EXPERIENCE
Founder and CEO of A Wander Consulting Limited
2019 - Present
I started A Wander Consulting in March 2019. Since then I have worked on a number of tenders with major HPC vendors including ARCHER2, AWE, ECMWF and EuroHPC. I have also undertaken projects for co-location data centre providers, storage companies, software companies and IT resellers. I moved from being a sole trader to being a Limited Company at the end of May 2020. I specialise in HPC tenders and can work from both the vendor and the customer side. I can also help companies increase their visibility and sales potential within the UK public sector.
ECMWF, Director of Computing
2014 – 2019
My Department comprised 60 staff and provided computational services to the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts together with over 8000 external users from member states. My Department covered networks, security, servers, desk tops, enterprise software applications, high performance computing and large data archives (over 120PB). I was responsible for ensuring availability of the systems for time critical applications and the strategic planning of future infrastructure. I also undertook a cultural change process within the Department to embed ITSM and ISO27001 concepts within operations.
STFC, Director of the Scientific Computing Department
2012 – 2014
The Scientific Computing Department totaled over 190 staff split between two sites and operated on an annual budget close to £20M. The Department was formed by a merger of STFC's Computational Science and Engineering and e-Science Departments into a single Department. I was responsible for the development of strategic interactions with Industry, Academia, Research Councils and International Laboratories and for setting strategy and direction for the new Department. I also played a major role in the development of the Hartree Centre (£37.5M capital grant from BIS). In addition, I was responsible for general day to day management of the department. I was a member of the Daresbury Senior Management Team and STFC’s Operations Board. I was awarded a visiting Chair in the School of Materials at the University of Manchester in December 2012. In 2013 my Department received a further £19M capital investment from Government for “Energy Efficient Computing” and “Big Data”.
STFC, Associate Director, CSED
2008 – 2012
As Associate Director of the Computational Science and Engineering Department I was responsible for management of the department’s interactions with the Research Councils and PSREs as well as leading the department’s materials simulation and life science activities. I developed the Department’s strategic interactions with the University Sector. I also developed strategic interactions with a number of blue chips. I was responsible for managing the Department’s Service Level Agreement with the EPSRC valued at £2.4M per annum. I was a member of the Daresbury Senior Management Team.
STFC, Senior Research Scientist
2003 – 2008
I was responsible for management of the CCP3 programme and the EU funded Synchrotron Radiation Research Theory Network and the Light Source Theory Network linking together major activities at European facilities. My core research focussed on surface science and methods for the interpretation of experimental data.
STFC, Research Scientist
1999 – 2003
I joined the Computational Materials Group with direct responsibility for the CCP3 programme.
My core research focussed on surface science and methods for the interpretation of experimental data.
Peterhouse College, Cambridge, Senior Research Fellow
1998 - 1999
I was responsible for undergraduate admissions and supervision as well as research activities.
University of Cambridge, University Assistant Lecturer
1993 - 1998
I was a lecturer within the Department of Chemistry and Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. I served as Director of Studies in Natural Sciences for the College with responsibility for advising undergraduates on subject choices, undergraduate admissions and small group supervisions. I was a member of the College Governing Council. My core research was on Low Energy Electron Diffraction as well as work on total energy simulations of surfaces. I worked closely with the experimental research groups of Professor Sir David King and Professor Richard Lambert.
University of Cambridge, Postdoctoral Research Associate
1992 - 1993
I was employed within the group of Professor Sir David King as a theoretical expert on the analysis of Low Energy Electron Diffraction Data.
NATO Postdoctoral Fellow
1989 – 1991
Fellowship held at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, California with Dr Michel Van Hove within the group of Professor Gabor Somorjai developing methods for the interpretation of Low Energy Diffraction (LEED) Data. This led to the first general release of a code utilising Tensor LEED – the automated tensor LEED code (ATLEED).