I was a bit of a Jack the Lad at school, if the truth be told. Partly as a result of this I found that some of my teachers did little to encourage my love of motor racing and my aspirations of finding work related to the technical aspects of the sport. Basically, I ended up leaving school with three GCSEs at grade C and a great deal of disillusionment with the education system.
Following a short stint in manual work, I decided that a spot of travel would broaden my horizons and give me a bit of a better idea of what I wanted out of life and how I should go about it.
I held a variety of different jobs during my travels. From building IMAX cinemas in Germany, to painting and decorating and building aircraft simulators in the USA. However, I never could get rid of the nagging feeling that my education was unfinished business and, as a result, I was determined to find the way back into it — specifically something with an engineering aspect.
I did some research while in the States and figured that the one year Foundation Pathways in Technology course at the University of Plymouth fitted my aspirations perfectly, particularly as it would allow me to get my mathematical and scientific skills up to the standard required to qualify for a place on an engineering degree. This location would also give me perfect opportunity to engage in my favorite pastime — surfing. I was accepted on the course and embarked on it in September 2001, aged 22. I passed the course well and was accepted on to the four year BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering degree.
When I look back, it seems amazing to me that in a few short years I went from painting someone's hall, stairs and landing, to studying things like jet engines and aerofoils. My mathematics was right up there and I felt like I was really getting somewhere. One thing I must say is that the staff at the School of Engineering at the Uni were brilliant. They pretty much had an open-door policy, so I was always able to find them when I needed to get advice and they really helped me to believe I could achieve what I wanted.
Ultimately I passed my degree with flying colours, but I was oddly at a loss again, so I decided to apply for a PhD scholarship. What the hell? I knew the scholarship decision would take a while so I decided to go to Bali for a few months for a spot of surfing in some warm water for a change and figure out what I'd do if I never got the scholarship. I had about a month to go when my mother phoned me up and said that I'd got it. Result. Unfortunately mum died suddenly of leukemia shortly after my doctorate studies began, but I'm just so pleased that she lived long enough to know I'd made it onto the PhD.
My research is entitled Lean Supply Chains in Construction. In plain English, what I am trying to do is identify and validate a way for developing less wasteful, more efficient supply chains in construction based on mechanical engineering management philosophies. That is coming along quite nicely and I should be done soon(ish). Aside from this, I occasionally give lectures at all degree levels when aspects of a given module relate to my work.
More recently I have started mentoring and giving academic support to engineering students at the university with learning difficulties, such as autism, dyslexia and mental health issues. This has been a pretty unique challenge and one that I would have never seen my self doing all those years ago. It's a funny old job, albeit a very rewarding one.
Once I finish the PhD, I hope to continue with the mentoring and learning support work pretty much full time. I also want to continue to keep doing a little bit of academic research, mainly in the form of academic papers with my supervision team in order compliment my PhD.
I don't think that I'm special — anyone who is prepared to put in the hard work can achieve what they want to. It just takes a bit of dedication, guts, and at times crocodile skin.
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