Neil Crossouard

What is your specialism and what attracted you to it?

My specialism is in marine surveys. I cover a range of survey disciplines in my role (most often hydrographic, oceanographic and geophysical surveys), mainly for surveys in coastal settings. When I was at university in Southampton I found the seafloor surveying modules absolutely fascinating. It was these modules which introduced me to nearshore seabed mapping from survey boats, which I ended up doing in my first job before joining HR Wallingford.

What do you do at HR Wallingford?

I’m in a team of survey specialists who have all previously worked for survey contractors. The team provides expert advice/services relating to marine surveys. This includes a range of things such as writing scopes of work, reviewing tenders, reviewing project execution plans, providing support during surveys and reviewing reports/data after surveys.

What do you enjoy most about working here? 

The variety in the work I do is definitely a big positive – given HR Wallingford’s global reach of projects, one day I could be working on a project in the UK and the next a project in the Middle East, South East Asia, Central America, or the Caribbean. The people here also make it a great place to work.

What have been your career highlights at HR Wallingford?

Supporting projects, such as The Karnaphuli River project and others more recently in Bangladesh and in the Caribbean. These projects were challenging (with a portion of the work on-site) but ultimately very rewarding. In the case of the projects in Bangladesh, I found it satisfying to know that my work was contributing to enabling the local port authority to maximise use of the natural properties of the local river/coastline. 

How does your role contribute to the bigger picture? 

The success of many HR Wallingford projects is underpinned by field data collected during marine surveys. Some key functions of the team of survey specialists that I am part of involve assisting others in HR Wallingford and our clients to get surveys done and then checking whether surveys have been performed adequately, before they are used in studies.

What is it like working here?

I’ve been at HR Wallingford since 2012 and highlights of working here I would say are firstly the other people – everyone’s very friendly to work with. And secondly, the site – I’ve worked in industrial estates before joining HR Wallingford and so I consider myself very lucky that the UK office is based in a place like Howbery Park.

What do you like to do outside of work?

When I’m not spending time with my young family I like to do dinghy sailing, normally racing against others in sailing dinghies around buoys on a lake whilst trying not to fall into the water too much. I generally like being outdoors and also enjoy doing a range of sports/other outdoor activities like football, running, cycling and walking.