Week three in the Survey Department

In week three of our summer intern series we’re back to our Survey Department intern Poppy Wilkinson to see what she has been up to since we heard from her last.?

The past two weeks have been a lot calmer than the initial week of my summer internship; but I’m pleased to say I’ve certainly been kept busy! I’ve been given a momentous list of training to get through on EIVA to enable me to process some incoming survey data from a project, and in doing so have opened myself up to so many more opportunities when working. I was also given the task of writing ‘cheat sheets’ for some new GPS equipment to support our teams out in country, although this also meant that I had to learn how it worked first.??

Coming into the internship, I expected to be sat processing data onto GIS, possibly CAD, but I never expected to be putting myself through training to process data we receive back from the sonar gear I was fitting onto a trencher in my first week. It’s crazy to think that three?weeks ago I didn’t even know what a multi-beam scan was, but now I’m applying the data onto maps!?

Maps are my comfort zone thanks to the Geography teacher I had all through secondary school: she was so passionate about the subject she taught and it was infectious! After getting A-Levels in Geography, Maths, and Biology I started studying for a Physical Geography degree at Northumbria University in September 2023. ?

From the moment I started my degree I’ve known I want to go into something Engineering based but wanted to ensure that I included a focus on the environment too somehow. The degree itself is a perfect mixture of lecture, lab and fieldwork-based modules: I particularly enjoyed climbing the Langdale mountains in the Lake District earlier this year as part of one module! ?

My dad works for Enshore and so, to help my understanding of the data principles I’m learning in my degree, I’d offered to plot some data for an ongoing project for him, the survey department loved the idea and the next thing I knew I had been offered a summer internship position! ?

Even though I’ve only been in the Survey Department for three weeks it’s really opened my eyes as to how I can find the perfect engineering-based role with an environment focus. My current plans are that after my undergraduate degree I would like to pursue a master’s in environmental engineering; however, my head has swayed to a more survey-based role. I thoroughly enjoy the office-based work, alongside the short stint of hands-on work I have carried out in the workshop. Alongside this, the projects Enshore are involved in really interest me, I feel at home listening to the environmental challenges brought up when planning projects and it’s heartening to see how the company focuses on minimising it’s impact on the environment.

Seeing everything we have to deal with throughout projects shows me how much work actually goes into the planning process of shallow water cable lays, but also how much more I still have to learn!