{"id":1325,"date":"2021-11-22T09:13:05","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T09:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2021-11-26T16:44:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T16:44:31","slug":"james-scott-research-postgraduate-mechanical-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2021\/11\/22\/james-scott-research-postgraduate-mechanical-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"James Scott, Research Postgraduate, Mechanical Engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cI believe my dyslexic strengths have benefited my research approach.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Since being diagnosed with dyslexia from a young age, my perception of dyslexia has changed throughout my education and professional life. At school, I struggled with learning and found reading and speaking in public uncomfortable. I found school life most challenging during exam periods, where I would spend months trying to learn and then struggle to recall the information in a time pressured exam. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw dyslexia as a limitation, a reason why I could not perform to the same ability as my peers. For me and many other dyslexics, the difficulties I experienced in learning and struggles I had in demonstrating my knowledge would affect my self-esteem and made me doubt whether university would be an option.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2012, I was offered a place at the University of Sussex to study Mechanical Engineering. It was in coursework-based modules and my final year project that I felt able to fully demonstrate my ability. After graduating, I worked as a Design Engineer, developing new medical and scientific devices from concept to production. I was now working in a field that I enjoyed, and no longer felt that being dyslexic was a limitation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After a few years, I decided to return to university. I applied to Imperial to do a research master\u2019s and ended up staying to do a PhD. I started networking with other dyslexic staff and students and realised the importance of promoting a \u2018neurodiverse\u2019 research environment. Neurodiversity is a term used for people who think differently and includes many learning difficulties such as dyslexia. Neurodiversity looks beyond a person\u2019s difficulties, and instead promotes the unique strengths that come with thinking differently.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I started my PhD in the\u00a0<\/span>Biomechanics Group<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0<\/span>Mechanical Engineering Department<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 2021. My research involves looking at how 3D printing can be used to improve implants in the knee.\u00a0<\/span>I am driven by the possibility that my research could improve healthcare for many people suffering with joint problems<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I believe my dyslexic strengths have benefited my research approach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For staff and students looking to learn more about neurodiversity, I\u2019d encourage them to join \u2018<\/span>Neurodiversity in Albertopolis\u2019<\/span><\/a>, a community of staff and students in the South Kensington area that hosts inspirational discussions and events around neurodiversity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI believe my dyslexic strengths have benefited my research approach.\u201d\u00a0 Since being diagnosed with dyslexia from a young age, my perception of dyslexia has changed throughout my education and professional life. At school, I struggled with learning and found reading and speaking in public uncomfortable. I found school life most challenging during exam periods, where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1013,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1328,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions\/1328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}