Lucy Griffith

Lucy Griffith

I work for an offshore survey company called Gardline Geosciences in the geotechnical department. My contract is split so that I spend some of my time in the office and some time offshore on one of our survey vessels. My department carries out in-situ geotechnical testing in the form of CPTu's (Cone Penetration Testing) and coring. I really enjoying being offshore, you build fantastic relationships with the people you are working/living with, the work is hard, physically and in terms of responsibility and processing but there is a great sense of achievement. After time spent collecting data offshore, I will return to the office to write up the technical report. If cores/soil samples were taken this could involving helping out in the lab, logging and lab testing, or it may involving deriving design parameter from CPTu results. While writing reports in the office I am expected to liaise with a wide range of people from clients to other departments, such as geophysics or survey, to offshore personnel.

My MSc in Engineering Geology has given me a good and relevant knowledge base for the role, in particular, the modules in soil mechanics and site investigation. I have drawn on specific aspects of the course frequently for example when working out the stress history of soil or when analysing and checking laboratory results. The offshore industry is an excellent career choice for engineering geology graduates, the industry is growing and expanding to encompass renewable energy sources as well as traditional oil and gas services and I would recommend it to anyone undertaking the MSc.