If you have been to a selection day at the Canterbury Campus, you may recognise Olaf Chitil, who is one of our admissions officers. He is also a Lecturer in the School of Computing and member of the Programming Languages and Systems Research Group.
- What inspires you in your work?
Always learning, whether how to teach something or a new area/method in research - When did you first realise your interest/passion for your role?
I started to love programming when I was about 15. I wrote my first programs on paper before I had a computer. I started to enjoy teaching when I supervised classes at university and gave my first lectures as a PhD student. - What would you say was your greatest achievement?
Becoming a lecturer at Kent? - What would you say is the best part of your job?
The variety. No day is like the previous one. - Why did you choose to work at the University of Kent?
I was actually an undergraduate student here for one year. I studied in Germany, but in 1992/93 I spent an Erasmus exchange year at Kent. I enjoyed that time very much. I nearly returned for doing a PhD at Kent with my old academic advisor. When I finished a position as research associate at the University of York and saw the job advertisement at Kent I immediately applied. - What has been a personal highlight for your achievements in your work?
During my time as research associate at York I suddenly saw a connection between the research I was doing there and a problem I studied during my PhD. I wrote a paper about it in 2 weeks and presented it at a major conference. Since then, I put much further work into this idea… - Where is the most interesting place you have been?
China. Because my wife is Chinese, we have visited many places in China and I love it. - What are your proudest achievements outside of your work?
Ah, that’s private. - What do you like most about Canterbury?
It’s a lovely little town surrounded by green hills. Most importantly, to the North, East and South it is just a few miles to the sea. I love walking along the sea. - If you could pick anyone throughout history, to talk to, who would it be and why?
Nobody, really. I rather talk to people around me now.