I am a (soon to be) graduate of the Product Design MEng course. I started my university journey here at the University of Nottingham in 2018 on the Mechanical Engineering course, and I changed to PDM at the midpoint of my second year, starting 2nd year in September 2020. As I am sure anyone can imagine, this was a less than ideal time for a huge change in my life, and I will always be incredibly grateful to my tutors. Their exceptional support, compassion and expertise has allowed me to be successful in this new field and work to where I am today.
I have been a sailing instructor since I was seventeen, and in that time I have led courses for groups of all ages and abilities. I have also worked with the sailability programme at my club, an initiative to encourage people with physical and mental disabilities to get into sailing as a safe and fun hobby. This experience has informed my design work for my major project, and was a huge drive to creating a product I could be proud of.
Whilst at university I have also been a part of our Latin and Ballroom Society, serving on their committee as both team captain and treasurer, as well as competing at a national level up and down the country.
It has been an incredible time at university, and I am looking forward to starting my career as a designer, something I wouldn’t have dreamed of when I started university.
Simon Clarke, MEng Product Design and Manufacture