Peter Varley's Curriculum Vitae

An on-line copy of this file is available at http://pacvarley.110mb.com/CV.html .


Full name: Peter Ashley Clifford VARLEY

Place of birth: Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK

Date of birth: 13th June 1957


What I have to offer:

  • The ability to hit the ground running, required of anyone who has worked as a contract software engineer. Give me the manual to read on a Monday morning and I shall be doing the job by Monday afternoon.

  • Analytical ability, required of any chess player who plays top board for his county.

  • A strong competitive streak, also required of any chess player who plays top board for his county.

  • A wide variety of skills. I have masters degrees in Chemistry and Energy and a PhD in Computer Science (and I have presented my work before international audiences in English and, less formally, in Japanese). I stood as Green Party candidate for South East Wales in the National Assembly elections in 2003, helped write several sections of the election manifesto, and spoke at political meetings.

  • Knowledge of, and experience of programming in, most current computer languages, and the ability to produce readable, working programs very quickly.


    What I am looking for:

    I am looking for an opportunity to exercise creativity, whether in research (creating new ideas) or industry (creating a new product).

    Ideally, I would use my existing software skills as part of this process, but the product would be something additional to any software I wrote.

    I have a mild preference for small rather than large companies, as in small companies one spends a larger proportion of one's time in creative work.


    Current Employment

    Title: Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow

    Funding body: Ministry of Education and Science

    Dates of appointment: December 2006 to November 2011, fixed 60-month term.

    Notice period: Available from December 2011 onwards.

    Main duties and responsibilities are to carry out research, as described next. Subsidiary duties include writing papers for conferences and journals, presenting papers at conferences, and preparing grant applications for new research projects.

    Research activity: Development of algorithms for machine interpretation of line drawings. The intended aim is an automated system which would take a design engineer's concept sketch and create a CAD solid model automatically from it. This work is intended to benefit design engineers, saving them time (entering data into CAD packages is slow) and tedium (entering data into CAD packages is also boring), and, by providing instant visual feedback, possibly also enhancing their creativity. See my Research Web Site for more details.


    Most Recent Previous Employment

    Title: JSPS Research Fellow

    Funding body: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

    Name and address of Japanese host: Suzuki Lab, RCAST, The University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8904, JAPAN.

    Dates of appointment: June 2003 to June 2005, fixed 24-month term.

    Maintenance stipend: 1176000 yen/quarter.

    Main duties and responsibilities were to carry out research, as already described. Subsidiary duties included writing papers for conferences and journals and presenting papers at conferences.

    Research activity: as above.


    Previous Employment

    Dates: December 2001 to March 2003
    Employer: Design Perception Ltd
    Address: 17 Dunstable Road, Ringland, Newport, Gwent, NP19 9NE
    Job Title: Managing Director
    Activity: Developing visualisation software for architects in collaboration with P R D Creative Software.

    Dates: December 1998 to November 2001
    Activity: Research student at Cardiff University (see below)

    Dates: April 1997 to November 1998
    Employer: Armstrong Healthcare Ltd
    Address: Riverlock House, Spring Gardens Road, High Wycombe, Bucks
    Job Title: Senior Software Engineer
    Salary: £30000 pa
    Armstrong Healthcare manufacture surgical robots. I produced both the onboard software for the production version of EndoAssist and the documentation required in support of the application for 510k clearance by the FDA.

    Dates: September 1996 to April 1997
    Employer: Marconi Underwater Systems
    Address: Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey
    Job Title: Senior Software Engineer
    Salary: £30000 pa

    Dates: June 1996 to August 1996
    Employer: Armstrong Healthcare Ltd
    Address: as above
    Job Title: Senior Software Engineer
    Salary: £22500 pa

    Dates: October 1995 to April 1996
    Activity: unemployed
    So getting an extra qualification increases one's chances of employment, does it? Don't you believe it :-(

    Dates: October 1994 to September 1995
    Activity: MSc student at Cardiff University (see below)

    Dates: April 1989 to September 1994
    Employer: Design Perception Ltd
    Address: as above
    Job Title: Managing Director
    As a freelance software engineer, my clients included:

  • Smiths Industries Aerospace and Defence, Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucs.
  • Marconi Underwater Systems, Templecombe, Somerset.
  • Marconi Underwater Systems, Newport, Gwent.
  • VG Electronics, Hastings, Sussex.
  • Marconi Space and Defence, Borehamwood, Herts.
  • Lucas Aerospace, Witney, Oxon.

    Dates: June 1986 to April 1989
    Employer: Plessey Naval Systems
    Address: Corporation Road, Newport, Gwent
    Job Title: Senior Software Engineer
    Salary: £15000 pa

    Dates: January 1983 to June 1986
    Employer: Plessey Major Systems
    Address: Sopers Lane, Poole, Dorset
    Job Title: Software Engineer
    Plessey Major Systems were a telephony company. I worked on System X.

    Dates: September 1982 to December 1982
    Activity: unemployed

    Dates: August 1979 to August 1982
    Employer: Ferranti Computer Systems
    Address: Cwmbran, Gwent
    Job Title: Systems Programmer

    Please note that Armstrong Healthcare Ltd have moved since I worked for them (check their web site for their current address) and most of the other companies I have worked for no longer exist.


    Educational Qualifications

    Dates: December 1998 to November 2001
    At: School of Computer Science, Cardiff University
    Qualification: PhD in Computer Science
    Awarded: May 2003
    A printable postscript version of my PhD thesis on Automatic Creation of Boundary-Representation Models from Single Line Drawings is on-line.
    View Certificate

    Dates: October 1994 to September 1995
    At: Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University
    Qualification: MSc in Energy
    Grade: Distinction
    Awarded: January 1996
    The course was in two parts. Part one was a lecture course, assessed by examination and coursework. Part two was a dissertation. In both parts of the course, I came top of the class.
    Most of my MSc dissertation on Computer Modelling of Seasonal Storage of Solar Thermal Energy for District Heating Systems in the UK is now on-line.
    View Certificate

    Dates: October 1975 to Spring 1979
    At: St Peter's College, Oxford University
    Qualification: BA Hons and MA in Chemistry
    Awarded: 1985
    View Certificate

    Secondary education:
    1975: S Level Chemistry, Grade 1
    1975: A Level Chemistry, Grade A
    1975: A Level Physics, Grade A
    1975: A Level Mathematics, Grade A
    View Certificate
    1975: Use of English, Pass
    1973-74: 11 O Levels grades: Chemistry 1, Geometric and Engineering Drawing 1, Mathematics 1, Statistics 1, French 2, German 2, Physics 3, History 4, English Language 7, 4 on resit, Woodwork 5, English Literature 6.


    Academic Publications

    The list of my Academic Papers and Publications is on-line and kept up-to-date.


    Research Grants Held

    JSPS Research Fellowship, as above.


    Reviewing Work

    I have reviewed a number of academic papers submitted to journals to which I have also contributed.


    Teaching Activity

    During the course of my PhD studies:

    I was for three years course tutor for the 2nd Year Undergraduate course on Geometry and Linear Albegra, holding weekly tutorials and marking coursework.

    I was for two years course tutor for the 3rd Year Undergraduate course on Graphics, holding weekly tutorials.

    I was for one years course tutor for the 1st Year Undergraduate course on Mathematics for Computer Science, holding weekly tutorials, setting problems and marking coursework.

    I was for one years course tutor for the 1st Year Undergraduate course on Discrete Mathematics, holding weekly tutorials and supervising examinations.


    Administrative Experience

    People management: at various times in my career in industry, particularly during my three years Plessey Naval Systems, I was in charge of small teams.

    Project/resource management: at various times in my career in industry, especially when developing software in collaboration with P R D, I was responsible for allocating resources (particularly time).

    Administrative management: I have run my own company, Design Perception Ltd, since 1989 (it is still in existence) and filed all of the required paperwork.


    Membership of Professional Bodies

    Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and Chartered Engineer since 2003 (joined as an Associate Member in 1997).

    Graduate Member of the Energy Institute (previously the Institute of Energy) since 1996 (joined as a Student Member in 1995).


    Language Skills

    Language skills include some conversational Japanese.


    Referees

    All of the following three referees may be contacted prior to interview without consulting me first.

    .

    Professor Ralph Martin
    Job Title: Professor of Geometric Computing
    Relationship to me: PhD Supervisor
    Full Address: Room N/2.16, Queen's Buildings North, School of Computer Science, Cardiff University, 5 The Parade, Roath, Cardiff, Wales, CF24 3AA, UK
    Telephone Number: +44 (0)29 2087 5536
    Fax Number: +44 (0)29 2087 4598
    Email Address: ralph@cs.cf.ac.uk

    .

    Professor Hiromasa Suzuki
    Job Title: Professor of Precision Machinery Engineering
    Relationship to me: Japanese Host
    Full Address: Suzuki Lab, RCAST, The University of Tokyo Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8904, JAPAN
    Telephone Number: +81(0)-3-5452-5183
    Fax Number: +81(0)-3-5452-5186
    Email Address: suzuki@den.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp

    .

    Dr Adrian Bowyer
    Job Title: Senior Lecturer
    Relationship to me: PhD External Examiner
    Full Address: Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Design, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY
    Telephone Number: +44 (0) 1225 385453
    Fax Number: +44 (0) 1225 826928
    Email Address: A.Bowyer@bath.ac.uk

    .

    Dr Patrick Finlay
    Job Title: Managing Director of Armstrong Healthcare Ltd
    Relationship to me: Previous Employer
    Full Address: Armstrong Healthcare Limited, Knaves Beech Business Centre, Loudwater, High Wycombe, HP10 9QR, UK
    Telephone Number: + 44 (0) 1628 536900
    Fax Number: + 44 (0) 1628 536901
    Email Address: pfinlay@armstrong.co.uk


    Other Information

    For further information about me, please follow these links:

    List of Papers and Publications

    Research Web Site

    Personal Web Site