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Students studying Engineering at ���Ҵ�ý were joined by Consulting Engineer and past student, Frank Claydon, to speak as part of Professional Development and Employability series.

The University welcomed back Frank Claydon, a 2010 graduate of BEng Motorsport Engineering who spoke as part of a series of guest lectures organised by Engineering academic staff to offer industry insights to current students. 

In his special lecture, Frank who is a Senior Consulting Engineer for an engineering consulting firm based in Leamington Spa, GRM Consulting, spoke about the range of projects he’s undertaken in his role with the consultancy who specialises in design optimisation methodologies, solving complex engineering problems for an array of clients. 

Frank’s lecture focused on how GRM Consulting employ Finite Element techniques which was especially topical for current students, including Bleddyn Williams, a third-year student of BEng Automotive Engineering, who said: 

“A lecture with GRM’s Frank Claydon was an exciting opportunity to understand how industry uses the fundamental design optimisation techniques I’m representing as part of my third-year independent project.  

“Frank explored these ideas with great detail and enthusiasm and after his lecture, I feel extra motivated to complete my independent project to a level that represents my enthusiasm for the field of optimisation.” 

An important underlying message of Frank’s lecture to UWTSD’s future graduates was that smaller companies like GRM Consulting have as much to offer as big brand engineering firms.  

Frank said: “When I was where some of these students are now, thinking about my career ahead of graduation, there was a presumption that the best path for a graduate was to work for a big company and to be associated with a world-renowned brand.  

“Now, having had the experience in my career of working for large and smaller firms, I want to share with the students that what we do in consultancy is an equally exciting option. I want to open their minds to a different approach and a different company - one that you don’t see plastered all over recruitment fairs.” 

“What I enjoy most about my role is the variety and getting to use daily the nitty-gritty foundations of engineering principles that I learnt on my course. 

“It was my interest in learning these basic principles that led me to the course in the first place, plus the idea of learning it through the application to industry rather than just through textbook. The fact that I now work for clients from a number of industries such as medical, aerospace and defence, as well as motorsport and automotive, goes to show the versatility of the course and the skills I gained from it.”

This was Frank’s third time guest lecturing at UWTSD which demonstrates his commitment to giving back to the academic experience and his connection still to the University.  

Alumni interested in offering a guest lecture in their academic discipline should get in touch on alumni@uwtsd.ac.uk and visit our alumni pages.

Further Information

Mared Anthony

Communications and PR Officer: Alumni Relations   
Corporate Communications and PR    
Email: mared.anthony@uwtsd.ac.uk    
Phone: +447482256996