Richard Dale is an IT Support Analyst at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). As well as providing invaluable day-to-day support for audio-visual kit, computers and other systems at SAMS, Richard\u2019s role also acts a bridge between the association\u2019s marine researchers and the latest technology.<\/p>\n
Richard says:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always said that IT is not about dealing with computers, it\u2019s about dealing with people. So, my job is about engaging with our researchers and helping them get the best from technology. It can range from a bit of help with some office software, all the way up to custom built systems and solutions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Technology can improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of research, says Richard, so it\u2019s important to understand how it can be incorporated into projects.<\/p>\n
Innovations in technology are constant, so it\u2019s hard for researchers to keep on top of the emergent technologies that may help their research. It\u2019s my job to come up with solutions they might not even know about and make it a reality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
After leaving school at 18, Richard started work in media then customer services. He made the move to IT by volunteering for a small tech firm to gain experience, before making the leap full time when he was offered the post at SAMS.<\/p>\n
Working in IT in the research community is different to what you\u2019d expect in an office environment. The projects we work on are more diverse.<\/p>\n
Recently, I\u2019ve built the system to capture images of an endangered skate egg hatching \u2013 I believe it\u2019s the first time that\u2019s ever been done.<\/p>\n
And the strangest request we\u2019ve had is to create an interactive digital display in a wheelie bin to take to field events helping to educate on plastic waste!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Richard\u2019s childhood hobby of flying remote-controlled planes has also been utilised in his current role as he leads a team piloting drones for SAMS.<\/p>\n
Remotely piloted aerial vehicles are an important research tool but they come with a lot of paperwork, too, so I make sure that\u2019s all in place, as well as train the pilots.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve started to build a reputation in this area and other organisations come to us for advice. It also means I\u2019m able to get out in the field, which I love, and isn\u2019t the case for a lot of people in IT.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Richard Dale is an IT Support Analyst at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). As well as providing invaluable day-to-day support for audio-visual kit, computers and other systems at SAMS, Richard\u2019s role also acts a bridge between the association\u2019s marine researchers and the latest technology. Richard says: I\u2019ve always said that IT is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":30447,"parent":23849,"menu_order":24,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"wf_page_folders":[],"class_list":["post-29129","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ukri"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29129"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30238,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29129\/revisions\/30238"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29129"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=29129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}