Ocean Engineering - DTU Aqua

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‘It didn't take long before I felt like I was making a difference!’

Julius Valhav has just been admitted to the Master's programme in Marine Engineering after completing a bachelor's degree in Environmental Technology. However, his original plan was to become a marine engineer, so when he saw the opportunity to write his bachelor thesis in collaboration with DTU Aqua, he took it.

‘The project was called ‘Enhancing Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services through Nature-inclusive Concrete Technologies’ and was a collaboration between DTU, the European Commission, Cardema Shipyard and the city of Vigo in Spain, and it was linked to Project Living Ports.

Among other things, we investigated how we humans influence the marine environment, and then we did the calculations to see how it affects everything from small shrimps to large predatory fish. The great thing about being an engineer is that you can do the calculations and hopefully come up with a solution for the higher-ups who make the decisions."

This is not the first time Julius has been on an exchange programme. In the autumn of 2022, he spent a semester on Svalbard, where he had the opportunity to work hands-on with projects on Norwegian research boats and Czech climate stations in the Arctic.

‘I had the opportunity to combine practical work with oceanography and research, and it was the first time I felt that my work made a difference. That's also why I contacted Jon C. Svendsen to see if he had a project I could apply to be a part of. I ended up joining this project, because despite the big difference in temperature and geography, we could see several similarities between the projects.’

In Vigo, a large coastline was created, both inside and outside the harbour, which DTU was responsible for data processing. Julius' task was to take a year's worth of data and analyse whether the implementation of new concrete methods in the harbour had a positive or negative effect.

‘It was hard, very hard, but incredibly cool, exciting and educational. I was on the job from August to January, so I spent a little longer than most. On the other hand, I ended up being part of the fieldwork, so I took a month out of my calendar for that. I also had to write and do the assignment, and I ended up making a film for DTU Aqua, which was the first time I tried it - it was very interesting. The whole project ended up being larger than we had initially anticipated"

‘Basically, we tried to make it work like a normal working week, just with very long days. However, we were incredibly dependent on the tides because we had over 80 GoPro cameras that had to be put out and taken back in every day because there were problems with theft. So it depended on the tide whether we had a short or long day, and some days we could only retrieve them after dark, after which we had to transfer all the data from the cameras to the computer. And then, afterwards, there was time for beer.’

‘There were days when it wasn't possible to go because of the tide, so we took a day off instead. We'd go for a run, hike in the neighbourhood, or drive out to see something else. I look back on it as a holiday with some very long days.’

Julius' advice to others who have to complete a bachelor's degree before they can get into their dream programme is clear: ’It's hard to be so interested in something and know that it will take three years before you actually get to work with what you are passionate about. But sometimes you have to bite the bullet and at the same time actively seek out all the great opportunities that are out there. I think sometimes it can go a bit over people's heads how many projects there are at DTU and how many opportunities there actually are if you start looking into it."