Personal Achievements

There have been many achievements during my life and career that I am particularly proud of. These include the birth of my two fabulous daughters as well as the renovations I have undertaken to a number of the houses I have lived in. I have enjoyed interacting with leading educationalists and people such as Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the owner of the LEGO Group.

Probably the most satisfying achievements I have had are linked to broadening the outlook and horizons of children and young adults. These have included: the staging of many robotics competitions; leading delegations of students and teacher to view and participate in international competitions and activities; creating innovation spaces in schools so that students and teachers have to opportunity to use cutting edge CAD and CAM technology; letting kids have a go at doing something when others say they are not capable; seeing the joy in the faces of children when they show others what they have achieved; giving individuals alternatives to regular school to learn, participate and achieve; and seeing children not give up as a result of failure, but learn from the experience..

One of my proudest achievements

Staging the 2011 World Robot Olympiad in Abu Dhabi has been one of my proudest achievements. There were many activities in the lead up to this major event and many challenges to overcome.

Apart from managing numerous contractors, I oversaw the development of the challenges that were used in the global robotics competition in that year.

Teams representing over 30 countries gathered at the event, as well as many guests and VIPs.

I was able to introduce new innovations to the staging of the event and introduce a level of organisation, preparedness and professionalism that had not been seen before. This involved intense coordination of logistics, including entertainment, transport, accommodation and catering, as well management of large budgets.

It was truly a privilege to see the engagement of participants and the pride they had in their achievements. Seeing this, reinforced my commitment to give individuals opportunities to participate in such events and try things they have not opportunity to do before.

If everyone had an opportunity to participate in similar activities linked to other STEM areas, industries or entrepreneurship, I am sure we would see a new renaissance in knowledge and innovation.