Highlights from the European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference 2025
Tuesday 11th November, 2025
4pm – 5:30pm (AEDT)
Since 1993, the European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC) series has been the premier bi-annual technical and scientific event focused on renewable marine energy, attracting academic and industry delegates from across the world.
This webinar is a re-run of selected presentations from EWTEC 2025 showcasing the latest developments in wave energy from Australian and international researchers and developers.
Presentation 1: Sea trialling the M4 wave energy converter: Initial hydrodynamic performance insights.
Presented by Dr Adi Kurniawan, Research Fellow at University of Western Australia.
Presentation 2: Estimating nearshore wave energy converter impact on beach width using satellite data.
Presented by James Thompson, PhD candidate in coastal science and engineering at Griffith University.
Presentation 3: From lab tests to full-scale – Lessons learned through stages of development with CorPower Ocean.
Presented by Dr Jørgen Hals Todalshaug, Lead Scientist at CorPower Ocean.
Presentation 4: Toward defining wave prediction requirements for wave energy applications.
Presented by Dr Nataliia Sergiienko, ARC Industry Fellow at the University of Adelaide & Carnegie Clean Energy.
Followed by Q&A facilitated by Dr Jana Orszaghova and Dr Hugh Wolgamot.
PRESENTED BY
Name: Dr Adi Kurniawan
Affiliation: Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
Dr. Adi Kurniawan is a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia. He earned his PhD from NTNU (2013) and previously held research roles in Singapore, Denmark, and the UK before joining UWA in 2019.
His work focuses on the hydrodynamics of wave energy converters, combining numerical and experimental methods. He co-authored Ocean Waves and Oscillating Systems (2nd ed.) with Prof. Johannes Falnes and has published over 70 papers. Dr. Kurniawan serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, and represents UWA on Standards Australia’s committee on marine energy.
Name: James Thompson
Affiliation: PhD candidate in coastal science and engineering, Griffith University
James is a PhD candidate in coastal science at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. His research explores the interactions between renewable wave energy converters and coastal dynamics, with a focus on the environmental implications of wave energy converter deployments. James uses satellite imagery, statistical analysis, and numerical modelling to investigate shoreline change and coastal processes.
Name: Dr Jørgen Hals Todalshaug
Affiliation:Lead Scientist, CorPower Ocean
Jørgen Hals Todalshaug is an experienced scientist with a passion for sustainability and renewable energy. His work has been focused on floating systems for conversion of wind and wave energy. Jørgen has a master’s degree in physics, and a PhD degree in wave energy conversion from NTNU in Norway. He is now serving as lead scientist at CorPower Ocean AB, one of today’s leading wave energy developer.
Name: Dr Nataliia Sergiienko
Affiliation: ARC Industry Fellow, University of Adelaide
Dr Nataliia Sergiienko is an ARC Industry Fellow (2023-2027) and Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide. Her research focuses on wave energy converters and floating offshore wind platforms, developing deployment-ready control systems to accelerate the commercialisation of wave energy technologies.
FACILITATED BY
Name: Dr Jana Orszaghova
Affiliation: Senior Lecturer/Deputy Program Leader·University of Western Australia/Blue Economy CRC
Jana works as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia (UWA). She is also a Deputy Program Leader of the Offshore Renewable Energy Systems in the Blue Economy CRC.
Jana’s research focuses on marine renewable energy. She is passionate about development of ocean technologies, and is applying her mathematical and numerical skills to solve challenging and practically important problems in the field of hydrodynamics.
Jana has a PhD in coastal and ocean engineering from the University of Oxford, UK, and her undergraduate and Masters degrees were in mathematics. Following her PhD, she worked in industry for 4 years, before returning to academia in 2016.
Name: Dr Hugh Wolgamot
Affiliation: Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
Hugh Wolgamot works on offshore hydrodynamics and wave-structure interaction problems, with application to offshore renewable energy (wave and floating wind).
He has been working on wave energy since commencing his doctorate, received from the University of Oxford in 2014. Since that time he has been part of the Shell Chair program at the University of Western Australia.
Hugh is currently an ARC DECRA fellow and co-leads the WEC Hydrodynamics research program within UWA’s Wave Energy Research Centre in Albany, WA, jointly funded by UWA and the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
