30 Years at University of Dundee

Ian Christie, Postgraduate Skills Tutor at UDOTS, celebrated his 30th anniversary working for the University by returning to his office after 20 months working from home due to the Covid pandemic.

“After receiving my Covid booster vaccination I’m now returning to office working at UDOTS at the TORT Centre. I’ve enjoyed many aspects of home-working and learning new technologies to do so but it’s fantastic seeing students and staff F2F again. I really can’t believe 30 years have passed since I first joined the University. I intended to give it 12 months initially and here I am more than an entire generation later. Things have certainly changed; back in 1991 Zoom was an ice-lolly, Tiktok was the sound your watch made, a Sandbox was actually a box that contained sand and Windows were something your mother cleaned every fortnight.”

Ian initially worked as a greeting card artist but after deciding to retrain he has now been employed by the University of Dundee since November 1991 where he began as a Desktop Publisher designing and maintaining learning materials for the School of Biomedical Engineering. Ian supports students on how to present and disseminate their research using various mediums. He also provides electronic illustrations for research, educational and publication purposes. Over the years, Ian has designed the official Glastonbury Festival t-shirt (twice), redesigned the cover of The Foot journal and illustrated three children’s books. Over the last five years, Ian and his older brother Grant, have written and published two murder mystery novels set in Edwardian London. The Detective Inspector Wiggins adventure series has received fantastic reviews and a third instalment is due to be completed by Spring 2022.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with many inspirational people over the last three decades and I’m lucky to count many of them as my friends. There are too many to name check, but Professor David Rowley and Professor Eric Abel always believed in me when taking my first tentative steps into HE. Professor Rami Abboud did likewise and taught me valuable life skills and more recently Mr Arpit Jariwala has encouraged me even further. I’d particularly like to thank Dr Graham Arnold of UDOTS for his constant support during the pandemic; a truly caring person who never failed to cheer me up, especially during the long months when I was shielding.”

Left: Ian in 1991, aged 24; Centre: Lockdown beard; Right: back in UDOTS!

Mr Arpit Jariwala commented:

“Ian and I have come a long way in UDOTS, UOD. We first met when I arrived in Dundee to do the MCh (Orth) Course in September 2002. He made me so welcome and he was an integral part of my thesis which was hugely appreciated and got published (Patients and the Internet: a demographic study of a cohort of orthopaedic out-patients). Ian has been a backbone of UDOTS and contributes at many levels including supporting students to write and present their thesis in the appropriate way, helping with publishing, teaching them to present their research well and last but not least has an important role in making UDOTS visible via various news items and social media. It’s a pleasure to be writing a news item for him on completing his 30 years in UOD. Big congratulations. I wish Ian all the very best and many more years in UDOTS, UOD.”