“I come from a background of always being the ‘technical guy’ in every role,” Phil says. “I was the tech for a community radio station, the technician on a paintball site, technical manager of a chain of live venues. Lots of scrappy startups. Every role needed something fixing, and I am that guy.”

When did you learn about Raspberry Pi?

Leeds Hackspace was giving coding lessons on the [original] Raspberry Pi Model B and I was very excited to see a full computer running on something the size of a credit card. My mind was blown at the possibilities.

How did you start with element14?

Farnell and element14 community are based out of Leeds in the UK and I am a member of Leeds Hackspace; when they were looking for a maker with events and project experience, I was suggested. The first two questions were: “Star Wars or Star Trek, and why?” and secondly, “Have you heard of Raspberry Pi?”

What are some of your favourite community events you’ve held?

We have hosted hackathons across the world and many local to us out of the UK. There is something beautiful about assembling people with a wide range of skills and watching the cogs in their heads turn! We ran a Raspberry Pi-powered Hackathon where we gave the entrants 1m³ of space and asked them to produce enough food for a journey to Mars. It was great fun, until one contestant went away for the summer and left the hydroponic algae system running in his dorm room.

What projects have you made with Raspberry Pi?

I have been getting into a little bit of SDR [software-defined radio] to have some fun hunting satellites, but I have to say the engineers over on the element14 Presents YouTube channel have created everything from Clem’s custom GPUs, Katie’s timelapse camera, all the way to Milos’s DIY hotplates using Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi Pico.

What events are you currently planning?

We will be attending Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany, where we will be hosting our own talk stage at the Farnell booth in March 2026. Come and see myself and Mayer Makes!

Where can folks find you?

At element14 Presents and the element14 community, we are always looking for makers and engineers to get involved in making and building projects with Raspberry Pi. We also give out loads of free hardware and have a community of engineers ready to chat. Come join us!