Dr Roderick Sampson is the Operations Manager of King Propulsion.  Roderick is an experienced Naval Architect with a specialization in experimental ship hydrodynamics, collaborative research and academic teaching. Expertise includes, the implementation and execution of full scale instrumentation projects, the assessment and solution to cavitation problems on propellers and rudders, effective solutions to complex Naval Architecture technical challenges posed by a range of clients, management and operation of experimental facilities (cavitation tunnel & towing tanks), a respected and peer reviewed technical author; Conference co-chair on several high profile international conferences (AMT’13, SMP’13), Committee member on the International Towing Tank Conference (2005-2013), project management of international collaborative research projects (SONIC, TARGETS, FASTPOD, SWIRLJET), client interfacing with relationship and team building skills; managing, conducting and reporting on numerous physical model testing programmes, conducting full scale sea trials, laser based hydrodynamic measurements and antifouling paint technology research. Academic interests include, ship and propeller performance, propeller ice interaction, ship drag reduction, proof of concept design and the design of high performance craft.

Naval Architecture is Roderick’s second career.  Prior to attending Newcastle University he worked as a Professional Photographer and ultimately a Cruiseship Photographer when the largest Cruise Ship was the ss Norway and photos were taken on film.  Roderick has fond memories of this period, traveling the world and learning about working exceptionally long hours.  It was also in this period where he made the connection between Ships, Engineering and Photography, a skill set he still uses today.