I'm Research Fellow in Geospatial Software Engineering for Transport Systems at the University of Southampton, associated with the Transportation Research Group. I'm interested in transport geography and GIS, and primarily work using open source tools, including R, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and QGIS. I recently took a short career break to further develop my software development skills and completed a full-stack Software Engineering bootcamp with Northcoders.
For the last 14 years I have also been an e-tutor on the Msc/PgDip in Geographical Information Systems at Ulster University, and currently teach EGM717 (GIS Databases) and support EGM715 (Web-based GIS).
I've had a rather convoluted career path to this point. My first degree was in Aquatic Biology (from Aberystwyth University) and I initially worked in the water industry in a number of scientific and regulatory roles. I then re-trained in IT, became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and worked in various IT roles at the University of Cambridge. I began as an IT Technician in the Geography department, moved on to become IT Manager at Cambridge Programme for Industry (now known as Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership), and in my final role was a Computer Officer in the University Computing Service, responsible for setting up and running the Small Institution Support Service.
While at Cambridge, I studied part time via distance learning for an MSc in GIS at Ulster University, and a few years later, with a move to Devon in between, started my PhD at the University of Southampton in 2014. I started work as a researcher in the Transportation Research Group in 2018.