Managing Director, ergonomics and design consultancy

How did you find out about ergonomics?
A school friend went to Loughborough one year before me on the original 'ergonomics and cybernetics' course. He knew my interest in human biology and thought that I might be interested in finding out a bit more. He was right!

Why a career in ergonomics?
Because I can apply my skills to directly helping real people.

What’s been the most interesting project you’ve worked on?
I have had a very real opportunity to work on a lot of interesting projects. If I had to pick out the highlights it would be designing the Central Command Complex at New Scotland Yard, planning the human factors input for an experimental fusion reactor, and looking at safety and offshore working conditions.

What’s been the most challenging work you’ve done?
All projects in my experience are challenging - whether its timescales, available budgets, technical constraints - or a combination of all of these.

What do you do on a typical day?
As managing director of CCD it’s a mix of company management and technical work. A typical day would involve technical checking of reports, meeting with our Finance Manager, fire-fighting problems arising on projects - whether managerial or technical, preparing proposals and making marketing calls, having '5 minute' progress checks on on-going projects and spending time on the dreaded email log!

What do you find most satisfying about your work?
The opportunity of dealing with both management and actual users in the same organisation and acting as a conduit for relaying concerns. The occasional comment from a user when they thank you for asking about them. Memorably offshore on the drill floor when a group of roughnecks, in their hard-hats and high visibility orange outfits, thanked us for listening to their problems. It was the first time, they said, that this had happened.