Posters
Come meet the poster presenters to ask them questions and discuss their work
We would like to invite you to come and see the posters at our upcoming conference. The posters will showcase a diverse range of research topics, and will give delegates an opportunity to engage with the authors and learn more about their work. Whether you are a seasoned researcher or simply curious about the latest developments in your field, we believe that the posters will offer something of interest to everyone. So please join us at the conference and take advantage of this opportunity to learn and engage with your peers in industry and the academic community.
PO012: Offshore Wind Workforce Education and Deployment in Ireland through the REEdI Framework
Julie Behan, Lecturer in Manufacturing Engineering, MTU Munster Technological University
Abstract
The deployment of offshore wind across Europe is accelerating rapidly, yet workforce development has not kept pace. National and EU-level strategies consistently identify structural skills deficits that pose a growing risk to offshore wind deployment timelines, supply chain resilience, and cost efficiency. In Ireland alone, over 20,000 new roles are forecast across the offshore value chain by 2030, but current engineering programmes lack the scale, specialisation, and work-readiness pathways to meet this demand. Previous curricular models have emphasised either short-duration internships or theoretical content delivery, which fall short of producing deployment-ready graduates for this sector. The REEdI (Rethinking Engineering Education in Ireland) programme represents a novel response to the offshore wind workforce challenge by integrating long-duration work-integrated learning (WIL), design thinking, and modular curriculum pathways into a unified educational framework. This paper presents an early-stage analysis of REEdI 2.0, a curriculum model under development at Munster Technological University, which embeds a two-year full-time industry placement within a four-year BEng (Hons) programme, an approach rarely implemented at undergraduate level in Europe. Through an eight-stage Design Thinking methodology, stakeholders from the offshore wind sector have contributed to the co-development of a suite of specialised elective modules aligned with the Offshore Wind Skills Action Plan (DFHERIS, 2024) and Building Our Potential (WEI, 2024). The elective stream, shaped through international benchmarking of over 130 energy-related modules, includes offerings in offshore project management, grid integration, wind energy systems, and port operations, aligned directly with future placement activities. Planned assessment methods include ePortfolios, technical deliverables, and reflective practice, all mapped to QQI-aligned graduate outcomes. While implementation is ongoing, REEdI 2.0 demonstrates how programme-level curriculum architecture can be aligned with sectoral workforce needs and national offshore policy objectives. It offers a replicable framework for embedding technical specialisation, extended placement, and graduate outcome mapping within undergraduate engineering education.
No recording available for this poster.
