Pat Symonds, who recently left his role as chief Technical Officer at the Williams Martini Racing squad, has been appointed as a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University.
It is a return to Cranford for the veteran Formula 1 engineer, who has also had spells at Benetton, Renault and Marussia teams, with Symonds having been awarded a Masters in automotive engineering, and he will be involved with modules on the school’s MBA and with the MSc in Motorsport.
Symonds has supported courses for the MSc in Motorsport at Cranfield since 2000, and is a popular figure with students and the media on campus, and he feels it is a great honour to be appointed as a Visiting Professor.
“It is a great honour to be appointed as a Visiting Professor at my alma mater and I hope that this will allow me to augment the guidance that I have given to the Motorsport course for many years with an increase in lecturing and supervision,” said Symonds.
“I am particularly excited at the prospect of working with the MBA students which I hope will allow me to pass on my expertise at managing high potential and high performance teams in a coherent and focused manner.”
Sir Peter Gregson, the Chief Executive and Vice Chancellor at Cranfield, believes Professor Symonds will offer an extra dimension to their students as they continue their studies at the University.
“Pat’s deep understanding of technology and leadership means he will bring proven insight and expertise to our programmes,” said Sir Gregson. “Our students regularly engage with businesses through group project work and working with Pat will provide an added dimension.”
