Professor Simon Pollard – Head of Sustainable Systems, Cranfield University

My position involves leading a department of industrially-focused academics and associated staff in the field of environmental technology - specifically in the water, energy, waste and resource management sectors. These days, academics have much wider roles to play in their universities than is perhaps commonly perceived, so my responsibilities include leading the strategic direction of a department comprising 60 staff and three academic groups with a turnover of £6m, acting on market intelligence to secure partnerships and contracts, diversifying our income streams and engaging with industry, Government, research sponsors and business partners.

Most of my career has been spent in environmental engineering and chemistry, having worked first in industrial R&D and then as an environmental specialist in universities, consultancy and regulation. Moving between organisations and roles provided me with the variety of technical and managerial experience required of my current position and it allowed me to manage budgets, contracts, multidiscipline project teams, change projects and senior staff.

Throughout my career, I have found it important to seek a breadth and depth of experience, to progress my professional qualifications and to maintain a network of colleagues I can sound ideas off. The most useful career advice I ever had was to seek work where my own values matched those of the organisation I was in. So Cranfield University is ideal – it’s business-like, research driven and makes a real difference by transferring academic knowledge to society.

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