Lauren Sobey

What made you want to pursue a career in engineering? 

I've always loved studying about the ocean as well as coastal processes, which probably stems from growing up by the coast. When I got the chance to apply for a placement year, I was initially drawn to HR Wallingford by the pictures of the large basins filled with waves, I liked the idea of the practical side of running models. After working here for a year, I really enjoyed learning more about the design process and found all the projects I had worked on interesting, which is why I came back.  

What made you want to join HR Wallingford?

I wanted to join HR Wallingford to develop and apply the skills I had learnt both at university and on placement year to solve real problems, that will have a positive and sustainable impact. 

What is your area of focus? 

I am in the sediment mobility team, also known as the scour team. Usually, I am in the lab running physical models in the Fast Flow Facility (FFF), where we assess the stability of scour protection systems around a range of structures. This involves building the model, then testing under a variety of scaled down metocean conditions, analysing data and compiling into reports for clients. 

Though the majority of what I do is often offshore renewable energy based, I have recently worked on a beach morphology study where we analysed surveys to determine how this area of coast has been behaving over many years. The work carried out by the team really varies. 

What is the best thing about working here? 

Firstly, I would have to say the people, my colleagues are great. I admire them for their willingness to share knowledge and their drive to deliver great work. Secondly, I would say the range of work I get to do, I love the mix of office and lab work.

Are there any specific projects you are really excited by or have found really challenging?

A recent project we have completed where we investigated scour around a jacket structure was both exciting and challenging. It was the largest jacket we have modelled in the FFF and we were able to gather some interesting results from it. It showed how vast these structures are and the problems that can arise from them being more complex, as well as the importance of physical modelling tests.

What do you hope to achieve in your role?

In my role I hope to complete some research to help develop technical tools for scour prediction. Expanding our knowledge on this topic is one step closer to increasing our accuracy of scour predictions and understanding the complex interaction between structures and hydrodynamics.

Do you have any advice to people who may want to pursue a career in STEM? 

I'd say follow your interests and you will end up exactly where you need to be.