The Advanced Master in Marine Renewable Energies gave me an overall view of this sector and the factors that impact upon it. I learned about the companies, schools and researchers working in this field. I'm very satisfied with this program and thankful to the people who gave me the opportunity to participate in the Masters despite my poor level of French. I did my final-year internship at Tecnalia in the Basque region, where I learned more about wave energy. This is a fascinating area with a lot of potential, and there's a lot yet to be done in terms of study and development.
Pursuing a PhD
"When I enrolled in this program I planned to go on to do a thesis. Before the end of my internship, I'd already been presented with two opportunities to pursue a PhD, one in the Basque region with Tecnalia, and the other in Ireland. Since I love exploring new countries and meeting new people, I chose Ireland!
I joined the Centre for Ocean Energy Research at Maynooth University, where I participated in a major project with other universities and companies working in the wave energy sector, such as Aquamarine and Ocean Power Technologies. My research is focused on wave energy converters. I'm developing a model that works as closely as possible to real time and that takes into account various nonlinearities, such as the effects of viscosity."