Member Spotlight - Mike Weston Inverness UHI

Member Spotlight

Mike Weston

UHI, Fairways Business Park, Inverness

www. energyresearch.uhi.ac.uk

Dr Mike Weston describes how science is in his blood. He studied Chemistry at Edinburgh and decided being a in a lab was not for him and then went off to Napier to do a MSc. He did a research project after this and then headed off for more education and did a PhD and worked on a project involving fuel cells which was to become a bit of a fascination. He then relocated to the MoD in Gosport and put together a great fuel cell project involving a variety of partners – the only problem was the fuel cell manufacturer decided they didn’t want to produce them anymore, announcing this just after funding was secured.

It was at this moment that Mike realised there was a connection between money and research – he had effectively put together a business for his project without realising it. From here on economic development and research were both subjects Mike was interested in. He moved to an energy company and then relocated to Aberdeen where he ended up in a project that involved shouting about research and development. Unfortunately quite a lot of the activities this project did were a bit alternative so the funding was cut when Scottish Enterprise had to revise down their budget.

Mike was headhunted by UHI and he moved to the Highlands, describing it and the people as “a breath of fresh air”. He smiles as he tells of his travels around Scotland visiting all the UHI partners.

His current role sees him bringing his interest in economic development and research together. He acts as a networker – bringing partners, opportunities and research together for everyone’s benefit. He keeps up to date with news and circulates ideas and research between colleagues and partners. He describes himself as being involved in research “in the broadest” sense and is keen to involve small businesses to describing how there is funding available to help businesses develop new products and projects with research.

UHI have been involved a variety of projects around renewable energy recently including the problems of extracting resources in the Hebrides, a deployment project and how to develop infrastructure for future projects. The UHI network stretches from the Shetlands to Perth and they are currently working on the Curriculum of the 21st Century.

Mike works in a team of 3 people at Fairways and is delighted to be part of UHI and have access to such great facilities such as the great video conferencing facilities available at all their venues.

Mike carries on his networking outside of his UHI role too – he is President of the Inverness Toastmonsters group (elsewhere known as Toastmasters). He is an avid runner and a fan of real ale – describing a trip to a beer festival as 3 days of heaven. For anyone involved in any aspect of energy – Dr Mike Weston is someone that should be in your contact list!