Whilst going through the archives this week we came across Neil’s first published work, a conference paper published at COBRA 2004, the RICS international research conference. The paper was based on his dissertation entitled “Public to Private Sector Staff Transfers in the NHS under the private finance initiative”, which helped him to secure a first class honours degree in quantity surveying from Leeds Metropolitan University.
The paper was co-written with his dissertation tutor Professor Robert Ellis, (then Chair of the Yorkshire and Humber branch of the RICS and National Teaching Fellow) and was presented at the conference by Neil to an audience of academics and practitioners. Neil was awarded the RICS national prize for academic achievement for his work.
Neil said, “I will always be grateful to Robert for the belief he had in me and my work, he was a great teacher and was highly regarded by his peers. I learnt from him that as a tutor being knowledgeable in your subject is nothing if you can’t effectively communication it to your audience. One of the things I’m most proud of in my career is the feedback he gave on my dissertation which I’ve kept to this day. Commenting on my literature review he wrote ‘excellent, one of the best that I have read’ which was high praise indeed coming from Robert.”
Neil credits the success he’s had in establishing himself as one of the leading tutors in NEC contracts to the time he spent studying under Robert. Sadly, Robert died unexpectedly many years ago however his legacy still lives on in his work as an academic and in his students many of which have gone on to achieve great things in their careers.
In memory of Professor Robert Ellis.
