Old Boy Update - Sam Harding

The last time I was in New Zealand I popped into the Staff Room at HBHS and was talking to some of the teachers about how I had applied for the New Zealand Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship to do my PhD. Over three years later, I thought it would be nice to get back in touch and let you know how that's all been going, as Boys' High was where it all started.

In 2009 I started my PhD at the University of Edinburgh, much to the delight of Mr Sutherland and Ms Redpath. As you may have guessed it is in mechanical engineering and I have been designing a novel way to fasten tidal turbines to the seabed without drilling or making them really heavy. It has been a pretty tricky project, and all the metal work and graphics I did at school (as well as at the University of Auckland) have really come in handy.  I regularly machine and assemble my designs in the workshop facilities here, and have had the privilege of working along side Emeritus Professor Stephen Salter - the inventor of the first wave power machine. I also work as a tutor and Lab demonstrator in some of the engineering courses here.

I have recently been published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, which is the most prestigious in its field, so that will be helpful in defending my thesis when it’s time for my viva. I have also presented some research in Rio de Janeiro this year at the 31st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering organised by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The associated paper was also published in the proceedings of the conference.

Mr Hotham will be proud to hear that earlier this year I was selected to the Scotland touch rugby squad, to play in the Mixed Open Division at the 8th European Touch Championships in Treviso, Italy. We lost the first match to England, 5-6, but won seven consecutive matches after that (vs Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, Jersey (x2), Ireland, Spain) and faced England again in the final. It was a very special occasion, being called onto the pitch by name, with bagpipers playing the national anthem, and huge support from the crowd. We ended up winning the grand final 9-6. The Mens Open team also beat England in the final, to secure Scotland the Mens Open, Mixed Open, and Overall Open Division titles. Training will commence again soon for the Home Nations tournament in Dublin next year.

I have also been rowing for the University in my first few years here. We won the Scottish University Champs in the 8s, and my final race for the club was a 50km single skull from Boston to Lincoln. It took 4 hours 26 minutes, in pretty bleak conditions. It took about 10 minutes at the end of the race to get my hands off my oars where they had become stuck with the dry blood and cramp. Was such a great race, coming fifth in my division, and was a really interesting experience pushing myself to the limit.

We are now heading into another winter which is perfect timing for me to finish writing my thesis. It is about 200 pages long at the moment, and I hope to get the rest finished by Christmas.

I hope this finds you well and HBHS still at the top of the pile. I am very interested to hear of any new developments to the school, or any significant achievements of the students from my year, as word of mouth doesn't really travel this far around the world.