Iyad Al Qudah

Iyad Al Qudah completed his masters degree in Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems in 2015 and is currently working as an Electrical Engineer at Atkins.

Postgraduate life at Leeds

Iyad chose to study at Leeds because the University of Leeds is ranked as one of the top universities in the UK, as well as the student experience it offers. Iyad said, “the student experience that Leeds offers is holistic and broad. In addition, the university sits within the heart of a very nice city which makes it convenient to enjoy the city life.”

Iyad really enjoyed the course. He found the course offers very topics and modules that are relevant to the current world energy and power demands, such as the implementation of renewable technologies and energy management. He added, “The course also focuses a lot on the integration and complications of integrating those modern technologies into the electricity grid, which at the time of my studies, made it stand out from similar masters courses.”

The course focuses a lot on the integration and complications of integrating modern technologies into the electricity grid, which at the time of my studies, made it stand out from other masters courses.

Masters project

Iyad’s masters project is very dear to him as it enlightened him to a modern technology that is flexible AC transmission systems (FACTs) devices. It revolved around various compensations method to maintain a stable grid, specifically reactive power compensation using a current source inverter Static synchronous compensator (STATCOM). For the project, Iyad built and simulated a model to explore how it behaves in keeping a stable network under disturbances, its advantages and disadvantages as compared to other FACTs devices.

Building a professional career

Iyad believes that in terms of academic knowledge, the Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems masters programme gave him a solid foundation and theoretical knowledge related to his field of interest. In addition to that, the group work and projects that the course offered were of great help to build soft skills, exposing students to work together within a team.

Within months after graduating from Leeds, he secured a Graduate Electrical Engineer position at Atkins, joining the building services team within Atkins’ Infrastructure business, where he mainly worked on Low Voltage (LV) electrical systems. Due to his interest in High Voltage (HV) system, he has since moved teams, and is currently working as an Electrical Engineer as part of Atkins’ Electrical Networks team. 

He said, “As a team we work on different projects within the electricity transmission and distribution systems. My role includes a mixture of technical, business and management related activities, where I work mostly on high voltage (HV) substations and networks design which includes protection and control design, relay settings, feasibility and techno-economic studies. I also get to manage different projects and have the opportunities as well to do business development related activities.”

The School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering is friendly, open and very welcoming.

“Looking back, I really enjoyed my time at Leeds. The general atmosphere of the Electronic and Electrical Engineering school was friendly, open and very welcoming. The academic staff were very approachable and always willing to impart their knowledge which I benefitted greatly.”

Find out more 

Discover more about our Masters degree courses in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.