"Take the opportunities that come your way and do not feel scared” Robert Alford, Senior Strategic and Economic Advisor, NIRO.

Robert is the Senior Strategic and Economic Advisor for the Nuclear Innovation Research office (NIRO) within the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Robert was born in Vancouver, Canada and now lives in Cumbria and is a qualified Sub-Aqua Ocean Diver and enjoys walking and cycling in his free time as well as volunteering.

Robert enjoyed school and was always inquisitive, wanting to learn more, with a why and more mindset.

He was inspired from the age of 14 by URENCO giving a talk at school on atoms, which made him decide to take the chemistry route in to nuclear.

He studied at chemistry, maths and physics at A-Level before studying for a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry with Analytical Chemistry at Loughborough University.

Robert’s first experience of industry was during a placement year where he worked at Croft Engineering Services.

After university he started with NNL on the graduate programme in Chemical and Process Modelling Team before becoming a deputy technical lead Post Irradiation Examination. From here, Robert was seconded to NDA in 2019 to be a Technical Assistant to the NDA group Strategy and Technology Director, Adrian Simper. Robert currently works for NIRO.

Robert has won the NNL IMPACT award for social responsibility and the YGN Young Excellence Prize.

For more information visit: Robert Alford | LinkedIn