The University’s successful bid to host EWTEC 2021 is the latest endorsement of its position as one of Europe’s leading centres for offshore renewable energy (ORE) research and innovation.

It leads the Supergen ORE Hub, created in July 2018 with £9million of funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Hub aims to bring together a network of academic, industrial and policy stakeholders to champion and maintain the UK’s wave, tidal and offshore wind expertise.

In December, the University was awarded more than £1million by the EPSRC – as part of its World Class Labs initiative – to create a first-of-its-kind facility that will enable physical modelling experiments with wind, wave and currents simultaneously.

It is also leading a new initiative, again funded by around £1million from the EPSRC, to test the potential for flexible materials to be used in the design and manufacture of wave energy structures.

More information about the EWTEC 2021 conference – including details about sponsorship opportunities and registration – is available at https://ewtec.org/ewtec-2021/. Anyone wanting further information, or to discuss a tailored sponsorship package, should contact EWTEC2021@plymouth.ac.uk.

* Changes to COVID-19 guidelines

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, while we are hopeful we will be welcoming as many delegates as possible to the University of Plymouth in September, we have contingency in place to move some or indeed all of the event online should this be necessary. We will constantly be monitoring government guidelines, and will only run the event face to face if it is safe to do so. Currently, it is only possible to register to attend the event face to face. If the event moves partially or fully online, and either we are no longer able to welcome face to face attendees or you wish to change your booking to an online one, you will receive a refund of 20% of your registration fee.