About
I'm Dave, and I do a lot of different things. This website is mostly about my researching side, as an academic and business writer. I also work as a coach, build digital things (mostly for myself), build physical things (mostly for my family), and live on a boat. I spend a lot of time reading and thinking about how we humans can live both sustainably and deeply, and what I can do to help that happen. That last bit can be easy on an individual/family level; not so easy at societal scale.
Anyway, this site is about work. I was previously an academic working in History, Digital Humanities then held a wonderful job-for-life in Global Sustainable Development. I took a sabbatical to go sailing with my wife and young boys, then forgot to return to work. For the past five years I've been working on various things that interest me; and the skills I've built from that variety of work might well be of use to you.
I have an unusual ability to span both business and academic work. I speak the language of product development as adeptly as I do neuroscience. I've conducted work on topics from education in Oman to salmon-farming-related biotech. AI's impact on employment to business travel. Psychedelic therapy to measuring social impact. Sustainability audits to workplace training.
So while I can zoom-in to particular areas and help you with an academic literature review of work in your niche, my real expertise is in blending that niche with its broader contexts, and applications. With connecting the general with the particular; the business case with the technical detail.
Recently, my work has coalesced around three areas in which that expertise is equally useful: research support for businesses, academic-style research, and grant writing.
At some point I'd like to get into sustainability consulting, or encourage more people to share my passion for sustainable, deep lives. But for the next few years I'll be continuing down this path, learning a lot along the way. And continuing to say no a lot, unless the work that finds me is particularly interesting.
Back Story
2010
💭 back to academia for a while
Returned to the University of Warwick to start a History PhD, after 18 months working in investment banking.
2012-5 - History Lecturer
enjoying research and planning an academic life
Completed my PhD 🎓🥳. Lecturing in History at the University of Warwick.
2013-16 - Research 🤝 Technology
💓 Charlotte and I get married & our second boy is born.
Alongside academic roles I was working in Academic Technology and Digital Humanities, helping academics integrate digital research tools into their work. Coding was fun at first but 🫤 after a while.
2015-17 - Sustainable Development Lecturer
✈️ Took my last ever flight.
Director of Student Experience in Global Sustainable Development. AWESOME role with superb colleagues, and our first intake of students were great too. Job for life.
2017-19 - A two-year sabbatical
⛵ sold our house to buy a boat. We'll go back & buy a house closer to work. Seizing the chance for two year's sailing while the kids are young...
Our third boy is born, we cross the ocean on our catamaran, and spend some island time as a family, with no interruptions...
2019 - Freelance Researcher
👋 bye plans. Didn't go back to work. My work-stuff is STILL (2024) in the storeroom at Warwick. I should collect it one day.
Working as a freelance academic researcher. My first client was the author of a book called <i>Knowledge Nomads and the Nervously Employed: Workplace Change & Courageous Careet Choices</i>, which made me laugh a lot.
2020-2 - Business Research & Longer Term Clients
🌎 Living cheaply on our yacht in the Caribbean and Central America, and a more sustainable life: CO2 emissions <5Tpa (as a family of 5). I'm saying no a lot to avoid working over 15 hours a week, we don't need more.
Clients asked me to do some business work (grants, white papers, research summaries) and I got good at it. Others asked me to coach them. Failed to scale a cognitive coaching side-line.
2023 - Research 🤝 Technology 🤝 Business
⛵ Crossed the Atlantic. It took us nearly 4 weeks to get from Bermuda to Britain. A good life here is more expensive, so I'll have to work a little more.
For most of the year I couldn't work regularly because of sailing plans and their weather-dependence, although I managed weekly coaching calls while crossing an ocean. A few enjoyable academic and academic-adjacent projects, alongside longer-term clients. LLMs arrive, and I start playing with them, developing a couple of prototypes and changing my working practices. Coding is fun again so I'm building more.
2024
Looking for a house in the UK, to stay closer to family. We can't bring ourselves to live in one built to normal British standards, so will be building or retrofitting. We'll be aiming to remain toasty warm and self-powered when the AMOC collapses, which means contributing to the grid in the meantime. Zero-carbon at build, too, if we build.