Devon Todd

Profile

As Devon celebrates his graduation, he is getting ready for the biggest challenge of all, completing his PhD in flexible wind farm control.

What programme did you study and why did you choose it?

The programme I chose to study was initially mechanical engineering, which I continued up until my third year, when I started my energy studies module. During this module I took a lot of interest in the different renewable energy technologies and learned soon after of the Mechanical Engineering and Energy Engineering degree. Seeing how closely the mandatory modules related to my personal interests, I decided to make the change to the energy degree and stuck with it for the rest of my degree.

How has the University aided your professional and personal development?

It has aided me in many different ways, namely in my own personal confidence and general team working abilities. Every year there has been group projects where we have had to work together to come up with solutions to problems, which has enabled me to improve my communication and project management skills. I have also had many opportunities to come out of my comfort zone through presentations, where I have presented findings from both individual and group projects to peers and lecturers, which has greatly improved my confidence.

What extra-curricular activities have you gotten involved with?

The main extra-curricular activities I was involved in where to do with the student voice. From my third to fourth year, I was a Class Representative, where I would take feedback from my peers and bring it to the student-staff liaison committee (SSLC) to discuss with our heads of years and department. In my fifth year, I became Department Officer for mechanical engineering, which was a big step up in responsibility. I worked closely with the Student Union as well as other department officers and staff throughout the school to discuss student feedback and come up with solutions together.

I also had the opportunity to get involved in various societies, such as Engineers without Borders, Mechanical Engineering, and even the Whisky Society, being involved in various socials and events.

What’s your favourite / most memorable moment from your time as a Heriot-Watt student?

A lot of my favourite times were spent in GRID or in the mechanical engineering MEng room, working with friends on assignments, group projects, or procrastinating on an assignment with an approaching deadline. The community of people I have been surrounded by has been one of the best.

What advice do you have for current students?

The best advice I could give is to get involved in anything that interests you and make the most of your time, as you’re not going to be a student forever and after you leave you may not get all the same opportunities again. Also, make sure that you are taking an active part in the student voice, as many of the staff members want what’s best for the students but they can’t do that without your feedback.

What are you planning to do after you graduate?

After I graduate, I will be continuing with my PhD in flexible wind farm control which I started in the beginning of June. A PhD isn’t something I was always interested in until partly through my first semester of my final year, where I had my module in renewable energy technologies led by two members of staff, both now my supervisors, who were incredibly passionate about the subject and their research in the areas. My dissertation and master’s projects also made me realise that research was an area that I wanted to pursue.

When it comes to the topic itself, I wanted it to be in something I was passionate about – renewable energy – as well as in an industry relevant area which I was familiar with and where I would have the opportunity to apply my knowledge from my courses and develop my skills as an engineer further.