating offshore wind turbines. The goal of this project is to optimise and calibrate loading analysis models for their 6 and 12 MW turbines ahead of their imminent commercialisation.

While studying in UCD, I met a whole host of people with the same mentality as me and had a brilliant time. The modules I followed during my three years were all interesting, relevant and stimulating. Most importantly, team work was always encouraged, and soft skills, such as presenting and report writing, were enhanced. Creativity and entrepreneurship were promoted heavily, with various modules focussed specifically on them, and this no doubt helped with recently co-founding an autonomous demand response start-up, called DemRes, alongside one of my best friends from mech. The course work can be heavy at times, so balancing this with extra curriculars was helpful. Along with my sports, I joined the EngSoc committee and picked up a lot of transferable organisational skills. Also, if you can, take advantage of the study abroad option in third year - I went to Purdue University in the US for a semester and had a blast.

Mech Eng in UCD has served me fantastically and I really couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone interested in pursuing it."