CLASS NOTES
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
ALUMNI NEWS Where has life taken you since you’ve been away from Aston? We’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. Why not drop us an email at alumniinfo@aston.ac.uk with your story and a photograph? The best will be included in the next edition of the magazine.
1960s Mehdi G Mehdi (Chemical Engineering, 1967) was one of the graduates who were awarded degrees for the first time when Birmingham College of Advanced Technology received its Charter and became the University of Aston in Birmingham. Mehdi worked abroad in the textile industry as a project engineer. Then he worked in the UK as a senior research and development engineer for a furnace company. Following that, he became a chief research and development engineer for a boiler company and then a teacher (teaching both GCSE and A-Level science). He is now enjoying his retirement.
1970s Jo Donnelly (Biological Sciences, 1971) followed her Aston degree by attaining a PGCE at Chelsea College and then went on to teach biology, geography and religious education. In her forties she retrained in special educational needs (SEN) and taught special needs pupils. Her career as a SEN coordinator in two large secondary schools in West London spanned 20 years. “I never regret my time at Aston,” she said “It helped to build my confidence and I met some amazing people. My tutor was Mr Gardener and I also remember Dr Egins and Dr Cole.”
Read more entries on the website: bit.ly/2Y95oG0
Chris Peace (Environmental Health, 1974 and Risk Management & Safety Technology, 1997) started his working life enforcing health and safety legislation in the UK before emigrating to New Zealand in 1980, moving to work in the insurance industry as a loss control engineer and subsequently as a risk consultant. In 1990 Chris returned to the UK for five years where he worked for Jardine Lloyd Thompson as a risk management consultant. During that time he worked with major manufacturing and retail companies and public and private hospitals, work which took him to the USA, the Caribbean, Holland, Spain, Eire and Italy and included acting as an expert witness. In August 2019 he was appointed adjunct research fellow in the Faculty of Health at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, after graduating in December 2019 from the university with a PhD on ‘The effectiveness of risk assessments in informing decision makers’. In 2020 Chris started a new post as teaching fellow at Victoria University, instructing on the principles of health and safety management as well as hazard and risk.
1980s Richard Brittain (Physical Methods Analysis, 1981) came to Aston as a fresh, young physics graduate seeking to hone his skills in a specialised and vocational area of science and technology. - 42 -
After graduating from Aston he was offered a role as a research assistant at London University working on highfrequency wide-band ultrasound for materials analysis and medical imaging. This ultimately led to the completion of PhD based on part-time study. In 1989 he took up a role as head of electrical and electronic engineering at a large private educational institute based in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. He moved from there to Sydney, Australia, where he worked initially in commercial research and development for a company making medical imaging systems, and then at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) materials science (ceramics) laboratory. After that he joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a senior research scientist. He later moved into science management and policy before joining the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Research. From there he moved into the field of legal metrology, specialising in the development of technical policy and infrastructure. To further support this role – and indulge a long-held interest in law – Richard undertook an external Legum Baccalaureus (LLB) followed by a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the New South Wales College of Law. He completed his practical legal training at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Office, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Homeless Persons’ Legal Service in Sydney before being admitted as a lawyer by the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2010. After 23 years in the Australian public service, Richard started his own legal consultancy and now provides consultancy to the governments of Fiji, Myanmar and Ghana on legislation to facilitate and strengthen their technical infrastructure to support both their internal and international trade and regulation. He feels that his transition from a science graduate to an international expert and consultant really started with the specialist postgraduate training he received at Aston.
