Former soldier Adam Jones is doing a KESS-funded PhD in Electrical Engineering at USW. Adam started on the foundation degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, progressed to the BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering and MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering. 

He is a member of the Engineering Research Group and studies at the Treforest campus.

His PhD 'Inline measurement of Electrolytic Chromium Coated Steel', conducted with TATA Steel, looks at researching and developing a novel, non-destructive online measurement system for coating thickness measurement on steel packaging goods products.

“I wanted to do a PhD because I want to make a difference to society by adding original contribution to knowledge in the electronics and photonics fields. Also, in my opinion, a PhD is one of the highest personal achievements in modern society.

“I chose to do my PhD here because I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the USW during my previous study and this university also has a very good relationship with TATA Steel, my industrial partner. 

“Being a PhD student is a lot different to taught degrees due to the self management of time and direction of study. Although your academic and industrial supervisors provide excellent direction, the amount of work that is completed or not is down to you, so you need to be self-disciplined.

“The highlight of my PhD so far has been researching different measurement techniques that can be applied to coating thicknesses of different materials and analysing the need for more precise measurement (down to the nanometre) range.

“My career ambition is to become an academic lecturer and conduct research and development into the fields of science and engineering.

“Having a PhD will help me achieve this by providing me with the experience of teaching at university level and gaining the most up to date knowledge in the fields of science and engineering.”