Yorkshire Science

ChrisKing

Dr Chris King is Managing Director of Fluent Europe Ltd. After graduating in Engineering Science from the University of Exeter, he spent four years as an officer in the Royal Navy. A PhD and post-doctoral studies in the fluid mechanics of fluidic devices at University College Cardiff were followed by eight years as a lecturer in thermo-fluid dynamics at Durham University where he ran a research group in laser doppler anemometry and swirling flows associated with turbo-machinery and was a tutor at the College of St Hild and St Bede.

In 1987, he moved into commercial research management as the manager of the Thermo-fluids Division of the GEC Engineering Research Centre. Having completed the GEC Senior Management Course he became commercial manager of European Gas Turbines' Mechanical Engineering Centre and acted as the project manager for a series of major, government funded, contracts. In 1993 Chris became commercial director of a small company specialising in language and cultural training for companies exporting to or setting up operations in overseas markets. His last post before joining Fluent was as the European Director of a US based subsidiary of Ricardo Engineering, which specialised in CFD consultancy.

Chris joined Fluent Europe Ltd, in 1996 as European Consultancy Manager and in 1998 he was appointed Managing Director. He now has responsibility for the Northern European operations in the UK, Scandinavia and Benelux and is a member of the Executive Committee of Fluent Inc, which sets the strategic direction for the company worldwide.

Chris has authored approximately 30 Refereed Scientific/Technical papers and holds 6 patents - in the fields of Fluid Mechanics and associated instrumentation.

Outside of Fluent, Chris is involved in a number of Regional institutions. He was a member of the Driver Partnership for Priority One of Objective 1 for South Yorkshire, sat on the Board of Sheffield First for Investment and was the first Vice-Chairman of Digital South Yorkshire. He is a Member of the Board of Knowledge Starts in South Yorkshire. Chris chairs the Industrial Liaison Committee of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Sheffield, is a Non-Executive Director of SUEL and is a lay member of the University's Council. He is a member of the Materials Research Institute Policy Board at Sheffield Hallam University. Over the years he has sat on committees and chaired membership selection boards for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.