Rob Smith

Rob Smith has a diverse range of work experience in scientific and engineering roles. Rob began their career as a Graduate Scientist with the UK Ministry of Defence in 1998. Rob then worked as a Technical Support Engineer at Oxford Instruments, providing technical support to salesmen and engineers in Japan. In 2006, they became a Nuclear Engineer at British Energy, where they focused on nuclear safety and plant performance. From 2008 to 2018, they worked at the UK Atomic Energy Authority/Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, first as an Operations Engineer and later as Group Leader of the Tritium Engineering and Science Group. In these roles, they were responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Active Gas Handling System at the Joint European Torus (JET) and led various R&D activities. Since 2018, they have been working at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), initially as Group Leader of the Earth Observation, Climate and Optical Group, and currently as Head of Engineering. In their current role, they manage the Engineering function at NPL, including specialist technical delivery and quality and safety engineering. Rob also previously held the position of Department Head, Environment, where they were responsible for managing the department and its research activities.

Rob Smith earned their Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Physics from the University of Exeter in 1998. Rob later pursued a PhD in Physics at the University of Surrey, completing their doctoral studies in 2019.