Why IDCORE?

Eve is a trustee of a sustainability education charity and a Chemical Engineering graduate from the University of Hull.

She came to IDCORE from a role within an Engineering Consultancy company where she worked as a process design engineer often delivering projects for the oil and gas sector. She was looking for something different, something that built on her interest in sustainability but also her industrial experience both in the consultancy and prior to that through a Year in Industry placement at Rotherham steel works.

IDCORE seemed a good way into a new career within the renewables sector. The training programme is varied - not just focussed on technology but providing an understanding of the broader context for the sector, how the industry is structured and how it engages with international energy markets. She was particularly interested in the marine biology and sociology elements, in which she has a personal interest but had never had the opportunity to study.

Having said that, Eve didn’t find the first year easy, it took her well out of her comfort zone as a chemical engineer, although her experience of writing technical reports certainly helped, as did the incredible sense of community within the cohort. It was a group of ready-made friends in a new city. Their wide range of experience and knowledge has enhanced the IDCORE experience and they have become an important support network for each other now that they are all working in their sponsoring companies.

Eve’s Project

Eve is now working with SSE Renewables (SSER), looking at how to apply circular economy principles to offshore wind projects. She is working as part of the SSE Renewables Procurement & Commercial Directorate with a particular focus on the Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm development. Eve is enjoying being a part of this team, where she gets to engage with engineers, procurement leads and project managers for Berwick Bank. She is also working closely with the Sustainability team, who have a strong interest in her work in circular economy.

The circular economy is a massive topic, and getting on top of the project has required a lot of reading. In a short space of time, Eve has become enough of an authority on the topic that SSER have been using her to assist in the development of plans for a range of projects where sustainability and supply chain research and development are requirements of being eligible for bidding into the Contract for Difference Allocation Rounds.

To support her work, Eve has undertaken a survey involving over 80 respondents, seeking to understand the sector’s current approach to sustainability and the metrics and performance indicators they are using, with the ultimate aim of building these into a decision support tool. Being part of SSER has provided excellent leverage when garnering responses to the survey which has revealed that, in general, within the sector there is a lot of interest in sustainability but insufficient knowledge for effective implementation and a lack of joined up thinking. In contrast, SSER have a well-established sustainability team with an active interest in circularity.

There are real advantages to working in a large company – there is always someone who knows something, and it is also giving Eve a range of other opportunities from STEM visits and podcasts through to involvement in initiatives like the Coalition for Wind Industry Circularity.