How Middlesex opened doors to new career opportunities

From the oil and gas industry to a new direction

My journey started after 13 years as an OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) professional in the oil and gas industry. I had always been at the frontline of operations. My work was very practical, task-focused and operational. I was confident in what I did, but after many years, I started to feel that I had reached a point where my OSH career was becoming a little stagnant. I wanted to expand my knowledge and look beyond what I already knew. More importantly, I wanted to explore some of the less familiar areas of OSH and understand how I could develop myself as a leader and manager.

After months of research, I came across the MSc programme in Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Management (Strategic Leadership in Occupational Safety and Health MSc) at Middlesex University. The programme immediately stood out to me. Its structure, direction and overall approach were exactly what I was looking for. I was particularly interested in developing my leadership and management skills within OSH. The programme seemed carefully designed to help professionals like me take that next step.

Looking back, it was a real turning point.

Learning beyond technical OSH

From the very first sessions, the programme started to broaden our thinking.

Of course, we strengthened our knowledge across different technical and core areas of OSH, but it was not only about technical knowledge. We also started to understand what it meant to take on leadership responsibilities and how we could contribute at a more strategic level, how we are and can be a critical business partner.

This was important for me because I had spent many years working close to operations. The MSc helped me step back and look at OSH from a wider perspective. It gave me the opportunity to connect my practical experience with academic knowledge, leadership thinking and professional development.

But there was another part of the journey that had an even greater impact on my career.

A wider professional perspective

I honestly cannot say enough about how supportive our Module Leader, CFIOSH Dr David Thomas, was throughout the programme. His support went well beyond the academic side of the MSc. He helped us see what could come next and encouraged us to think about our professional development in a much broader way.

David was the person who first opened the door for many of us to become affiliate members of a globally recognised professional body, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). He introduced us to the opportunities that professional membership could offer and encouraged us to make use of the resources available to us.

For me, that was the beginning of another important part of my professional journey. I am now a Chartered Member of IOSH and, interestingly, I am also now an employee of the same organisation. When I look back at where that journey started, I can clearly see the connection with my time at Middlesex University.

Looking back, I could not have imagined where this journey would eventually take me. The encouragement I received during my MSc gave me the motivation to keep pushing myself and to look at my career from a much wider perspective.

I genuinely believe that I may never have had that inspiration if I had not embarked on my academic journey at Middlesex University.

Putting learning into practice

The University, and at the heart of it our Module Leader, Dr David Thomas, provided a great deal of support in connecting me with Navigator Oil Terminal, one of the major and largest oil storage depots in the UK, to use it as my MSc project case study.

This was perhaps one of the most valuable parts of my MSc programme. It gave me the opportunity to put into practice what I had learned theoretically during the programme. Through collecting data on site and engaging with experienced site operators, I was able to see how the knowledge I had gained could be applied in a real working environment.

From compliance to change leadership

What I feel most confident about now is how much the MSc has helped me shift from being a compliance-driven OSH professional to becoming an OSH leader who can help lift the overall OSH culture, drive organisational change at a strategic level, and manage that change towards greater organisational sustainability and success.

This feels especially important in today’s world, where workplaces and the way we work are evolving faster than ever.

My final words

I personally believe Middlesex University supportive foundation and having in place seasoned module leaders created a pathway for us that at every stage of my MSc journey it I could see lots of opportunity to learn develop and grow. It was not about simply achieving another qualification. It was about understanding where that qualification could take us and what we could do with the knowledge and experience we were gaining.

For me, Middlesex Uni was much more than the place where I completed my MSc. It became a place where my professional horizons widened, where I discovered new career opportunities and where I gained recognition that extended beyond my previous career experience and opened the door to an international professional environment.

Find out more about the Strategic Leadership in Occupational Safety and Health MSc at Middlesex.