Claire decided to embark upon a PhD because she wanted to ensure that she maximised her options for future career paths. A PhD also offered Claire the opportunity to develop her communication skills; both in written and oral form, and exposed her to life in academia.
Claire’s research explored various aspects of home automation, focusing on the design and development of a home system that could offer both technical and non-technical users the ability to control, monitor and program their home. Claire completed three internships during her PhD: at Sword Ciboodle in Glasgow; an academic internship for the MATCH project; and at Google, based at their Mountain View headquarters in California.
Claire says of SICSA: “I personally feel that SICSA has brought Scotland together, allowing PhD students the opportunity to get to know one another and network within the country. The PhD student conference is a prime example of this, where we can get to know each other on both professional and social levels. I have personally found some of the summer schools and workshops hosted by SICSA to be invaluable to my PhD.”
Claire received a job offer from Google near the end of her internship in California, and started as a full time software engineer on the Android team, based in London, in November 2013.
