We sat down with Chris Shaw, our new Graduate Innovation Engineer, to find out about his engineering background, his biggest life achievement, and why Oscar Wilde would be one of his top dinner party guests!
Please can you tell us about your role at the EIC?
I’m here to evaluate proposals from innovators coming forward, to prepare calls for innovation. I perform tech watches to check the market for what innovations are already out there.
I’m just getting started so I’m excited to see what other tasks I get involved in at the EIC.
Can you tell us a bit about your engineering background?
My bachelor’s degree was in Civil Engineering. I did a year of my bachelor’s project in TU Delft in the Netherlands, studying project management mainly.
I also did modules in ethics, and the science behind climate change.
I did my Master’s in Environmental and Civil Engineering. I did two projects for my Master’s. One was the design of tidal turbine array and the other was the design of a floating offshore turbine array.
They were relatively holistic projects in that they took everything from initial research to installation and post-installation maintenance considerations.
What is your biggest achievement?
On a purely personal level, what I’ve managed to achieve for my band has been great. I’m proud of how far I’ve come as a songwriter, and my ability to work creatively in a group.
What is your favourite thing about working at the EIC so far?
All the people here are so friendly.
If you could invite any 3 people (living or deceased) to a dinner party, who would you invite and why?
I think Bowie would have to be one of them. He seems like he has a really different take on creativity, and he was an insanely productive individual.
My second would be Oscar Wilde. I think he’s fantastic. Again, I think he just had an interesting perspective on everything in his time.
I think I’d also invite Eric Idle. He’s an iconic comedy figure from Monty Python, he’s a fantastic musical talent. He’s very eclectic, talented in a lot of different things.
Follow Chris on LinkedIn here.
