The Vulcanus in Japan programme is an industry-oriented student exchange program for EU students. It was established in 1997 by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, a joint venture between the European Commission and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Its main objective is to promote industrial cooperation between European and Japanese companies.Every year, around 40 students from the EU are chosen from over 1000 applicants to participate. I am only the 6th Irish participant since the programme's inception. The programme consists of an intensive 4 month Japanese language course in Tokyo and an 8 month internship in a Japanese company. From January 2016 I worked in the Hitachi Research Laboratory in their Advanced Fluid Simulation department, specializing in CFD software development, specifically automatic remeshing using OpenFOAM.I also wrote a report on the EU and Japan's role in the development of drones for commercial use, and I presented this at the European Delegation to Japan in March and August 2016.

Research into Flapping Wing Aerodynamics at PolyU's Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory, using commercial CFD software