Frazer-Nash’s Dave Richards and David McNaught have been awarded prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorships, enabling them to share their expertise with the next generation of engineers.
The Royal Academy of Engineering enables universities to draw upon the experience of those in industry and consultancy, employing them as part time lecturers to help enhance the teaching, learning, employability and skills of UK engineering students.
Principal Consultant, Dave Richards, has been appointed as Visiting Professor on the Product Design Engineering course at Glasgow School of Art, where his remit is ‘Developing enterprise skills for the 21st Century product design engineer’. Similarly, students on the electrical and mechanical engineering course at the University of Strathclyde will benefit from Group Leader David McNaught’s expertise as Visiting Professor of Applied Systems Engineering.
Dave Richards describes the goal of the Visiting Professorship roles, and what they involve:
“These roles recognise that engineering education goes beyond simply the accumulation of knowledge. The Royal Academy of Engineering scheme strengthens universities’ partnerships with industry, and enables engineering employers to contribute to the development of the curriculum.
“The professorships combine a mix of traditional university teaching with mentoring and supporting students on projects. We are partnered with an academic champion at our respective universities, with the shared objective of enhancing the depth and quality of the students’ learning experience. By sharing our experiences from both a consulting and business perspective, David and I will be helping students as they prepare to enter the workplace.”
David McNaught highlighted how bringing post-qualification learning to those currently studying can help develop their skills for the future:
“The main focus of my own professional development for the last ten years has been to build a formal systems engineering knowledge base and skill set which was not present in my own degree education. The Royal Academy of Engineering’s award gives me time to distil the key points from this learning and creating teaching material for students which is a real privilege.
“I have found that teaching students has made me a better engineer, more able to explain my understanding and insights to clients and colleagues.”
More information about the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Visiting Professorship scheme and profiles of David and Dave can be found here.
