On Friday 14th June, we were honoured to be joined by Ian Minards, engineer and chief product officer at Dyson. Previously, Ian has decades of experience working for esteemed brands including Jaguar and Aston Martin, developing cars such as the Aston Martin DB11. Ian shared details of his career journey and the excitement of being at the forefront of innovation.

Students were thrilled to discover that Ian had brought brand-new Dyson technology for them to study in more detail. He displayed a new Dyson hairdryer, explaining the technology and innovation behind it, including the ‘axiel compressor’ which is a mini-turbine similar to that used in jets.

The workshop was interactive and engaging with students quizzed on their physics knowledge – such as what physics law is involved in powering the Dyson hairdryer (Fleming’s left-hand rule).

It was an extremely productive and inspiring lunchtime for our future engineers. Ian provided detailed insight into the industry and emphasised the vast number of careers within engineering and product development. 

A key message shared with students was to not be afraid of failing. In fact, James Dyson encourages his engineers to accept failure as that is key to innovation and creating.

Once again, thank you to Ian for joining us at Wakefield Grammar School Foundation and inspiring our students with his wealth of knowledge and experience. 

Mr D Eggleston

Deputy Head: Teaching and Learning