Profile

I live by myself in Hull, a few miles from the university. In the current lockdown I have a view out of my window to a car park and, if I stand in the right spot, a bit of the river.

You don’t have to know what you’ll do for your whole life while you’re in school.

I studied Physics, and after that I had had enough of school and university! I left, and had a different career for ten years, before I decided to go back to university – first to study renewable energy, and then to research and teach it.

Now I’m a scientist who works with computer simulations – I don’t use a lab and don’t use fieldwork, although I use the data from people who do.

When I’m not at work I like playing computer games, designing lighting for theatre shows, and taking road trips through Scotland with my friends.

I’m interested in generating electricity from the tides. I build computer simulations of tidal flow to understand how the water behaves, and I test what happens when we extract energy from it.

This requires very powerful computers, which take up whole rooms – but I don’t get to visit them, I access them over the internet.

I also teach a Masters course in renewable energy, so a lot of my week is spent with my students, or preparing lectures, or marking their work.

I try to do some reading before breakfast, to keep up with the research in my topic. I don’t always manage that – it depends when I wake up!

After breakfast I cycle or drive to the university, where my time is spent either in the office that I share with some colleagues or in a lecture theatre talking to students.

Sometimes I’m jealous of scientists who do field work – but sometimes I see them get back covered in mud, and I’m glad I don’t have to do it as well!