I work as a self-employed contractor specialising in trading standards product safety. My Fellowship looked at risk assessment and its application to decision-making. In 1998, I travelled to New Zealand to look at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs' Risk Assessment Nomograph, which at that time was not widely recognised. I initially learned about the nomograph on a training course when it seemed to provide an independent and consistent approach to determining how to deal with unsafe consumer products. Concerns about the safety of toys in food had not been addressed at that time, so I narrowed the focus of my project to this area.

Since then, the nomograph has contributed to the development of risk assessment procedures that are currently being used across the EU and in the UK. In 2001, I was part of an EU accession delegation to Hungary and took part in discussions on the EU risk assessment model published in 2010. In 2013, I visited Bosnia Herzegovina, looking at the delivery of product safety.

The Fellowship not only built my self-esteem but afforded me recognition of my work, supporting my day job and resulting in invitations to provide training on risk assessment.