About me

I grew up in a small seaside town in England called Lowestoft. My grandparents moved there from the north of England in their early twenties, chasing work and stability. My grandfather was a fisherman, and they arrived with little more than family, optimism, and a caravan.

At school I was neither exceptional nor struggling. I was introverted but social, and most of my energy went into sport. Boxing and football shaped my childhood, and discipline was non-negotiable. Training was constant, structured, and often uncomfortable.

That training mindset stayed with me. When I became interested in engineering, after hearing about the work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I approached learning the same way I had sport: repetition, focus, and stubborn persistence. Despite my teachers’ doubts, that approach carried me to the University of Manchester, where I studied Mechanical Engineering.

While at Manchester, I discovered a deep interest in fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer. I graduated with a First-Class MEng with honours.

After graduating, I worked for three years as a product-focused Computational Fluid Dynamics engineer in the refrigeration industry. I had to understand not only CFD, but the mechanical, electrical, and structural realities of building a real product. By the end of that period, I was proud to see something I had helped design being used by customers in the real world.

I returned to academia through the Doctoral Training Programme at the University of Cambridge, completing an MRes in Gas Turbine Aerodynamics at Wolfson College in 2018. I then moved on to a PhD in combustion at the National Centre of Aerothermal and Combustion Technology at Loughborough University.

I completed the research and enjoyed the work, focusing on Chemical Reactor Networks and soot formation in gas turbine combustion engines. However, I left without submitting the thesis. That decision surprised many people. It forced me to confront some uncomfortable questions about work, ambition, and to reconsider what I wanted my efforts to be directed toward. It may warrant a post of its own at a later date.

Today, I work as a Principal Engineer in industry and am completing a Level 7 qualification in AI and Digital Innovation. Much of what I care about now revolves around doing good work quietly, taking responsibility seriously, and avoiding unnecessary complexity.

In 2023, I married my wife Emily. My only regret is not marrying her sooner, and not being patient enough to be married in a church, in the eyes of God.

Interests