Continuous Professional Development
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the means by which professionals maintain, broaden and deepen their knowledge, skills and competency. It helps develop the personal qualities required for their working lives.
This page details some of the activities I have undertaken as part of my CPD.
Note that this page excludes courses I have attended which are listed on a dedicated training page.
2021
Blender training
As part of the Offsites DCS upgrade project, I replaced the advanced monitoring software with a completely new system for the control room operators. Initially, the software vendor provided a 5-day course, but the operators found it too technical and were not convinced of the software’s suitability for their plant. To address this, I developed and delivered a new 2-day training course focused on practical usage. My course included short presentations and hands-on tutorials tailored to the operators’ typical tasks.
The new training approach was much better received by the operators, leading to a successful transition to the new monitoring system. The operators appreciated the practical focus of the training, which helped them gain confidence in using the new software effectively. This contributed significantly to the overall success of the system changeover.
2019
Disastrous Dinners
Towards the end of 2018 I devised the concept for disastrous dinners and in 2019 I organised and hosted the series.
Talk: King's Cross Fire
As part of the disastrous dinners series I presented a talk on the King's Cross Fire, looking at what happend and asking questions about what lead to the organisational blind spot. An aproximate transcript of my presentation can be found on my blog post about the talk.
2018
Again 2018 was a quiet year, spending most of my non-work hours with my young family.
Towards the end of the year I became active with the IChemE Scottish Member Group committee when I devised the concept for disastrous dinners
2017
2017 was a quiet year as far as external activities were concerned. I focused most of my spare time and energy on my young family. I remained a member of the IChemE Scottish members group committee with reduced attendance.
Through work, I was due to attend a formal training course on inferentials and a conference however both were scheduled around the time my second son was due to be born and so I did not attend either. I did however gain significant amount of on-the-job experience working with a new member of our team who has a significant amount of previous experience with advanced process control schemes.
2016
Presentation: 10 Ways Control Systems Lie
I delivered a half hour presentation on an Introduction to Instrumentation & Control on behalf of the IChemE Scottish Members Group on the 2nd of June 2016.
A full copy of the slides along with a write-up is available as a blogpost.
The presentation was generally well received. I believe I managed to deliver what could have been a boring topic (introduction to instrumentation) in an interesting format by including real world examples of ways the systems have failed.
I do not consider myself to be a great public speaker however I fully understand that the only way to improve is to practice and deliver more presentations. As such this event helped me improve my presenting skills.
I delivered a repeat of the presentation to University of Strathclyde ChemEng students at the end of September, coupled with a brief background of my career after leaving university.
- CPD Type: Professional activity
IChemE SMG Committee Member
Through 2016 I have continued to play a part in the IChemE Scottish Members Group committee. As well as delivering the previously mentioned presentation, I organised two other events on behalf of the committee.
I have also organised a joint presentation with the Institute of Measurement and Control (InstMC) on Cyber Security to be delivered in October.
- CPD Type: Professional activity
2015
IChemE SMG Committee Member
Through 2015 I continued to play a part in the IChemE Scottish Members Group committee. I organised the 2015 AGM venue and booked the speaker for the event.
- CPD Type: Professional activity
University of Edinburgh ChemEng Graduate Careers Presentation
For the second year in a row, I took part in a series of presentations given by previous Edinburgh University ChemEng graduates to the current students.
This year there were more presenters available and so we were given a shorter period to present. I changed the focus of my talk to cover the choices to be made with regard to career and personal life requirements.
- Other
2014
IChemE SMG Committee Member
During the 2014 IChemE Scottish Members Group AGM, I volunteered to join the committee. Through the remainder of the year, I attended as many committee meetings as possible as I learnt the logistics of the way the committee operated.
- CPD Type: Professional activity
University of Edinburgh ChemEng Graduate Careers Presentation
Took part in a series of presentations given by previous Edinburgh University ChemEng graduates to the current students. I gave general advise about applying for graduate jobs, what to do when you have a job and described the differences I experienced when switching between the two very different industries I have worked in.
- CPD Type: Other