After completing an undergraduate degree in mathematics, Rick spent several cherished years teaching in state 11-18 secondary schools, including 4 years as head of a maths department, 2 as lead practitioner and a year teaching in Kuala Lumpur.  His focus was always on “why,” steering students to build the concepts they were learning from first principles, and guiding them through the thematic development and social history of mathematics.  An itch to return to the research mathematics he had only scratched the surface of in his undergraduate thesis, looking at why instruments sound the way they do, caused him to eventually wave a sad, but fond, farewell to his career and return to study at The University of Oxford (Lady Margaret Hall) for a master’s degree in mathematics.  For his dissertation he proposed and analysed a model for saturating media in chemical approaches to designing Turing patterns.  Although focussed on applied mathematics, Rick has a strong side interest in analytic number theory.  Now at Bath, his PhD is in collaboration with Wessex Water and he will be working to produce next generation models for the transport of hazardous substances in river, ground water and sewage networks. 

Rick also loves sport, music and travel.