I recently completed my Engineering Doctorate through the IDCORE programme with a Thesis titled "A Techno-Economic Assessment of Hybrid Solar and Wave Energy Converters". This research explored the technical feasibility of installing solar panels onboard a wave energy converter (WEC) including the effects of biofouling and wave slamming. I completed two at sea experiments where solar panels were installed onboard the Mocean Energy WEC prototype, the second of which contributed to the Renewables for Subsea Power Project. Additionally, I built a numerical model to predict the yield of the solar array which was then used to assess the cost/benefit of a larger system for commercial deployments. The research found that by implementing a solar array on the free deck area of the WEC, the annual average power produced by the device can be improved by 18% in the North Sea and by even more in more favourable solar climates. This is vital for niche deployments where the magnitude of continuously available power is paramount.Alongside my research, I won an award for best student paper at the Institute for Energy and Technology Renewable Power Generation Conference in 2023. Since completion of my EngD, I have been continuing my work with Mocean. I have been implementing my research by integrating a kW scale solar array into our next commercial product. Additionally, I have been working within the electrical engineering team, developing our bespoke power take off machine to be implemented into our grid scale wave energy converter.