Name: Dave King
Title: Lecturer
Length of Service: 19 years
What attracted you to working at Abertay and how has your career progressed during your time here?
I came into academia quite late in life. In 1995 I graduated at the age of 39, relatively mature. I came back in 2000 (after completing my PhD at RGU) on a 3 year postdoctoral research contract under Professor Bradley, which was to do with AI and Power Systems. During this time, I was asked if I'd like to do a bit of teaching and, at the end of the research project, I had a 3 year teaching fellowship and was teaching full-time on the Mechatronics course. I was made Lecturer in 2006 and they haven't gotten rid of me since!
How has the University changed over the years?
The University is physically much better, and is now almost a campus. There was a place off of Ward Road that was almost like a theatre space, which had big chalk boards and the buildings were not particularly nice at all. Another building in Irvine Square which was really horrible, damp, musky and had birds living in the roof! We always had the Kydd building and the old college and the library was on the third floor of the Kydd Building. Now the University has extended and gained more buildings and space with the Student Centre and the state-of–the–art Library.
The exterior has been done up over the years, which creates a more unified feel to the University, which is nice. The whole teaching space is a lot better with all of the refurbishments that have gone on. To use computers you had to go into special rooms to find them, as an undergraduate student, you had to hand write everything. The introduction of technology over the years has changed all that.
When I was here as a student there was a room in the Old College that was a dedicated smoking room. Those lecturers and students who liked to smoke in it, were able to mingle, it was a very social thing to do, which would never be appropriate now.
What has been the biggest improvement?
The biggest improvement have been the incremental enhancements to the university estate with campus upgrades and new technology. Another good thing about teaching now is not having to do invigilating!
There has been a significant change in how the whole sector views professionalism in teaching, and it is important for the university that the excellence of its teaching staff is acknowledged through professional recognition. In 2013/14, I was proud to be given the opportunity to create Going for Gold, which is a scheme accredited by the HEA (Higher Education Academy) through Advance HE, to support staff in attaining fellowships for teaching and supporting learning.
The scheme was piloted in 2014/15 and now 75% of academic staff have professional recognition, which we hope to make 100% soon. The fact that there is more support like this for staff development is also a really positive thing.
What do you miss the most?
Coming from an Engineering background it's been sad to see its demise in various ways over the years. There isn't the local industry to support it in Dundee now so it's easy to see why very few universities are doing it due to the expensive overheads.”
What is it about Abertay that has made you want to stay all these years?
I have always liked working here. Having seen what life is like outside of academia makes me appreciate the autonomy we have as academics, it's not like a normal 9-5 job.”
Abertay is small and friendly and I think management is more accessible than in other places; everyone knows who the Principal is. It's also easier to get to know the students due to the smaller class sizes which makes it closer, friendlier and more personalised.
Over the years, I have moved from teaching Engineering to Games, a vibrant young subject, which makes it interesting and new. Due to coming into this job quite late in my life, I have kept my engagement and enthusiasm and, with AI, I am teaching something that I really find interesting and that leads to some exciting discussions. In Games, we are using AI to make characters believable and to learn. But we don’t want them to be so good that we can’t beat them! They need to have some human imperfections, as we all do.
Posted on 13th Aug 2019
Last modified by API