How did I get here? Well I haven't been here forever. I failed all my exams at school and so became a worker at Blidworth Colliery in Nottinghamshire (Soap Box... you know, before Thatcher wiped out a whole working community of a couple of hundred thousand in one stroke. Yes people unemployed are always acceptable as long as it's all done in the name of a free market, tell that to the Nuclear Industry, even if the European market, in fact all markets aren't truly free!). But while loads of people liked it I didn't, so I took some courses and got myself onto a degree program. And hey-presto here I am!

It took about 4 years of part-time study (while working) to get to the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). From there it took a total of 4 years for my B.Eng. and M.Eng. and I worked the vacations in the Technology for Disabled People Unit. Then another year for my M.Phil. while working for the Software Engineering Group at UMIST. I then moved to Manchester Computing to work on distance learning including WebCT and Blackboard as well as some other bespoke solutions. At the same time I signed up for a Part-Time PhD at the University of Manchester in Computer Science looking at Visual Impairment, Mobility, and the Web. It took two and a half years. After a break of about 6 months to sail the Mediterranean, a bit of poetic licence here, after many disasters including a dis-masting I ended up sailing in UK waters for most of the time... Oh the dream... (did I tell you have a 7 metre yacht? Not flash but quite fast for it's size and it took my 5 years of eating beans to buy it) I 're-upped' with the Department of Computer Science at Manchester as a Research Associate without portfolio. This actually meant that I taught my professors modules and advised her students while pursuing my own research. Well that about brings us up to date, just to say that I was made a Fellow as of October 2004, I was awarded a Career Development Fellowship by the University, in September 2005, and I was made a lecturer in January 2006.

Mod: S Harper on 11 Mar 2009