BlueWise Marine Awards First SmartBay Masters in Research Scholarship with GMIT

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BlueWise Marine Awards First SmartBay Masters in Research Scholarship with GMIT

BlueWise Marine, in collaboration with the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), is delighted to announce the award of the first SmartBay Masters in Research Scholarship. The research project aims to develop a suite of bi-lingual post-primary educational resources in the field of marine renewable energy.

The scholarship programme is a result of a partnership between BlueWise Marine, GMIT, Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Marine Institute and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The scholarship provides a unique opportunity for the student to drive awareness around ocean literacy, marine renewable energy and sustainability through education in local Gaeltacht schools.

This 24-month project will focus on the preparation and delivery of resources at post-primary level, in both English and Irish, which will incorporate various aspects of the marine and renewable energy knowledge base. The research will include an analysis of current post-primary syllabi and specifications in order to identify aspects of the curriculum which could be enriched through collaboration with the national ocean energy programme.

Congratulating the award recipient, John Breslin, BlueWise Marine’s Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to award the first-ever SmartBay Research Scholarship, in collaboration with GMIT, with support from our funding partners. Our aim with this project is to make a positive and lasting impact on the local community from an environmental, social and educational perspective. This initiative provides a unique opportunity for the student to be at the forefront of developing educational resources to make a positive and lasting impact on the post-primary curriculum. We are very excited for this project’s potential to build awareness and understanding of the potential to harness power from our immense offshore wind and wave resources to support our transition to a low carbon economy”.

Welcoming the award recipient, Pauline Logue, Lecturer at GMIT and SmartBay Research Scholarship Supervisor, said: At a time when research and management of essential marine resources are key features of a sustainable future, this is a unique project with lots of opportunities for educational development. Researcher, Micheál Walsh, is currently creating exciting marine and renewable energy educational resources, informed by experts in the field, for Transition Year students in a Gaelscoil in the West of Ireland – With a view to wider future roll-out and national impact.

The student has commenced the programme, with the first of his school visits expected to take place in early 2022. We look forward to sharing more on this initiative over the coming months.

The SmartBay Postgraduate Research Scholarship is funded by the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Marine Institute and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).