Steve spent fourteen years as an academic (1973-1987), developing postgraduate studies in occupational psychology at what is now the University of Hertfordshire, and as visiting professor in the neuropsychology laboratory at Stanford University in California.
On returning from California in 1982, he was approached by the NFER's publishing arm to design new ranges of tests for occupational selection. This led to the formation of the Psychometric Research Unit at Hatfield, which rapidly outgrew in scope the capability of the institution in commercial terms, and as a result became privatised in 1985 as Psychometric Research & Development.
