Daniel Babatunde
Research Student
We hear everyday about the effect of man-made pollution on the planet and the earth’s marine wildlife and oceans. One of the most common ones we hear about on the news especially is plastic. However, there are other equally dangerous ways humans are damaging the oceans. Our search for cleaner/alternative forms of energy such as wind energy means we’re installing more wind farms offshore. And we’re still drilling for oil and gas in the oceans as well.
The sound energy we make from these activities have the potential to displace and injure marine mammals. We need methods to be able to measure the impact of these activities on marine wildlife so we can come up with strategies to mitigate the adverse effects on the ocean’s ecosystem.
My research matters because the tools I develop will make it easier and more accessible for other researchers to be able to able to monitor these effects and hopefully come up with better ways to improve the conservation of marine mammals across the world.
Post 16 Education: A-Level Mathematics; BTEC Applied Level 3 Diploma in Applied Science
Higher Education: MEng in Electronics and Computer Systems Engineering; Now studying for a PhD at Loughborough
Dan’s experience as a student
University was great! There’s a lot more independence and a lot of cool and helpful people to meet. It’s a very big ecosystem and you can get stuck in to a range of different activities from sports to joining interesting societies.
I met a diverse group of people from my course and in the sports I took part in which made the 5 years I spent during my undergrad a breeze.
Dan's Career
I’m currently pursuing a PhD somewhat related to my field. I’m conducting research on how to use drones to autonomously monitor marine mammals at sea using underwater acoustics devices (think underwater microphone).
After completing my undergraduate degree, I felt like I wasn’t finished yet with higher education and I enjoyed working with my current supervisors so much, I decided to stay and study at Loughborough University.
I love robotics and I love putting things together and the feeling of seeing a piece of hardware you created come to life is one that’s unmatched!
Dan's advice
Don’t sweat the little things, there are multiple ways to get to your intended destination especially if you didn’t get to study the intended subjects you wanted to study entering year 12.
I originally wanted to study Maths, Economics, Computing and Physics but for one reason or another, I couldn’t. I opted for a BTEC with A-Level Maths and I still got into my original university choices.
Loughborough University offers BEng and MEng undergraduate degrees in:
Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics and Control Engineering.