Richard Edwards BSc (Hons), DEA, PhD

PhD BIOMATERIALS

English/French speaking IT professional competent in Oracle. Former research scientist with experience in synthetic polymer chemistry, physical chemistry, and cell biology for medical applications, especially to be used in the human eye. Adaptable and calm under pressure. Areas of experience include:

WORK EXPERIENCE

Symyx Technologies, Basel 2009 - current

Senior Technical Support Engineer. Provide technical support for Isentris, DiscoveryGate, Symyx Draw, and other software products. Customer Support Product Team representative for DiscoveryGate which involves participating in regular meetings to discuss new releases and tracking bug fixes and enhancements.

Symyx Technologies, Basel 2007 - 2009

Customer Care Support Specialist. (Symyx Technologies acquired MDL Information Systems) Provided technical support relating to former MDL software and to Elsevier software/content databases during the transition period.

Elsevier MDL, Allschwil (Basel) 2007 - 2007

Customer Care Support Specialist. Provided technical support to customers and consultants using software including DiscoveryGate, CrossFire Commander/Server, MDL Draw, ISIS/Base, ISIS/Draw, ISIS for Excel and to content databases such as CrossFire Beilstein, Gmelin and Patent Chemistry Database.

Cognos, Bracknell 2005 - 2006

Customer Support Specialist. Provided technical assistance to customers using Cognos Planning software (Analyst, Contributor and Manager) together with Cognos Access Manager, Sun One Directory Server, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. This involved, product and database installation, testcase recreation, troubleshooting, supplying workarounds and documentation to Accountants and Technical Support staff, and liaising with Account Managers. A contribution to knowledge was made by team collaboration/coaching/presenting, and by the creation of Knowledge Base documents. Provided support to English and French language customers.

ID Business Solutions, Guildford 2002 - 2005

Support Analyst. Provided customers and IDBS consultants with off-site technical support relating to the use of all IDBS data management software including ActivityBase, Object Manager, Selection Assistant, SARgen, SARview, XLfit and AIM. Provided Oracle advice including creating and maintaining databases, schema objects, data integrity, privileges, backup using exp/imp, SQL queries and triggers. Logged calls in the Touchpaper HelpDesk system (average 2 per day). Mentored new recruits. Was responsible for several large and global pharmaceutical companies. Supported English and French language customers.

NHS Information Authority, Birmingham 2002 - 2002

Project Administrator. Used and updated a database for a major waiting times project. Contacted around 600 NHS Trusts. Assisted nhs.uk web editors e.g. by providing usernames and passwords. Answered help desk queries. Carried out website testing.

Residential Services, Aston University 1998 - 2000

A member of the Postgraduate Rota (student welfare) on the Aston University campus for two years. Duties and callouts included locking up residence blocks, attending to noise complaints, fire alarms and medical incidents.

Centre des Matériaux, Ecole des Mines de Paris 1994 - 1995

Researcher. Researched the fatigue of organic fibres used in textile and automotive industries, especially for car tyres and airbags. Also carried out a research project for the languages department at Aston University on the elitism of the Grandes Ecoles (the prestigious engineering schools which include the Ecole des Mines de Paris).

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT

Aston Business School, 4 modules (one third) of the MBA, 1997-1998 (alongside PhD)
Intersource, Introduction to XML, July 2008
Shine Consultancy & Training Ltd, Customer Service Excellence for Telephone Support, September 2005
Cognos, Cognos 8 BI Metadata Modelling Part 1, Bracknell, April 2006
Cognos, Cognos Planning 7.2 - Technical Administration, Hammersmith, May 2005
Cognos, Cognos Planning - Analyst Model Building, Hammersmith, April 2005
Cognos, Cognos Planning - Contributor Application Administration, Hammersmith, April 2005
Learning Tree International, Oracle9i: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, London, October 2003
Research Council's Graduate Schools Programme, Worthing, May 1999

SPECIALIST SCIENTIFIC SKILLS

EDUCATION

PhD Cellular interactions with hydrogels, 1997-2001, Biomaterials Research Unit, Aston University
Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies (MSc equiv) Neurosciences, 1996-1997, Centre de Neurochimie, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg
BSc (Hons) Chemistry and French, 2.1, 1992-1996, Aston University

REFERENCES

Available on request