The offshore wind energy industry is opening up widely, especially to young people. Pomeranian universities are meeting market needs by offering courses taught by qualified personnel with the use of specialist tools. Pomeranian high school and technical school students who participated in an event organised by the Offshore Wind Energy Center of the Gdansk University of Technology in cooperation with the Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Gdansk, Pracodawcy Pomorza, PGE Baltica and the TASK Information Centre had the opportunity to find out. The meeting ‘Wind energy pathways’ took place on 14 June 2022 at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Shipbuilding of the Gdansk University of Technology.
At the beginning, the students were welcomed by Małgorzata Lipska, Key Projects Manager at the Pracodawcy Pomorza organisation. An important point of the meeting was a speech by Ewa Wójcik, M.A., a career advisor from the Gdansk University of Technology, who told the young people what a personal brand is and how important social media are in developing one’s career.
The young people gathered in the room also listened to a presentation of the offer of the University of Gdańsk. Marta Misiewicz, a PhD student at the University of Gdansk’s Doctoral School in Natural Sciences, Patryk Pezacki, PhD student in Environmental Doctoral Studies, Jan Matwiejczuk and Marek Harenda, students of Oceanography and members of the Operational Oceanography Research Group, talked about the marine hydrography programme. They introduced the participants to the specifics of the work of a marine hydrographer. Among other things, the University has a research vessel, RV Oceanograf, which is used during practical classes with students. A Master’s degree course in Physical Oceanography will also be launched soon. Students and doctoral students from UG, together with Sylwia Mrozowska, PhD, DSc, Prof of the UG and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development, also prepared a marine knowledge quiz for the technical students.
The next item on the agenda was a presentation of the PGE Baltica company. Marta Chalimoniuk, HR Meneger, shared her experience and gave good advice on what course to choose to increase your chances in the offshore sector.
After the theory came the time for practice. In the second part of the event, young people were invited to the laboratories and workshops of the Gdansk University of Technology: Ocean Engineering Structures Laboratory (Jakub Kowalski, PhD, from the Institute of Ocean Engineering and Shipbuilding PG), Model Basin (Hanna Pruszko, MSc, from the Institute of Ocean Engineering and Shipbuilding PG and UG students and PhD students) and the IT Centre of the Tri-City Academic Computer Network (CITASK, Monika Pacek), which has the Tryton supercomputer, one of the most powerful clusters in Poland. CITASK’s equipment fits into 40 cabinets and weighs about 20 tonnes.
Thanks to initiatives and meetings such as Wind energy pathways, Pomeranian universities can present their potential among future potential students and be part of the developing offshore sector in Poland. The Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Gdansk also has an offer responding to the needs of the industry. Postgraduate studies coordinated by CZR UG, Education for Sustainable Development: Offshore Wind Energy have been running since March this year and their second edition starts in October.
