Oceanographer — Ryan Scott

Ryan is passionate about his job as an oceanographer in the offshore wind industry. Find out how his work contributes to reducing the effects of climate change

What degree did you study?

I graduated with an MSci Geophysics from the University of Southampton. I then went on to do a PhD in physical oceanography at the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Southampton. My PhD was part of a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) called NEXUSS, which stands for Next Generation Unmanned Systems Sciences. It involved using autonomous vehicles (underwater robots) to look at vertical ocean mixing in the west Antarctic.

How did you get your job?

I applied through the RWE careers page. I think I was selected because I'm able to use the general oceanographic knowledge, data processing and analytical skills from my PhD, together with the practical industry experience I gained during my previous job at a metocean surveying company.

What's a typical working day like?

I act as an internal consultant for offshore wind farm projects around the world. The work is varied and includes:

• organising metocean survey campaigns
• using MATLAB to analyse the data collected
• using that data to validate wind, wave and current models
• ensuring that the on-site conditions are characterised sufficiently
• elaying the results to the engineers, who ultimately use the information for designing the wind farms.

This means that I usually work at home or in the office. However, I have the opportunity to travel for project workshops or on-site to the offshore wind farms during deployment and recovery of metocean survey campaigns.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The sense of purpose. I am able to see how the work I do directly impacts the design and development of offshore wind farms around the world. I find this extremely rewarding because I believe the offshore wind industry is essential for reducing our CO2 emissions.

What are the challenges?

Project teams are made up of people with all sorts of backgrounds, such as engineering, operations and maintenance, logistics and environmental, and they all use the metocean data in different ways and at different times. One of the biggest challenges (but something I also enjoy) is working out their requirements so that suitable data is available when they need it.

In what way is your degree relevant?

My degree provided me with transferable skills that I still use today. For example, I first started learning how to code and analyse data using MATLAB during my degree. My degree also often provides useful context in meetings with cross-functional teams.

My PhD gave me an opportunity to develop these transferable skills further, while also providing me with the oceanographic background that is more directly useful in my role today.

How has your role developed and what are your career ambitions?

I joined RWE just over six months ago and my portfolio of projects has more than doubled since then. I previously worked for an oceanographic surveying company, which involved going out deploying, servicing and recovering instruments and collecting data for offshore wind farms projects. My ambition is to help develop the metocean team as it grows together with the demand for offshore wind farms.

What are your top tips for choosing a course?

Make sure it's something that you are passionate about and gives you purpose. You inevitably will have a moment where you question why you're doing it, and that is when you need that reasoning to fall back on and remind yourself that it will all be worth it.

What advice can you give to others?

• Make opportunities - During the summer holidays, for example, see if you can do some additional fieldwork or help a lecturer process some data (you might get your name on a paper).
• Create a network - Go to academic and industry conferences, get an idea of the people and companies you’d like to work with, talk to them, and keep in touch.
• Record your progress - Record the experiences you gain throughout your degree, whether they're big things like fieldwork and conferences, or smaller things like a particularly interesting lecture or a meeting that you organised. This will make it easier to recall them during job applications and interviews.

Find out more

• Read all about becoming an oceanographer.
• Take a look at the environment and agriculture sector.