Matthew Duke

Matthew graduated from Aber in 1987 with a BSc in Geology and now works in Australia for the oil company Chevron.

What do you remember most about your time at Aber?

It was the fact that Aber was in a dry county (ie the pubs were shut on Sundays) through the 80's and there was no train service on a Sunday. That meant that people tended to stay together throughout the whole term which I believe brought us closer together. Being dry on a Sunday meant that the Up Top Bop and the Student Union and/or a Pier Party were the main events for the weekend.

What are you doing now career-wise and how has your Aberystwyth degree helped?

I still work in an earth-science related industry in oil and gas exploration and development. I think the key things from Aber that helped were team work from our field sessions, discipline on delivering work products for a thesis or report, and deep technical expertise in the subsurface sciences. I found that the geomorphology, statistics and cartography classes I took in Geography (years 1 and 2) and the programming in Computer Science in year 1 also very useful and complementary.

What advice would you have for a student doing your course now?

Align your skill sets to what the industries that typically draw from the earth sciences are seeking by exploring their websites. We are moving towards greater and greater integration of disciplines so understand the adjunct disciplines that relate to your specialist areas. Be flexible in career choice and location and take on some form of project management and economic competencies by the time you leave Uni.