Landwards Spring 2021
People: Clare Butler-Ellis
How agricultural engineering chose Clare Butler-Ellis Landwards interviewed Clare Butler-Ellis back in January, this is just a taster but you can hear the whole thing on the Landwards Podcast.
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Tell us a little bit about your background?
Why did you decide to be an agricultural engineer?
What was your route into the industry?
There was no farming, let alone agricultural engineering in my background at all – I grew up in the West Midlands; my father was a chemical engineer, but I definitely didn’t want to be an engineer ever!
I didn’t – I think agricultural engineering decided it wanted me! I started by doing a physics degree at Leeds University followed by a PhD in theoretical physics.
Pure chance, really. I wanted to be a mathematical modeller, and ideally modelling something that was very tangible and meaningful (unlike my PhD which was very intangible and, with hindsight, a bit pointless). A
