Ian is passionate about helping organisations to understand and exploit the opportunities presented by the energy transition towards a low-carbon future.
Originally trained as a molecular biologist, he has experience of working in startups, multinationals and academia, and from 2016-2020 he was the Director of Robert Gordon University’s AMBA, AACSB and Energy Institute-accredited MBA programme, where he taught strategy and consultancy to managers and executives. Most of his teaching experience is at postgrad and executive level, and he has recently taught a range of MBA and MSc courses at the University of Aberdeen, including Leadership, Negotiation and Project Management at its Doha campus. He has also delivered courses for the University of Bradford Circular Economy MBA, and he continues to supervise project students at RGU as well as delivering on its Help to Grow program for SMEs.
He was part of the team that developed the early stages of the Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm, working alongside Pilot Offshore Renewables Ltd. and Atkins to gain the site lease from the Crown Estate and deliver the environmental scoping report. He also helped to establish the Offshore Renewables Institute, a collaboration between University of Aberdeen, University of Dundee and Robert Gordon University to facilitate research into non-technical barriers to offshore renewable industry development. This led to his participation in the EU Horizon 2020-funded RiCORE (Risk-based Consenting of Offshore Renewable Energy) project, an international project to provide recommendations on consenting processes for offshore renewable projects.
He has supervised a PhD student researching energy transitions and offshore renewable industry development, and has published articles in peer-reviewed journals (e.g. Nature Energy, Marine Policy, Energy Policy, Utilities Policy, Energies) on project consenting issues and offshore wind project subsidies, costs and performance.
He is a Member of the Energy Institute (MEI), an APM/IPMA Level D Certified Project Management Associate, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and has a BSc (Hons) from University of Bristol, a PhD from University of Aberdeen, and an MBA with Distinction from RGU.
