PhD students become Project Leaders at TWI Port Talbot

Tue, 11 February, 2020

Owen Rees-Lloyd and Ewan Hoyle, both former PhD students with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David under the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS*), have become a Project Leaders at TWI’s Technology Centre, Port Talbot, Wales.

Speaking to TWI, Owen said “I’m very pleased to be joining TWI Technology Centre Wales as a Project Leader and to participate in the wide variety of NDT work that is undertaken here.”

Ewan Hoyle, TWI Project Leader, said “We are very grateful the Trinity Saint David and to TWI for giving us the opportunity to study within industry. The experience of industry that we have gained has set us up ideally for transitioning to our careers.”

Industry-led postgraduate research

Owen Rees-Lloyd

Joining TWI Wales as a PhD student in 2016, Owen obtained his MSc in Physics from Swansea University, before gaining the opportunity to undertake his PhD with TWI Technology Centre Wales and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David as part of the KESS programme, which is supported through the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Welsh Government.

The focus of Owen’s PhD research is on the development of computational simulation models of Electro-Magnetic Acoustic Transducers (EMATs), creating experimental validated simulation models of EMATs for surface-wave inspection of ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic materials, for use in predicting the impact of scanning velocity on the EMATs performance.

Owen has presented his PhD work at conferences, as well as in The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT)’s academic journal publication – Insight.

Ewan Hoyle

Ewan was also an nsirc PhD student at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David under the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS).

After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Physics (BSc) from the University of Bristol, Ewan joined TWI Ltd to pursue his PhD, studying the advanced ultrasonic imaging techniques for non-destructive testing (NDT), specialising in advanced virtual source aperture imaging, a new, rapid NDT testing technique.

Supported by his academic and industrial supervisors, Ewan presented his research at numerous international conferences, as well as publishing in internationally recognised journals.

 

*KESS 2 involves all universities in Wales, and is led by Bangor University. Following the highly successful KESS project between 2009 and 2014, KESS 2 is now in the second round of funding and will provide 645 scholarships over the course of six years. Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS 2) is a major pan-Wales operation supported by European Social Funds (ESF) through the Welsh Government. KESS 2 links companies and organisations with academic expertise in the Higher Education sector in Wales to undertake collaborative research projects, working towards a PhD or Research Masters qualification. Research elements are integrated with a higher-level skills training programme, leading to a Postgraduate Skills Development Award.