An academic from the University of Aberdeen has won a prestigious ‘green’ energy award for his work on environmental monitoring for offshore energy projects.

Dr Benjamin Williamson, from the School of Biological Sciences, was named as the recipient of the Engineer Award at the Young Professionals Green Energy Awards 2017, organised by Scottish Renewables.

Dr Williamson received the award in recognition of his work in developing innovative designs and delivering novel engineering solutions for environmental monitoring around tidal turbines, based on work enabled by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership between MeyGen Ltd and the University of Aberdeen and using monitoring techniques developed in the NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) FLOWBEC (Flow and Benthic Ecology 4D) project.

Around 300 people from Scotland’s renewable-energy industry gathered at Glasgow Science Centre at the end of May to celebrate and recognise the contribution being made by the next generation of leaders from across the industry. Dr Williamson will now go on to compete for the Rising Star Award at the Scottish Green Energy Awards, which will be held in Edinburgh on 30 November.

The FLOWBEC project, which is jointly funded by NERC and DEFRA, aims to improve the understanding of how the physical behaviour of the water (such as currents, waves and turbulence) at tide and wave energy sites influences the behaviour of marine wildlife, and how tide and wave energy devices might alter the behaviour of such wildlife.