International Women’s Day: Albany on crest of a wave as research centre eyes world-first technology showroom

Albany continues to be a national leader in wave energy research and could soon be home to a world-first showroom for wave energy technology. Wave Energy Research Centre manager Dr Wiebke Ebeling is the scientist driving the bold vision. “It is a bit under-appreciated that Albany is the international hotspot for wave energy,” Dr Ebeling said. “We get Southern Ocean waves — effectively from Antarctica — that have been uninterrupted for thousands of kilometres. They are immensely powerful and predictable, and predictability is something a lot of other renewable energy sources don’t have.” The mixture of Southern Ocean swell and protected easterly winds in King George Sound create ideal conditions to test some of the 200 wave energy technologies being explored globally. WERC researchers recently deployed buoys in King George Sound and Torbay to collect wave data. The group plans to deploy a wave energy converter in King George Sound, which has the potential to feed energy to the shellfish hatchery and other aquaculture ventures in Albany. Dr Ebeling said this would lay the groundwork to establish a physical showcase of wave-energy technology, similar to a car dealership. “From a wave energy resource point of view, Albany is the place to be and people know that, so companies in Europe, Asia and the US are eyeing off the Great Southern as a deployment site,” she said. “So we have really put Albany on the map.” Beginning her research in biology, Dr Ebeling has since carved a career in science communication and outreach. Dr Ebeling said she was focused on using her leadership roles to ensure best practice and equality were the norm. She said she started with simple changes, such as by scheduling meetings in school hours or making video conferencing available to all academics instead of having to travel to conferences to share their research. “We have this leaky pipeline, essentially because we get a lot of girls taking up science in undergrad and still quite a good cohort in postgrad, and then you lose them,” she said. “You basically don’t have a lot of representation in the senior executive positions. “I think women sadly still are traditionally more disadvantaged than men, and that is when role modelling and best practice is really where we can help most and catch them early. “We know that kids of any gender are absolutely into science. “They are like sponges — they love it. We have to make sure that they see confident women in science.”