How long have you worked at the Uni? What does your role involve?

I started here in 2004 and did an MSc. That’s when I met my wife too, we did an MSc in Management together. She found a job in the city and I stayed here for my PhD. I left in 2009 to go to Imperial College London for a couple of years and then back to Bath as a Lecturer in January 2011. Then I moved into a Senior Lecturer role and then became a Professor. So officially from 2011 but I’ve got a lot of history here!

I’ve done a lot in those various roles, such as teaching, administration when I was responsible for undergraduate programmes, securing research funding and publishing my work for academic and wider audiences . At the moment my role is different to that of a ‘traditional’ academic. We were fortunate to receive a very generous donation from EDF Energy which helped to set up the HPC Supply Chain Innovation Lab. It’s a research centre looking at how we can improve the science, practice and policy around setting up and managing supply chains. We look at EDF’s Hinkley Point C project which is a new nuclear power station being built. This involves PhD students, postdocs, and international colleagues as well as University of Bath colleagues and staff working for EDF Energy and Hinkley Point C. The project is an hour from Bristol and is where I spend half my time. The other half of my time is spent here at the University where I conduct research and also work closely with journalists and editors. I do get pulled in to doing lectures from time to time too!

What would you most like to achieve while at the University?

It’s about inspiring students and, for the research area I’m in, to bring in young talent and our high-performing students to show them that there are many avenues that they could pursue and explore.

Then as a researcher it’s working with the next generation of researchers and advancing the opportunities to work with business, such as EDF Energy, and government departments. This means our research can be translated into business and policy improvements for other large-scale projects such as HS2. Some of the lessons learned with HPC is how to integrate smaller companies into complex supply chains and taking that to other businesses and the government so they can apply those lessons in other projects in the UK.

Name one thing that makes you feel proud to work at the University of Bath?

I think there are multiple things that make me feel proud to work here. But considering my link with the University is being slightly unique having started here as a masters student, I think the calibre of students to work with and a good reputation for supply chain management research attracted me as a student considering that was what I wanted to study.

Then the whole way through my career, it was great to know that I joined a group of high-performing individuals to work within the supply chain management area at Bath.

What piece of advice would you like to give to a student?

A lot! There are quite a few things our students are very good at like being focused and hard-working. But I would advise them to take chances and try different things, especially at undergraduate level if you’re with us for three or four years. Try different internships and placements, as sometimes students have said they wish they had tried something different. I think most of our students already do that, but I think some students could be a bit more daring.

Who was your most influential teacher/educator, and why?

That’s a difficult one! The first is my PhD supervisor, Professor Mike Lewis, who is now the Head of the Division. He taught me essential research skills, how to work with companies and he really put an emphasis on the fact that research has to have an impact on companies and government. That helped ground the idea of me becoming an academic, as in our initial chat when I first started my PhD, I said I wanted to go into industry and he said we’ll see! He taught me that being an academic isn’t just about writing papers.

Then when I was at Imperial as a postdoc, there were a few people that have helped shape my career even more. I’m still in contact with those people, we write papers together and they’re very much mentors to me.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Lots of different things. Head of state, which sounds a bit weird, but some kind of high flying politician. I’m not even sure how I came up with that idea, I must have seen it on TV or something. I think I’ve definitely got some elements of that role in my current job, particularly in terms of skills, such as how to delegate, manage people and present a certain message.

What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you’d known when you were younger?

I think there’s a link to what I’m doing now in terms of supply chain management and managing projects. It’s that plans are worthless but planning is essential. You have to understand that plans do change, but that planning is still an important process. It definitely fits with my life!

What was your first job?

I had a few summer jobs but my first substantial job was working in a bank. I was about 16 or so and I worked with credit files. So I worked with the files of people that had credit with the bank and helped people in the department find what they needed.

If you could start your own dream business, what would it be?

I do like what I’m doing so that makes it quite difficult! I like the different facets of being an academic, working with students, working on different types of research and having an impact.

There’s always the classic dream like a vineyard, but I don’t know, it sounds all romantic and nice but I’m not sure I could convince my wife who’s a city girl, and it’s not always how you think it would be.

Where is your favourite holiday destination and why?

On one hand, my wife and I enjoy city trips, like New York and Copenhagen, once or twice a year. But we do also like beach holidays. One a year would be nice! So it’s a combination of shorter city trips and a longer beach holiday. We also go back to Germany every now and again, we try to go once a year, usually around Christmas when there are the Christmas markets!

What’s your favourite book or album and why?

I do like to read, normally non-fiction, and the music I listen to is pretty eclectic with English and German music. We do spend more time watching movies though! From the classics such as Some Like It Hot, through to modern ones such as The Favourite. I’m definitely more a movie buff than film or music.

When are you happiest?

Outside of work, it’s spending time with my wife. At work, I’m happiest when working with my colleagues or thinking about a particular research problem and coming up with ideas that might be interesting to think about.

I think there’s lots of different types of happiness – which is a very academic answer!

If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and why?

Possibly Leonardo Da Vinci because it’s quite interesting how many different areas of skill he had. Engineering was my first degree so I’d like to talk to him about the things he invented, but also learn how he can be a good artist at the same time.

Which one superpower would you like to possess?

I’d have to say teleportation to take some time off my commute and the time it takes to get places. I’m also an only child so it would mean I could see my parents and friends more often.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

A lot of my colleagues know me pretty well, but I’d have to say I won quite a lot of gold medals for running when I was at school. I was also county champion with my basketball team back in Germany.

Tell us your favourite joke

I prefer short, situational comedy but one my friend told me a couple of weeks ago was:

I waited and stayed up all night to try and figure out where the sun was. Then it dawned on me.