Research Fellow – Selkie

Post Duration: 8 months

Salary: €56,933 – €62,037 p.a. (IUA Salary Scale)

Project Title: Selkie

For an information package including further details of the post see https://ore.ucc.ie/.

Informal enquiries can be made in confidence to Dr. Jimmy Murphy, Tel: + 353 (0) 21 4864313; Email: ei.ccu@yhprum.ymmij. Applications must be submitted online via the University College Cork vacancy portal (https://ore.ucc.ie/). Queries relating to the online application process should be referred to ei.ccu@tnemtiurcer, quoting the job-title and project name.

Selkie

Selkie is funded by the EU’s Ireland-Wales co-operation programme and is led by MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine hosted by University College Cork. The project will see the development of a streamlined commercialisation pathway for the marine energy industry by establishing a cross-border network of developers and supply chain companies in Ireland and Wales. Multi-use technology tools and models will be created and trialled on pilot projects before being shared across the sector. The aim is to utilise the expertise from academics and industry across both nations to address the challenges facing the industry. As part of this work, a set of installation, Operation and Maintenance logistics models will be developed for the wave and tidal sector. These models will be developed considering previous experience in the development of similar models for the offshore wind industry, where there are similarities in terms of logic and methods that need to be employed. The models will be tested using generic data sets relevant to Ireland and Wales and applied to pilot case studies. O&M tool is often used to analyse scenarios and optimize the O&M activities and costs.

Role description

MaREI wishes to recruit a Research Fellow to lead the team developing these models. The successful candidates’ role will include;

Disseminate and provide training of the open-access SELKIE O&M tool which investigates the O&M costs and strategies of tidal and wave energy converters. The detailed objectives will be:
To carry out optimization and scenarios analyses using the SELKIE O&M tool for tidal and wave energy projects
To identify potential end-users of the O&M tool through extensive stakeholder engagement, interviews/workshops and to provide appropriate training on the tool
To provide recommendations and directions for the further improvement of the SELKIE O&M tool
The candidate is required to have minimum 4 years of work experience in offshore energy O&M modelling and have good knowledge of the SELKIE O&M tools
Experience working with stakeholders in offshore energy will be an advantage.
Directing a software contractor on the coding and testing of Selkie tools and models.
Designing generic cases for testing as well a pilot case studies to examine different technologies and logistics strategies that could provide time and cost savings as well as the impact of scaling up from prototypes to array scale.
An understanding of the key challenges facing the wave and tidal sectors is essential, particularly the main cost drivers and logistical challenges that need to be overcome to enable commercially viable deployment.
Competency in excel and MATLAB are required as the role may include some further development of existing models in these formats.
Knowledge transfer and commercialisation experience is highly desirable.
Ideally the candidate will have experience of international research practices at post-doctoral level and will have authored/co-authored research funding applications.

MaREI

MaREI is a key research centre within UCC’s Environmental Research Institute (ERI), which is an internationally recognised Institute for environmental research dedicated to the understanding and protection of our natural environment and to developing innovative technologies, tools and services to facilitate a transformation to a zero carbon and resource efficient society. The MaREI Centre is an SFI funded research centre headquartered in the ERI and includes 13 other Universities and Third Level Institutes from across Ireland, has 50 industrial partners and has accumulated research funding of approximately €60m. It combines the expertise of a wide range of research groups and industry partners, with the shared mission of solving the main scientific, technical and socio-economic challenges across the climate, energy and marine spaces. MaREI is also funded by SEAI, EI, EPA, ERDF, EU, HEA, Marine Institute, DCCAE and IRC, as well as through contributions from our industry partners. Researchers in the MaREI Centre have over 30 years of experience in conducting fundamental and applied research supported by competitively won national and international funding, and commercial contracts with government agencies and industry. MaREI’s strengths lie in the multi-disciplinary nature of its research teams, allowing it to combine insights across areas such as MRE Technologies, Materials & Structures, Observations & Operations, Coastal & Marine Systems, Bioenergy, Energy Policy & Modelling and Renewable Energy Management.

Candidates should apply, in confidence, before 12 noon (Irish Local Time) on Friday, 2nd September 2022.

No late applications will be accepted.

Feature Project

Selkie

Ireland and Wales have a large wave and tidal resource, which has the potential to provide significant low carbon energy. The development of successful MRE sector will lead to the production of clean electricity, job creation and technology export to a worldwide market.

Find out More

Meet the Team

All MaREI Team Members

Jimmy Murphy

Funded Investigator