Dr William Finnegan BE (Civil) PgCert PhD CEng MIEI is a LecturerAssistant Professor in Civil Engineering in theSchool of Engineering at the University of Galway. He is Programme Director of the ME in Civil Engineering, teaches on a range of structures modules and is the current President of the Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland. He is a member ofConstruct Innovate, a Funded Investigator in the Research Ireland MaREI Centreand a Principal Investigator in the Ryan Institute. Hisresearch work focuses on developing advanced engineering solutions for renewable energy systems, while also providing support on project coordination and reporting. Dr Finnegan is Principal Investigator of the H2020 CRIMSON and DTIF-funded MI-DRONE projects, where he also leads on a number of wind and tidal energy projects and activities within MaREI. He has previously worked as the Principal Investigator of the H2020 CRIMSON and DTIF-funded MI-DRONE projects and the Project Manager of the DAFM-funded DairyWater and EASME-fundedLEAPWindprojects, along with a year as an R amp;D Research Fellow at ÉireComposites, over his 16 years R amp;D experience. Dr Finnegan graduated with a first-class Honours Degree in Civil Engineering in 2009 and a PhD in Civil Engineering in 2013, which examined the wave-structure interaction of offshore wave energy converters. In recent years, Dr Finnegan has contributed to funded research project proposals, either through leading the writing or collaborating, which have amassed total funding in excess of 40 million Euro, from both national and European sources. To date, Dr Finnegan has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal papers and is a Chartered Engineer with Engineers Ireland, where he was nominated for Chartered Engineer of the Year 2018. Recently, Dr Finnegan won the MaREI Award 2020 for Research Impact. He is a member of the School of Engineering Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, who recently obtained the Athena SWAN Charter Silver Award.