The Centre for Ocean Energy Research (COER) at Maynooth University Ireland, hosted its 10th workshop event on Friday 23rd January 2026, sponsored by The Marine Institute and The Research Ireland Centre for Climate, Energy, and the Marine (MaREI). The workshop covered a range of topics across wave energy conversion with two technical sessions, and an industry and policy session.
As in previous years, the workshop featured a diverse range of speakers from academia, industry, and policy, highlighting the latest advancements in wave energy from Europe and the US. The programme also included an open forum session, a poster exhibition, and plenty of networking opportunities. To kick things off, we hosted a casual networking event for all attendees on the evening of 22 January at O’Neill’s pub!
If you would like to access the slides from the workshop’s presentations, just click on the links on the presentation titles in the programme below. If you would like to get in touch with any of our attendees, please find the contact list below the programme.
Programme:
09.00-09:30 Arrival, sign in, networking
09:30-10:00 Welcome address John Ringwood, Maynooth Uni.; Alan Berry, Marine Institute
10-10:30 Coffee break + posters
10:30-12:30 Session 1 – Industry and Policy Chair: Niall McLean, Wave Energy Scotland
10:30-11 Operational Experience of OE35 @ WETS Site in Hawaii – Prof Tony Lewis, Ocean Energy Ltd.
11-11:30 A systems thinking approach to societal acceptance – Carrie Anne Barry, Maynooth Uni.
11:30-12 CorPower Ocean – Breakthroughs in Wave Energy – Gabriel Forstner, CorPower Ocean AB
12-12:30 The choice of Technology Simulation Level, and its importance for wave energy design calculations – Johannes Palm, Sigma AB
12:30:13:30 Lunch + posters
13:30-15:30 Session 2 – Technical (national) Chair: Edoardo Pasta, POLITO
13:15-13:45 Extending the operational availability of wave energy systems– Amin Ziaei and Alejandro Gonzalez Esculpi, Maynooth Uni. 13:45-14:15 Nondimensional control co-design methodology for WEC systems– Eugenio Gelos, Maynooth Uni
14:15-14:45 Realistic energy-maximising control of cyclorotor wave energy converters using estimator, predictor, and nonlinear MPC– Ilias Stasinopoulos, Maynooth Uni.
14:45-15:00 MPC-based real-time energy management of hybrid energy storage systems for wave energy converters – Zechuan Lin, Maynooth Uni.
15-15.30 Coffee break + posters
15:30-17:00 Session 3 Technical (international) Chair: Christian Windt, TU Braunschweig
15:30-16:00 Toward wave-to-wire optimisation enabled by differentiable BEM – Maha Haji, Uni of Michigan, USA
16:00-16:30 Wave Energy Research & TALOS WEC Developments – George Aggidis, Uni of Lancaster, UK
16:30-17:00 Co-design of Hybrid Marine Energy Converters – Lei Zou, Uni of Michigan, USA
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17:00-17:30 OPEN FORUM: Is control really the magic dust to make wave energy economically viable?
Contact details:
| Name | Affiliation | Email address |
| Agustina Skiarski | Maynooth Uni (MU) | agustina.skiarski.2024@mumail.ie |
| Alan Berry (intro) | Marine Institute | alan.berry@marine.ie |
| Alejandro Gonzalez-Esculpi | MU | alejandro.gonzalez@mu.ie |
| Alexandra Price | University of Edinburgh | alexandra.a.e.price@gmail.com |
| Amin Ziaei | MU | AMIN.ZIAEI.2024@mumail.ie |
| Andrei Ermakov | MU | andrei.ermakov@mu.ie |
| Anneke Neber | Technische Universitaet Braunschweig | anneke.neber@tu-braunschweig.de |
| Arthur Scolari Fagundes | MU | arthur.scolari@mu.ie |
| Behnam Mohseni Gharyehsafa | MU – IRESI | BEHNAM.MOHSENIGHARYEHSAFA.2023@mumail.ie |
| Cahir O’Neill | ESB | cahir.oneill@esb.ie |
| Carrie Anne Barry | MU | CarrieAnne.Barry@mu.ie |
| Christian Windt | Technische Universitaet Braunschweig | c.windt@tu-braunschweig.de |
| Damian Fay | Hewlett Packard Entrprises | damien.fay@hpe.com |
| Edorado Pasta | POLITO | edoardo.pasta@polito.it |
| Erivelton Nepomuceno | MU | Erivelton.nepomuceno@mu.ie |
| Eugenio Gelos | MU | eugenio.gelos@mu.ie |
| Gabriel Forstner | CorPower Ocean | gabriel.forstner@corpowerocean.com |
| George Aggidis | University of Lancaste | g.aggidis@lancaster.ac.uk |
| Hafiz Ahsan Said | MU | hafiz.ahsansaid@mu.ie |
| Iain McLeod | MU | iain.mcleod.2022@mumail.ie |
| Ilias Stasinopoulos | MU | lias.stasinopoulos.2025@mumail.ie |
| Johannes Palm | Sigma | johannes.palm@sigma.se |
| John Ringwood | MU | John.ringwood@mu.ie |
| Josefredo Gadelha da Silva | MU | josefredo.silva.2024@mumail.ie |
| Laurens Cromheeke | Universiteit Gent | laurens.cromheeke@ugent.be |
| Lei Zuo | University of Michigan | leizuo@umich.edu |
| Maha Haji | University of Michigan | mhaji@umich.edu |
| Nahia Martinez Iturricastillo | MU | NAHIA.MARTINEZITURRICASTILLO.2023@mumail.ie |
| Niall McLean | WES | niall.mclean@waveenergyscotland.co.uk |
| Patrick McEnroe | Hewlett Packard Enterprises | patrick.mcnroe@hpe.com |
| Pedro Fornaro | MU | pedro.fornaro@mu.ie |
| Sean Barratt | New Wave Technologies Ltd. | sb@oceanenergy.ie |
| Sharanya Santosh | MU | sharanya.santosh.2025@mumail.ie |
| Shuai Chen | MU | shuai.chen.2025@mumail.ie |
| Siyuan Zhan | Trinity College Dublin | zhans@tcd.ie |
| Tom Kelly | Dundalk IT | kellyt@dkit.ie |
| Tony Lewis | Ocean Energy ltd | tl@oceanenergy.ie |
| Vahid Fakhari | MU | vahid.fakhari@mu.ie |
| Victoria Verner | SEAI | victoria.verner@seai.ie |
| William Dick | Waveram ltd | william.dick@waveram.ie |
| Yuliia Sapozhkova | University Collge Cork | Yuliia Sapozhkova |
| Zechuan Lin | MU | zechuan.lin@mu.ie |
