Welcome back everyone! This is our first Blog entry of 2012. Today we have Charley’s story about his experience becoming a market researcher for us at the end of last year.
I am an engineering student that has stepped into a position as a market researcher in WaikatoLinkâs HotHouse.
The Hothouse likes to employ a range of students from different faculties at the University of Waikato in order to both promote diversity and utilise combined academic knowledge.
I started this position with three years of tertiary scientific and mathematical knowledge but little idea of how to conduct market research. However, I have learned quickly from WaikatoLink Staff and other students in the HotHouse.
The main advantage of being in this role as an engineering student is that I have been able to quickly grasp the underlying technologies presented to me in each new project.
Over the past three months I have investigated and conducted market research into a number of exciting emerging technologies including:
- A process called pyrolysis to convert organic waste into a charcoal-type product called BioChar for use in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
- Chemical free water disinfection using new Porous Electrode Flow-Through (PEFT) Cell technology.
- Isolation, capture and removal of valuable or undesirable compounds in liquids using Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIPS) technology.
While I have been researching these technologies I have been learning about principles relating directly back to my studies at university such as the carbon cycle, thermodynamic and chemical principles, mechanical and electronics based theory and environmental considerations.
Looking at it from a broad perspective, while I have been supporting commercial activity around the technology emerging from the University in the form of the market research I have conducted, I have also been gaining knowledge that will both help and influence me in my final year of study.
The HotHouse at WaikatoLink is a unique environment with a mutually beneficial, value adding partnership between students, the University and WaikatoLink. In my first three months at WaikatoLink I have been both proud to be a part of this partnership and privileged to be able to gain such an array of course related relevance in such a short period of time.
Charley Miles, Market Researcher