ScottishPower Invests in East Anglia’s Future Energy Engineers

The ScottishPower Foundation has selected four students who will receive fully funded postgraduate scholarship places at the University of East Anglia (UEA), following a rigorous interview process which also involved offshore wind farm developer ScottishPower Renewables and Professor Lawrence Coates, Head of Engineering at UEA.  

With funding donated to the ScottishPower Foundation from ScottishPower Renewables, the developer of the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, each student will receive a grant to cover full enrolment costs, as well as a generous living allowance.

The places are specifically for postgraduates keen to pursue studies in energy engineering and environmental sciences.

The four students are: Connor Matless, from Norwich; Juliet Mills, from Newmarket; Esmee Thornton, from Tenterden and Charles McKinlay, from Grantham. Connor, Esmee and Charles have chosen to study Energy Engineering with Environmental Management, whilst Juliet will focus on Environmental Science.

Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables’ project director for East Anglia ONE, said: “We wish the four successful students the very best of luck as they pursue their studies. It is a well-known fact that the UK needs more engineers and scientists so we are delighted to be able to fund scholarship places to assist these students to continue their education.

“With construction due to start on East Anglia ONE in January 2017 in Suffolk, we have been working hard on a detailed Skills Strategy for the project, and helping to educate young people who have the capabilities to lead the energy industry into the future is a key part of this. The project will bring thousands of jobs to the region, both during construction and once it is fully operational, and we hope to encourage as many people as possible to think about careers in engineering.”  

Professor Lawrence Coates, Head of Engineering at the University of East Anglia, said: “We are delighted that ScottishPower Renewables has chosen to invest in training our future engineers and scientists, and we look forward to welcoming these students onto their courses in September. A particular benefit of this scheme is the access that scholars have to business contacts, support with research projects and site visits.”