After leaving school, and a number of factory & building site jobs, he spent 12 years working as a care assistant in psychiatric admissions wards in Leeds. He left care work to study full time and finally ended up with a Master of Engineering degree in Mechatronics, after which he was offered a place to study a PhD in tissue engineered heart valves which he completed in 2012.

Nic’s post doctoral research has mainly covered three areas:

• spine development & pathology
• the mechanics of composite materials
• the development of mechatronic systems in manufacturing & theatre

His current position is as a development engineer looking into novel labour saving manufacturing processes for the textile industry.