Alex Dickinson MEng Mechanical Engineering; PhD, 2002

Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd, knowledge transfer partnership

Hi, I'm Alex Dickinson and I studied MEng Mechanical Engineering; PhD within Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton.

Southampton was a natural choice as one of the very best names in this subject in the UK. I enjoy sailing, so as well as having the University's reputation, living in Southampton allowed me to go racing every weekend.

I caught the engineering bug from my grandfather, and Southampton was a natural choice as one of the very best names in this subject in the UK. I enjoy sailing, so as well as having the University's reputation, living in Southampton allowed me to go racing every weekend. Through a third year dissertation I got to know the Bioengineering Research Group and Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd. I very much enjoyed getting thrown in at the deep end during a summer placement with them, and worked as a Computational Engineer during the final year of the masters.

I was keen to pursue a career in Bioengineering and recognised the importance of postgraduate study in this field. It was vital to have a clear industrial focus to the postgrad study, so I applied for the KTP which has allowed me to work as the Lead Project Engineer in the development of an entire orthopaedic implant system, gaining excellent engineering business experience whilst putting the technical work towards the PhD. I've been involved at all levels, from project management, research and development, design, production and regulatory approval to sales and marketing, whilst keeping an academic eye open, presenting my work at international conferences.

There has barely been time to breathe but I don't think I could possibly have had a greater range of experience and level of responsibility so early in my career and the last 18 months have been very exciting and rewarding. My plan is to see this product to market, and continue with a top level international career in engineering and project management.

About Alex

Alex took the Mechanical Engineering MEng with the Study Abroad theme, with six months at ESTACA (Paris) studying Computer Aided Engineering. He completed vacation placements with Westland Helicopters Ltd and Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd, with whom he is now project managing a knowledge transfer partnership with Southampton's Bioengineering Science Research Group. The goal is to develop a new resurfacing hip replacement implant for improved biocompatibility and longevity, and he is putting the scientific work towards a PhD.