University Graduate College
Exploring Career Options Beyond Academia:
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Thursday 21 March 2013
Trevithick Building, Seminar Rooms 1 and 2
Programme
13.45
Registration with tea and coffee
14.00
Welcome
Professor Ken Wann, Deputy Dean, University Graduate College
14.10
Careers Exploration Experience
An opportunity to hear a selection of speakers reflecting on their career journeys.
Introduced by Josie Grindulis, Career Development Manager for Research Staff
(Including tea and coffee break)
Dr Andrew Armour, Chairman, Agora Oil and Gas AS [Energy Sector]
Ms Lorna Lyle, Graduate Recruitment, Teach First [Education]
Dr Richard Mariner, South East Water Quality Scientist, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water,
accompanied by Ms Maria Siakovelli, current graduate trainee [Utilities/Business]
Dr Jamie Smith, Principal Research Officer, Welsh Government [Government]
Dr Tom Tatchell, Taught Schemes Administrator, School of Chemistry [Higher
Education]
Dr Daniel Thomas, Product Development Engineer, Gyrus Medical Ltd [Medical
Engineering]
Dr Huw Thomas, Patent Examiner, Intellectual Property Office [Research
Management]
16.00
Tips for Job Searching
Hints and tips for job hunting outside academia.
Josie Grindulis
16.15
Q&A with Speaker Panel
Opportunity to ask questions to the panel of speakers
17.45
Reception (networking opportunity with refreshments)
Information Stands: Careers & Employability, Go Wales, Vitae
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Speaker Biographies
Dr Andrew R Armour
Chairman, Agora Oil and Gas AS
Dr Andrew R Armour served as International Exploration Director of Enterprise Oil plc from 1996 to
2002, as its Exploration and Production Director since 1999, as its Exploration Director since January
2000 and also served as its General Manager of Norway office. Dr Armour joined Enterprise Oil plc in
1984 as a Team Leader for the Central North Sea. Prior to joining Enterprise Oil he worked for Shell
International in Norway and Tunisia and Superior Oil in the UK. He now serves as Chairman of Agora
Oil and Gas AS and before that as Chairman of Revus Oil and Gas AS, two Norwegian based Oil and
Gas exploration startup companies. Dr Armour has previously served as the Chairman of the
Millennium Atlas Company Ltd and as a non-executive director of Ikon Science Ltd. Dr Armour has a
BSc in Geological Geophysics from Reading University and a PhD in Geophysics from Durham
University.
Ms Lorna Lyle
Graduate Recruitment, Teach First
Lorna Lyle completed the Teach First programme in 2005-2007 during which time she spent two
years teaching in a challenging secondary school in South East London. Since completing the
programme Lorna has worked in the Graduate recruitment team at Teach First in both their
assessment centre team and on campus team. Teach First is an independent charity which aims to
address the gap in achievement between the richest and poorest students in the UK by recruiting,
training and placing top graduates to work as teachers in the schools that need them
most. Teachers on the programme gain their PGCE whilst working in a school and also undertake a
leadership development programme to equip them to be outstanding leaders either inside or
outside the classroom.
Dr Richard Mariner
South East Water Quality Scientist, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water
Dr Richy Mariner completed a PhD in 2009 from Bangor University on the preparation of
remediatory bioreactors for manganese removal from contaminated water. This stemmed from an
MSc in Environmental Chemistry and a BSc in Marine Biology and Oceanography and an interest in
pollution remediation and water quality. After a brief stint abroad and then as an environmental
project manager for a marine surveying company, he now works as the south east water quality
scientist for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water – responsible for monitoring potable water quality in south
east Wales and Herefordshire. Some of his responsibilities include keeping a close watch on the
statutory monitoring programme at the company’s assets and customer tap as well as dealing with
the more ‘unusual’ enquiries from both customer and colleagues alike.
Dr Jamie Smith
Principal Research Officer, Welsh Government
My first degree was in geography, geology and topographic science, which I completed in 1999. This
was followed by a PhD exploring the links between climate change and glacial ice fluctuations in
southern Norway and building statistical models to help predict future glacier behaviour. After
completing my PhD and deciding that academia was not for me, I took up a junior research and
information role in local government, which eventually led to a management position that I held for
five years. In 2008, I joined the Welsh Government as a Senior Social Research Officer, taking up my
current position as a Principal Research Officer in 2009. I currently have responsibility for research
into local government and public service reform.
Dr Tom Tatchell
Taught Schemes Administrator, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University
Since 1998, apart from a small period abroad, I have been in the School of Chemistry as an
undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral research associate. My research interests included
the synthesis and investigation of novel macrocyclic transition metal complexes for modelling
biological systems such as Photosystem II and the detection of specific anions such as Fluoride and
Cyanide.
I was appointed in 2008 as the admissions tutor for the schools undergraduate programs. Having
been through all the ranks of the school’s teaching and research programs, I now run the UCAS
admissions program within the school.
I am responsible for the admissions and administration of the Postgraduate taught MSc schemes for
the school. My other main duty is the timetabling of the school’s lecture courses across both the
levels of undergraduate and postgraduate taught schemes. I am also the Graduation officer for the
School.
Dr Daniel Thomas
Product Development Engineer, Gyrus Medical Ltd, Olympus Surgical Technologies Europe
Daniel completed his PhD thesis entitled ‘The Development of Design Rules for Selective Laser
Melting’ in 2009 and graduated in 2010 through the National Centre of Product Design and Research
based at UWIC. Before undertaking his PhD, Daniel completed an engineering apprenticeship and
progressed from several work based diplomas to a degree in Computer Aided Product Design at
UWIC. Daniel has held the position as a product development engineer for Olympus Surgical
Technologies Europe for the last three years since graduating. This position includes the
development of minimally invasive medical devices from concept to detailed design and through a
series of formal tests to ensure regulatory compliance before the device can be released into the
market place.
Dr Huw Thomas
Patent Examiner, Intellectual Property Office
Both my undergraduate and post-graduate studies were undertaken at Cardiff University. I studied
for a BSc in Physics before undertaking my PhD with Dr Emyr MacDonald which looked into the
packing structure of conjugated polymers using X-ray diffraction. This particular area of physics is of
interest as the structure of these materials effects the electrical properties of the devices they are
incorporated within (TVs, mobile phones etc).
I took the decision to leave academia after completing my PhD as I felt the life of a post-doc offered
very little job security and one which made it difficult to plan for the future (buying houses, starting
a family etc.). Being a scientist, and actually quite liking the subject, I looked for jobs that I could
continue using the knowledge I developed during my studies, and I finally decided on a profession in
Intellectual property, more specifically patents.
Working with patents, and especially examining patents, has very many similarities with academia.
Patent applications, by their very nature, have to be new and therefore, like academia, you are
always working on the forefront of technology. Having a background in academia allows me to
quickly understand new patent applications, even though I sometimes only have a limited
knowledge of the technical subject contained within the applications. Examining patents is also very
similar to academia in that you spend a large proportion of your time searching through prior
literature trying to find documents which match/relate to the work you are doing at that time. The
skills set that I need for my job marry up very well with those needed for research, but one skill I
have had to work on is my communication skills. As I researcher, although I did communicate with
peers (talks etc), I did not have to communicate very much on a one-to-one basis (apart from the
dreaded viva of course!). In patents however it is vitally important that both examiners and
applications understand each other’s arguments at every stage of the examination process, and
therefore I have had to develop my one-to-one communication skills.
Moving forward, I intend to continue my job as a Patent Examiner for the foreseeable future as the
job has a fairly well set out and predictable career structure.