Profile

I am a do-er who likes to get things achieved. Once I get my teeth into a project I like to see it through to the end.

I am married, have two Children and a Dog and a large collection of bikes. I like cycling, Skiing, Running, Watersports and going on holiday. I am planning on having a late gap year and travelling the world cycling up and down steep things and trying out new and exciting challenges.

Me and my small team look after the whole of Diamond Light Sources’ machine protection needs. Diamond is a giant X-ray light source 1 billion times brighter than a hospital X ray. Because it is so powerful it has many parts which if used wrongly can destroy themselves due to the high energy levels so we design systems to stop this from happening.

We use the X rays produced to study things in microscopic detail at incredibly high resolution. This allows scientist to solve structures understanding how things are made. This then allows them to make material stronger or lighter or if the focus of the study is on bacteria or virus it can help them design a vaccine to target the ilness.

A normal day consists of login on and checking emails and fault reports. Anything that happened over night but didn’t need fixing immediatley must be looked at first thing. Then I might have to attend a design review or planning meeting for a new Beamline or Machine upgrade.

This may then be followed up with Commissioning a new piece of equipment or working down on a new Beamline under construction on the protection system if we are in a build phase or possibly some development task in our lab.

There are also drawings and updates to keep on top of and documentation that must be completed.