God and Nature Spring 2024
across the pond
|
|
What’s the Use? or A Tale of Two Robins
By Mike Clifford
Recently I met up with an old friend, Robin, who joined the University of Nottingham at the same time as me, thirty years ago. Back then, for a few brief weeks, we shared an office—a room I lovingly christened “the departure lounge”, as for some reason, most of the people I shared the office with left the university within a few months of arriving. I stuck it out for two years, but I think the record for the shortest stay in my shared office was three days. So it’s quite remarkable that thirty years later, Robin and I are both still here, albeit working in different departments.
After trading our usual gripes about the everyday struggles that are part and parcel of working in a large institution, our conversation took a more philosophical turn. My friend reflected that only recently he had worked out what his purpose was at the university, which he summarised as nudging students in the right direction.
My own work is deeply motivated by my Christian faith, and I share Robin’s conviction that our influence as lecturers on the students we encounter can be life-changing. Some time ago, I listed the roles that a lecturer can have. These include:
Storyteller, poet, dramatist, actor, philosopher, expert, narrator, explorer, guide, performer, preacher, facilitator, conjurer, fool, bullfighter, entertainer, demonstrator, teacher, learner, enthusiast, raconteur, game show host, judge, salesperson, guru, supporter, counsellor, antagonist, motivator, artist, conductor...
Of course, I don’t advertise these roles widely, but hidden away on a poster outside my office door under my teaching duties is the tagline “Starting the revolution one lecture at a time.”
As we were speaking, my phone rang—a call from Joel, a former PhD student I’d coincidentally co-supervised with Robin about twenty years ago (our only co-supervision to date). After graduating with a PhD in how to burn stuff, Joel has gone on to set up a Christian charity, creativenergie, dedicated to providing universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services delivered in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. As well as offering fuel-efficient cookstoves, creativenergie is involved in solar and biogas projects around the world.
I can think of a handful of other students I’ve had the joy and delight to work with who have achieved far more in the few years since they’ve graduated than I have, particularly working in the interface between engineering and sustainable development.
Ethiopian playwright and poet Mengistu Lemma wrote: "What is the use, for a country like ours, of an engineer who possesses the most up-to-date ideas about the making of houses, roads and about bridge building, but who is ignorant of the social purposes of his activities, who ignores the social purpose of his (her) society?” I think it’s vital that we remind our students and our academic colleagues as to the fundamental importance of understanding the “social purpose” of our research and teaching activities.
Two weeks after my conversation with my friend, Robin I was again pondering the purpose of life as I’d received the news that my father, also called Robin, had died unexpectedly. My father wasn’t an academic—he sold and fitted carpets for a living, but his life was characterised by helping people out in practical ways including painting and decorating, often without accepting any payment. Hopefully I’ve inherited some of his gifts in helping others.
I’ll end with a snippet from an email I’ve just received from one of my current dissertation students: “I just wanted to email since I was most likely not going to see you again to let you know how helpful you were in me completing university this year. I was seriously considering taking an extra year and was incredibly stressed but after the meeting with you it took a huge weight off my shoulders.“
It’s little things like these that make the job worthwhile.
By Mike Clifford
Recently I met up with an old friend, Robin, who joined the University of Nottingham at the same time as me, thirty years ago. Back then, for a few brief weeks, we shared an office—a room I lovingly christened “the departure lounge”, as for some reason, most of the people I shared the office with left the university within a few months of arriving. I stuck it out for two years, but I think the record for the shortest stay in my shared office was three days. So it’s quite remarkable that thirty years later, Robin and I are both still here, albeit working in different departments.
After trading our usual gripes about the everyday struggles that are part and parcel of working in a large institution, our conversation took a more philosophical turn. My friend reflected that only recently he had worked out what his purpose was at the university, which he summarised as nudging students in the right direction.
My own work is deeply motivated by my Christian faith, and I share Robin’s conviction that our influence as lecturers on the students we encounter can be life-changing. Some time ago, I listed the roles that a lecturer can have. These include:
Storyteller, poet, dramatist, actor, philosopher, expert, narrator, explorer, guide, performer, preacher, facilitator, conjurer, fool, bullfighter, entertainer, demonstrator, teacher, learner, enthusiast, raconteur, game show host, judge, salesperson, guru, supporter, counsellor, antagonist, motivator, artist, conductor...
Of course, I don’t advertise these roles widely, but hidden away on a poster outside my office door under my teaching duties is the tagline “Starting the revolution one lecture at a time.”
As we were speaking, my phone rang—a call from Joel, a former PhD student I’d coincidentally co-supervised with Robin about twenty years ago (our only co-supervision to date). After graduating with a PhD in how to burn stuff, Joel has gone on to set up a Christian charity, creativenergie, dedicated to providing universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services delivered in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. As well as offering fuel-efficient cookstoves, creativenergie is involved in solar and biogas projects around the world.
I can think of a handful of other students I’ve had the joy and delight to work with who have achieved far more in the few years since they’ve graduated than I have, particularly working in the interface between engineering and sustainable development.
Ethiopian playwright and poet Mengistu Lemma wrote: "What is the use, for a country like ours, of an engineer who possesses the most up-to-date ideas about the making of houses, roads and about bridge building, but who is ignorant of the social purposes of his activities, who ignores the social purpose of his (her) society?” I think it’s vital that we remind our students and our academic colleagues as to the fundamental importance of understanding the “social purpose” of our research and teaching activities.
Two weeks after my conversation with my friend, Robin I was again pondering the purpose of life as I’d received the news that my father, also called Robin, had died unexpectedly. My father wasn’t an academic—he sold and fitted carpets for a living, but his life was characterised by helping people out in practical ways including painting and decorating, often without accepting any payment. Hopefully I’ve inherited some of his gifts in helping others.
I’ll end with a snippet from an email I’ve just received from one of my current dissertation students: “I just wanted to email since I was most likely not going to see you again to let you know how helpful you were in me completing university this year. I was seriously considering taking an extra year and was incredibly stressed but after the meeting with you it took a huge weight off my shoulders.“
It’s little things like these that make the job worthwhile.
In memory of Robin Leslie Clifford, 1939-2024.
Mike Clifford is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham. His research interests are in combustion, biomass briquetting, cookstove design, and other appropriate technologies. He has published over 80 refereed conference and journal publications and has contributed chapters to books on composites processing and on appropriate and sustainable technologies.