Greenspace

Rousing from my sickbed at the weekend, I was delighted to see job adverts for the Greenspace research project at Lews Castle College.

Those of us who were involved in the Renewable Energy Zone concept always hoped that we would be able to create enough of a momentum through developing a number of options, that some (or even better, many) of the alternatives would come to fruition.


With wind seeming to have hit the buffers and wave starting to take shape, it is also very gratifying to see hydrogen growing in significance, and providing new jobs.

And that is the most important part, as far as I am concerned.

For too often we have exported highly intelligent school-leavers who go away and get a degree in a high-skill area, and who know that they will never in their wildest dreams find a suitable position back in the islands.

You will have a PhD in physics, engineering or a related discipline and have a strong and growing reputation in energy and built environment research. Extensive experience of advanced simulation tools such as Trnsys and Fluent is highly desirable.

or

You will be responsible for development and visualisation of computational fluid dynamic solutions of thermodynamic equations with emphasis on wind, fluid and solar modelling. You will have a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, Physics or related engineering or science discipline, a deep knowledge of numerical analysis, scientific computing, and nonlinear systems and knowledge of numerical methods.

The ability to create an infrastructure that can support jobs of this calibre creates a fantastic opportunity to build a permanent skills base in the islands. Inevitably, some of the people will in turn spin out other businesses, and that can only be a huge positive for the islands.

Congratulations and kudos to the College and everyone involved in this project, and I am sure that we are all looking forward to the next stages and the results of your labours.