Nathan D.
About me
| Nathan D. | |
| Railway Studies | |
| Transport History | |
| Taught Postgraduate | |
| Langwith | |
| 2012 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Researcher | |
| United Kingdom |
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A day in the life of a Researcher in the United Kingdom
What I like most? The whole job!
My career goals when I graduated
To gain a PhD in my specialist field of research; to eventually run the team within which I am based; to use my current skills and knowledge to improve understanding of the railway assets and their interfaces for the Company as well as for other people (internationally) interested in this field of research, academically and professionally.
My career history
I left school at 16 with no qualifications other than Es and Fs at GCSE. I worked in a factory, as a youth worker, as a missionary abroad, in a pub, in a petrol station, in a hotel, as a bus driver, as a tram driver, and then in the roles above.
What has helped my career to progress
Being willing to learn and do whatever it takes to achieve bettering myself.
Courses taken since graduation
Lots of work based ones, such as CAD, Health and Safety, but the key one for me is as an Investigator for issues relating to Harassment and Bullying in the work place. This allowed me to work as an investigator to ensure that people are treat fairly and equally, and to help resolve issues int he workplace. To do this I was able to use my research skills, developed through my University Courses, as they are pretty much the same. For example, analysis, reading, listening, gathering evidence, interpretation of evidence, drawing conclusions from available evidence, and perhaps most important critical analysis.
How my studies have helped my career
Superbly! I would not be able to do my work today, if I had not done the university courses I did at York. These have allowed me to become a specialist in my field of research; have a paper published in an academic journal, as sole author; undertake my current academic research as a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen; and also have another paper awaiting publication by the Institution of Civil Engineers; with much more research and hopefully publication on the way. Work wise, I am also the go to person for matters relating to asset and land ownership not just for the Company I work for, but others besides, my work professionally and academically in to the future filling current research and knowledge gaps and potentially stimulating international and local consideration of underground metro infrastructure and its relationship with the urban environment. This is all because I studied at York, where the opportunity to do so by distance learning in a field I enjoyed was available.
What surprised me about my career so far
That I have gone from working in a factory at 16, to being a specialist in my field of research.
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I hope to have my PhD; teach at University; but also to continue working within my current organisation to continue developing knowledge and understanding of asset ownership, rights and responsibilities; developing and instigating policies to ensure the safe presence of the railway.
My advice to students considering work
Do it! Find a job that is interesting to you, and tie it in with studies that are interesting to you. Do not just work for the money, otherwise your studies will also suffer. Do work and studies that you are passionate about.
My advice about working in my industry
Go for it!! Transport for London has such a wide range of career paths, it is amazing. It is not just about transport provision, it is everything else. TfL employs: solicitors; transport and urban planners; health professionals; engineers; electricians; customer focus specialists; librarians; and loads of other people. BUT most importantly graduate trainees and apprentices of all ages, and if you want to learn to do something the company will help you, and even provides its own online and class room based learning resources. I met a person in TfL recently who is in their 50s. They started as a Customer Service Assistant, became a train driver, and now they manage a whole line with thousands of staff, and they studied for their degrees whilst working.
Other advice
Think that you can do it; it does not matter how old you are; study full or part time; do what interests you and something you are passionate about and go for it.
Contacting me
I am happy to answer pretty much any question, if I can, whether professional or academic, though my field is quite narrow to railway history, especially underground metro infrastructure and its relationship with its environment (Transport and Town Planning; Legal; historical; civil engineering) feel free to look up my University of Aberdeen profile, for more detail.
What I do
I deal with legal and historical research into engineered assets, for London Underground, determining ownership, rights and responsibilities for the assets of London Underground and other asset owners.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Through my degrees at York, I was able to develop the skills and knowledge for undertaking research and writing academic and professional reports. These include, critical reading; analysing the material available; making decisions based on the available evidence and arguing the findings in a constructive way.
What I like most
My whole Job! It is really interesting to study the historical, legal, technological and engineering developments of the Underground and how it has formed and is formed by its environment.
What I like least
Having to persuade other people to accept findings of research that they may not consider, at first glance, as being beneficial to the business, but ultimately will be; having to wait for people to come back with information.
What surprised me most
The complexity of the relationship between the railway and its environment.
Next steps...
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