The RAEng, formed in 1976, is the UK’s national academy for engineering. Through its Fellowship it brings together an unrivalled community of almost 1700 leading business people, entrepreneurs, innovators and academics from every part of engineering and technology.

David joins 72 leading engineers from the UK and around the world who have been newly elected as  Fellows of RAEng in recognition of their outstanding and continuing contributions to the profession.

David said: “It is a great honour for me to have been elected to the Fellowship of the Academy in recognition of my activities during a 40 year career working as an engineer in the wind energy industry.”

“My fascination with wind turbines first began at Pocklington when John Jeffery, joint head of the recently opened school Design Centre, guided me and three others (Nigel Ramsden 68-79, Nick Pollard 69-76, Andrew Blacker 68-76) to design an ‘Oscillating Aerofoil’ wind pump which went on to win the BBC ‘Young Scientists of the Year’ competition. It was John Jeffery and Graham Sutton, my teacher of mathematicss and further mathematics, who inspired me to apply to study engineering at university. I will forever be grateful to both of them for their advice which led me to a stimulating career in wind turbine engineering, designing wind turbines of all shapes and sizes for customers all over the world.” 

Following his graduation from Cambridge, David established and led an international, multi-disciplinary team of consulting engineers to provide wind turbine research, design services and software tools, working in markets around the world including Europe, North America and the Far East. Since 2015, he has been a Visiting Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Bristol University and contributes to renewable energy teaching and research activities there.

David commented: “In recent decades, wind turbine engineering has seen astonishing progress and innovation which has enabled huge growth in the size of wind turbines, as well as a dramatic reduction in costs.  Wind energy is one of the most important sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. It is vital to the decarbonisation of electricity production and mitigation of climate change. With experience in this field, I look forward to playing an active role within the Academy to contribute to its mission to use the power of engineering to build a sustainable society.” 

“In accepting the honour of this Fellowship I thank all those who have guided, advised and worked with me during my career as well as, most importantly, those at Pocklington School who originally inspired me and revealed a path for me to follow towards engineering and wind energy.”