Not long after an exciting trip to Orkney in the North, the 2022 cohort of IDCORE had the delight of spending 2 weeks in Oban, on the West coast of Scotland, for the taught module on Marine Renewables and Society, delivered by our partner The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), led by Dr Suzi Billing.  This module is one of several ‘non-Engineering’ courses on the IDCORE programme and provides students with a detailed understanding of the societal issues surrounding the deployment, operation and decommissioning of offshore renewable energy technologies. 

The course is always a favourite among the researchers – the societal impacts of Offshore Renewables is usually not something they have fully met before, and gives them a refreshing opportunity to approach things from a slightly different, but critical viewpoint.   

Our aim is to provide our researchers with a broad view of all of the varied aspects of the ORE sector – creating competent and well-rounded ORE Engineers.  And of course, SAMS and Suzi always deliver such well organised and engaging material.

Photographer Karina Lyburn joined the researchers for a few days, and took some amazing photos, all under the glorious sunshine of Oban!