David Dawson, BSc 1991
I received my Science Degree from the former Governor of NSW, Sir James Rowland in March of 1991. I majored in Chemistry and Pure Mathematics.
After taking some time off and continuing my part time job that I did during my university days of driving a garbage truck I decided it was time to use my study and get a job somewhat related to my studies.
I commenced work as a Chemist at a contract manufacturer of household, toiletry and cosmetic products located in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney called Trend Laboratories Pty Ltd. The company was a family company that had been established for around thirty years with annual sales of about $12 million.
My initial duties involved doing simple routine physical measurements such as pH and viscosity testing but at the same time the company, although small, had a very good attitude to developing staff. I was able to complete many part-time courses in both Technical and Managerial disciplines as well as learning about many areas that I had previously not encountered. These included UV absorbers and formulating sunscreen products, emulsion technologies, formulating all manner of personal care products including skin creams, hair gels, shampoos, veterinary ectoparasiticides, OTC pharmaceuticals such as mouthwashes and disinfectants and many more.
I always gain a sense of satisfaction when I can see a product that I formulated on the supermarket shelves, whether it be a product formulated for a multinational company or whether it be a generic “No Frills” type product.
Because the company was a rather small company it also relied on its “technically trained” staff to take care of other technical roles. These roles included wastewater treatment, regulatory compliance bodies such as the therapeutic goods administration and the National Registration Authority for Veterinary Pharmaceuticals, Process Water treatment and design, purchase and commissioning of manufacturing facilities.
After nine years and several promotions I left Trend Laboratories to work for what is now a German multinational company that is in the business of fragrances, food flavours, cosmetic ingredients and aroma chemicals called Symrise. The position that I was offered was based in Singapore. I looked upon the move as being good for my career but also good from a life experience point of view as it would mean living in a new country and getting to experience many new cultures.
A lot of my work involves managing a team of nine staff who are involved in applied research activities where we look at trying to improve the performance of fragrance in conjunction with many of the applications that fragrance is used in.
In addition to the above I have other roles including marketing the cosmetic ingredients that we sell. This is certainly a very exciting part of the job and has allowed me to visit countries such as India, Thailand, Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines as well as our head office in Germany.
I certainly have no regrets having studied chemistry at Sydney University.