Dr Chris Doyle
Bachelor of Environmental Sciences (Honours) (1995)
PhD (Fluvial Geomorphology) (2003)UOW-trained environmental scientist and champion rugby player Dr Chris Doyle has kicked some big goals since moving from Wollongong to the Middle East two years ago. Chris this year was promoted to Head of Environment, Health and Safety and Sustainability for the Middle East, Africa and Europe for the global construction company Bovis Lend Lease, based in Dubai. Chris’ “patch” includes 100 construction sites in 15 countries “from Madrid to Moscow to Muscat”. “I’m spending a lot of time in aeroplanes at the moment, as I get acquainted with the projects, the teams and the geography,” he said. “And I am really enjoying the job. The company has lots of very interesting projects across Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East, so I am getting to see a lot of countries and experience a lot of different cultures.” In the first few months in this new job Chris visited construction sites in Madrid, Milan, Muscat, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Warsaw, Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Moscow and St Petersburg, and attended conferences in London and San Francisco. “I’m certainly getting to see a lot of the world,” he told Campus News, in something of an understatement, during a family visit to Wollongong this year. Chris, 33, who moved to the Middle East in November 2005 after being appointed Bovis Lend Lease’s Environmental Manager for the Gulf Region to look after the 14-island Durrat Al Bahrain project in Bahrain, was formerly Sustainability Coordinator for the Port Kembla Port Corporation. He was also an Honorary Fellow at UOW’s Coastal Research group, supervising UOW students researching the port’s maritime environment. He said the move to the Middle East had obviously been a major one for his wife Ulla (also a UOW graduate), and their children Annalise 6, Elina 4 and Eamon 2. “It has worked out really well. We have a pretty good outdoors lifestyle with lots of swimming, and the girls really like their school,” he said. Chris’ environmental credentials were not the only skills recognised when he moved to the Middle East. He is an accomplished rugby union goal-kicking five-eighth, having represented Illawarra and NSW Country from Wollongong Shamrocks club and played first grade in Sydney with Southern Districts. He was quickly snapped up by the Dubai Hurricanes when he arrived in the Middle East. The Hurricanes were one of Dubai’s perennial also-rans before his arrival, but this year the team went through the season undefeated, winning the Arabian Gulf League and Cup competitions – the club’s first successes. “I enjoy the rugby, but the heat can be incredible. The Cup final against the Kuwait Nomads kicked off at 1.30pm in 38 degree heat – not an experience I am keen to repeat in a hurry,” he said.
|
