Study while you work

Opportunities, improvements and confidence

Keeping pace with the latest thinking, and a passion for lifelong learning, have spurred on automotive engineer Chris Mudd to study for a master’s at Brookes.

Taking the initiative

I wanted to get deeper insights into the changes in ways of working that are happening all around me

Chris Mudd, Principal Engineer, Tata Motors

Chris’s decision to study for an MSc in Automotive Engineering was about staying up-to-date with the latest developments in his industry. “Automotive engineering is undergoing rapid changes, like so many other work areas, and it’s vital to keep pace. I wanted to get deeper insights into the changes in ways of working that are happening all around me.”

Brookes’ reputation as a leading provider of engineering courses, the university’s location and the opportunity to study part-time were all reasons for choosing to study for his master’s at Brookes.

Balancing work with study

Balancing seminar and lecture time at Brookes alongside his full-time job as a principal engineer has been challenging but rewarding. Chris uses the drive from work to Brookes to get into the appropriate mindset for studying. “It’s a time when I need to switch from the more immediate demands of my job to the more reflective requirements of learning and absorbing the materials for the course.”

Applying studies to the workplace

Chris says his new skills and knowledge are already informing his job. He now has a deeper understanding of new engineering processes including modelling and simulation techniques used to test car engines. “In the past, colleagues at work may have applied these more readily, and now I have the knowledge, understanding and confidence to apply them for more effective results”

Inspiring architecture, inspiring women architects

Sally Lewis was shortlisted for the 2015 Emerging Woman Architect of the Year – the latest in a long line of accolades for our School of Architecture’s graduates, students and academics.

For Sally, who now runs her own practice in London, her Urban Design master’s at Brookes was a key turning point in her career. “It made me realise that being an architect is about more than making buildings. We have a responsibility towards the whole environment, in all its complexity and with all its challenges.” 

A holistic philosophy

Sally, who came from South Africa as a mature student, was so inspired by her master’s studies at Brookes that she went on to publish a book about urban housing.

It was the same holistic philosophy which was to underpin her desire to move from senior manager in a large practice to setting up her own design studio in 2012, where she could bring her ideals together: “I wanted to design places in a more focused and uncluttered way, bringing architecture and urban design seamlessly together.”

Sally Lewis studied MSc Urban Design and graduated in 2000.