N. C. Millard worked for three years in the engineering laboratories of the Central Electricity Generating Board before leaving to receive the B.Sc. degree in applied physics from Portsmouth University in 1972.Since then, he has worked at the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory in the field of instrument design. Projects he has controlled cover a wide area of oceanography and include wave measurements, acoustic noise analysis, telemetry, acoustic location, navigation systems, and sidescan sonar. In 1989 he became project leader for the deep towed instrument platform, TOBI, which saw its first successful science cruise in 1990. He continues this role as team leader and his research interests include continued development of deep towed vehicles and other sea-floor instruments.