Kitting Out a Campus: Meet Phil, Equipment and Services Manager

It's time for the next in our series focusing on different members of the team, and this time in the hot seat is Phil Ellis. 

Q: Tell us a little about your career so far?

After school, I joined the Army and served for 8 years working in logistics and planning as a Movement Controller, serving in a variety of places including Afghanistan and Iraq, including assisting with the evacuation of Beirut in 2006.

After I left the Army I became a heating engineer, fitting, servicing and repairing boilers and working a lot on renewables when they were still a relatively new product. I moved on to managing a repairs team for social housing in Powys and managed a team of tradesmen to carry out works to tenanted properties and as contract manager for the area.

I really found my aptitude, which would eventually shape AberInnovation’s facilities, when Powys Council asked me to start procuring more contracts. Eventually I became a procurement specialist where I carried out a number of procurements including new schools, adult social services contracts and a contract for £40m worth of housing reimbursement elements such as roofing or insulation.

Q: Successful procurement and facilities management have been key to getting the Innovation and Enterprise Campus up and running. What was the most challenging part of this process for you?

The most challenging aspect has also been the most enjoyable: bringing together experts from varying backgrounds, specialisms and organisations to devise a clear strategy on linking all the elements of the Campus together. For instance, the Biorefining Centre and its specialist equipment is totally different to the Future Food Centre which yet again, requires completely different specialist kit to the Advanced Analysis Centre. All elements have required very different approaches to successful procurement, and all whilst keeping them working in sync with each other - a main objective for my team. 

Q: What has been the most rewarding part of this journey for you?

Bringing experts together, which fostered discussions - important discussions. We have a great team of technicians from very diverse backgrounds, so when you put a chemical analyst, food experts and biorefining experts in the same room, their combined knowledge and different perspectives are immensely valuable and allows for innovation to occur. These methods are only amplified when we bring in some of our Aberystwyth University project partners such as BEACON, Future Foods Project, and so on and of course our tenants and members, all of whom bring new ideas and fresh perspectives into the conversation! 

Q: What part does you role play in attracting R&D projects to AberInnovation?

AberInnovation is a unique facility in the UK and as operations manager, one of the main focuses of my role is enabling the technicians in the team to operate the facility to the highest standards and therefore ensuring our facilities are attractive and always one step ahead in terms of availability of cutting-edge equipment and so on. The variety of research and events occurring on Campus already - as well as the diversity of organisations that we collaborate with - guarantees that AberInnovation remains a thriving environment to be in and a highly attractive option for innovative companies in our sectors.

Q: What do you see is in store for AberInnovation’s future? What excites you the most about the organisation moving forward and what do you hope to achieve now the facility is equipped?

AberInnovation continues to grow and develop its capability as time goes on and we’re always prepared to adapt with the times. Society is facing so many challenges at the moment - a lot of our tenants and project pipeline are taking those challenges head on. I’m excited to be a small part of that and to be able to offer up such a great facility and an outstanding team of technicians to support such vital research.