Lewis awarded first Ros Barsley Scholarship

Posted 19 June 2018

Final year agricultural engineering with marketing and management student Lewis Barlow has been awarded the first Ros Barsley Scholarship which will help him while completing his HRP on customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

The scholarship is being funded by Harper alumna Ros Barsley, who is a former Development Trust trustee, a founding member of the Development Trust board and also was the first recipient of an Honorary Life Presidency of the Harper Adams Club in recognition of her long and valued service.  

Lewis, 22, from the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, said: “I’ve always had an interest in engineering, whether it was watching bin lorries outside the house, or spending hours watching diggers on construction sites.

“This developed over the years into a passion for engineering and finding out how things work.

“Alongside this, I also became interested in agriculture. Combining the two together led to me studying agricultural mechanisation at Myerscough College and then onto Harper Adams for the BSc (Hons) Agricultural Engineering with Marketing and Management course.

“While on placement, I became the project lead on the implementation of a CRM system, something which is rapidly being developed within the agricultural engineering industry.

“My work with this concept has led me to realise the untapped potential of this system within the industry. I’ve recognised the potential it has to make supply chains less wasteful, and generally improve the service manufacturers and dealers can offer their end users.

“As a first step on my journey to emphasise the potential of this system, I’m writing my dissertation around using CRM to reduce waste in the supply chain.

“While doing background reading for this project, I’ve also noted a number of other systems that are in use at present in other sectors, such as the automotive industry, which would be transferred to the agricultural machinery industry.

“These systems have the potential to revolutionise the way the machinery manufacturing sector works and to improve its profitability and responsiveness. This has the potential to reduce production costs and provide an end user with a machine that’s better suited to their budget or requirements.

“This potential for change is not without barriers; not all systems could be transferred, and if they are transferable, they’ll need development to suit the unique and diverse challenges of the agricultural machinery sector. This is why the research I’m undertaking is imperative; without the research to provide the ideas’ potential, it’ll be difficult to encourage anyone to change their systems.

“I’d like to thank Ros Barsley and the Development Trust for this scholarship which will support me during the undertaking of my dissertation, but also in numerous other ways.”

Ros Barsley added: “As both my husband Richard and I are past students of Harper Adams in the 1970's, we were fortunate to have free tuition and maintenance grants to help us enjoy our years at Harper.

“I’m happy to give something back to help current students in the form of a scholarship, and Lewis is a very worthy recipient. Lewis impressed me with his enthusiasm and motivation for his chosen course of study and I have every confidence that he will have a very successful career.”

Along with being a Harper alumna, Ros Barlsey is also a former DT Trustee and founding member of the Development Trust board, and a Harper Adams Club Honorary President.