Natural Environment and Offshore Wind (NEOW)

The UK Government has a legally binding commitment to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. The Humber has a central role to play in supporting the Government's net zero targets as it is the largest industrial and highest carbon emitting cluster in the UK with an ambitious target of achieving net zero by 2040. Offshore wind is the UK's main source of sustainable renewable energy. In the last decade globally-leading development, centred on the Humber, has seen UK offshore wind grow from 1.3 gigawatts (GW) to ~10 GW, providing 10% of total UK electricity. The growth of offshore wind in the UK is set to continue exponentially towards 100 GW by 2050. Sustainable delivery of UK, and international, offshore wind targets is predicated on academic, industry and policymaker collaboration.

The engineering challenges of this exponential growth of offshore wind are widely addressed and are showing progress, and there is significant work done on the environmental impacts of wind at smaller scales. However, the environmental impacts of such rapid expansion on our marine ecosystems and seas are not fully considered and are poorly understood. An immediate and coordinated focus is needed on the interaction between the Natural Environment and Offshore Wind (NEOW), and this is what this Fellowship seeks to achieve and address.

Through this Fellowship, I aim to create a common understanding of what research has been done so far in this area, what the current and future challenges are, and who within the UK has the relevant expertise to address those challenges; so that the whole offshore wind sector - industry, academia, government - can work together to develop and deliver a sustainable expansion of offshore wind in a focussed and coordinated manner. This will be delivered through direct engagement with regional, national and international stakeholders and development of an online interactive and open-access toolset.

The exchange of knowledge between the different stakeholders will be facilitated through: 1) visiting positions, engaging with stakeholders on an individual basis, observing best practices first-hand and identifying the needs and most suited methods for knowledge exchange; 2) stakeholder workshops to facilitate discussion on key challenges and priorities, and the most suitable solutions to address these, also ensuring ongoing knowledge exchange past the end of the award; 3) sector-wide outreach to ensure all needs and capabilities have been covered, and that the developed tools are used and are delivering expected impact.

The key outcomes of this Fellowship will include: 1) a roadmap of current and future research challenges to help manage the ever-growing offshore wind industry, understanding and engaging with its impacts on the natural environment; 2) an open-access database of UK-based research expertise (people, projects and outputs), including a virtual forum space for direct communication, to enable effective collaboration addressing the key identified challenges; 3) promoting equality, diversity and inclusion within the sector, in particular by raising awareness of the opportunities available for women and girls through public engagement events and tools, aiding the delivery of UK Government's targets to at least double the current 16% share of women in the offshore wind workforce by 2030.

This Knowledge Exchange Fellowship project, delivered from the University of Hull, will build on the combination of sector and place in the Humber. The Fellowship is needed now to coordinate a more diverse offshore wind sector and enable a sustainable net zero future.