About Me…
Hello. Thanks for stopping by!
My name is Duncan Reid, but you can just call me Duncan. I am based in Edinburgh, where I divide my time between running a successful IT Support and Consultancy firm and doing part-time postgraduate research at the University of Edinburgh.
Very much a proud Scotsman (though also holding dual Irish citizenship thanks to Granny Reid!) I believe that Scotland is a wonderful country with so much to offer the world. In terms of inventiveness and entrepreneurship, we are second to none, throughout the centuries. Today Scotland lives up to that reputation more than ever, with world leading research and development happening across the IT spectrum.
Icelantic
After spending 5 years running IT at a large accountancy practice, and 5 years running IT at a large firm of solicitors, I decided to work for myself. I have never looked back since.
In the year 2000, myself and my business partner, Simon Forrest, set up Icelantic in my spare room.
Fast forward to today, and we own a first class, custom fit office in the city centre and employ 25 staff, looking after in excess of 2,500 users across a wide range of business services.
We provide IT Support for smaller firms that cannot justify their own IT staff, and provide bespoke consultancy services for larger organisations that have specific issues that they wish to address.
My role is setting strategy and direction for the firm, heading up our sales team, and providing the lead on our consultancy services.
Postgraduate Researcher
Currently embarking on a part-time PhD at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Hugely honoured to be working with so many talented and intelligent people.
Feels slightly strange to the oldest “kid in school” but I did the same a few years back when I completed a Master of Science degree at Napier Univesrity. My dissertation looked at users’ perception of trust in public wireless systems, and forensically examined those systems to see how much data was actually compromised, and how.
My research now is focused on how we deal with death in the context of a digital society, looking at our interaction with digital artefacts, how we can curate digital memories, and the issues surrounding privacy, security, storage and longer term archival. This touches on aspects around the possibility of creating a Digital Dark Age despite our exponential rate of storing every aspect of our daily life.
Latest News
Going to record some thoughts and experiences of a 50 year old starting university! Hope they make you smile and reflect a little.
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Feel free to use the Work or University Email buttons on the top of the page, or if you prefer, you can drop me a message using the contact form below.
Work Hard, Play Hard
Always a firm believer in work and life balance, I like to enjoy myself as much as I like to be successful. Life is for living and I try to find positivity and fun wherever I go. And occasionally a party or two!
WHISKY
Keen lover of whisky, especially the smokey ones from Isaly. Have visited about 50 distilleries and always fascinated with how 3 simple ingredients and a rigid process can create such a diverse range of wonderful amber goodness.
TRAVELLING
Love to explore and discover new places. Prefer to AirBnB and discover local life, culture and new types of food. Current favourite places are Paris, Venice, New York and Iceland.
ART & CALLIGRAPHY
Having spent so much of my life dealing in digital technology, I have recently enjoyed swapping pixels for paint brushes, and taken some art and calligraphy classes. Really good for relaxing and using the other side of the brain for once!
SOCIALISING
It has been known for me to enjoy the occasional party. Or three! Combined with my love of travelling, I have some great memories of Oktoberfest in Munich and Carnival in Switzerland. Proost!