Profile
Francis Batchelor
My CV
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Education:
I went to school at Bell Baxter in Cupar in Fife. I stayed until 18 and did Advanced Highers in Mathematics (Mechanics), Chemistry, Physics and Computing. I then did a Masters of Engineering at University of Strathclyde for 5 years in Aero-Mechanical Engineering.
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Qualifications:
Standard Grades: English, Maths, French, History, Physics, Chemistry, Music, Art, Graphic Communication.
Highers: English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Computing
Advanced Highers: Mechanics, Physics, Chemistry, Computing
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Work History:
When I was at school I helped my parents on their Farmers Market stall, where they sold jams and chutneys.
After university I worked at Jaguar Land Rover, where I helped install factory machinery and building for the press shop, where they stamped out the body panels from sheets of metal.
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Employer:
DuPont Teijin Films
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About Me:
I am from Scotland and have now lived near Middlesbrough for 6 years. I captain my local chess team, am a Red Belt in Taekwondo, a very bad but enthusiastic cricketer, and enjoy video games and watching a lot of films.
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Read more
I lived in Fife in Scotland until I was 18, then moved to Glasgow to got to University of Strathclyde, where I studied Aero-Mechanical Engineering. I moved to Birmingham to work for Jaguar Land Rover for 3 years, where I was involved in the pressing of metal panels into body shapes. I then moved to Teesside where I have worked on plastic films for the past 6 years.
My chess rating is 2000, which would put me about 300th in the UK. I play a lot of games throughout the year and weekend tournaments. I have recently started getting into hillwalking around the Yorkshire Moors, Dales and Lake District.
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My Work:
My work produces thin plastic films, like you might find on food packaging and phone & TV screens. My focus is on the area where after the film is made, and then it needs to be wound up into a big roll to be transported, like a giant toilet roll.
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Read more
As the plastic is melted and stretched out into a thin sheet, it becomes very large. We can make film that is micro-meters thick, and so quickly that 5m of it will pass by in front of you every second, and our machines can be 8m wide. To roll that up quickly you need to know the material very well, for example: how stretchy it is, how slippy it is. Using this information you can perfect the force needed to roll it up into a smooth roll without any wrinkles.
After being rolled up from production, we take the film to smaller machines to cut it down into sizes that can be put onto trucks and shipping containers for transporting around the world.
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My Typical Day:
My work will often be responding to questions from factories from all over the world. They will be having a problem with a certain type of film, and send me pictures of the problem and what forces they were using to make the roll. I will need to think about this, try to use theory to help then, maybe set up an experiment at the labs here to help me understand and test things, then give them advice.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I do mentoring and science presentations in a local school, so would expand on this to do more complicated and involved presentations with them.
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
Aeroplane or Car Designer
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No very often
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
I might set up a workshop, and make interesting items.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Sigur Ros
What's your favourite food?
Pizza
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I wish to have a good amount of money so that I don't have to worry about it ever again. For my friends and family to be healthy. For the people of the world to be kinder to each other.
Tell us a joke.
A boat carrying red paint and a boat carrying blue paint crashed into each other, the crews were marooned!
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