IT Management · Northumbria University
Khant Thura

I build things that actually help people.

Khant Thura, but everyone calls me Liam. Final year IT Management student at Northumbria, figuring out how to bridge the gap between tech and business.

About me

The slightly longer version

Originally from Myanmar, now based in Newcastle. I'm finishing up my IT Management degree with a placement year at Honda Motor Europe under my belt.

Currently exploring how AI tools can be more context-aware (my dissertation topic), and writing occasionally on my Substack about navigating life as an international student.

What I bring to a team

  • Translating technical problems into clear business decisions
  • Building monitoring and reporting systems that people actually use
  • Staying calm when things break and coordinating the fix (I've had practice)
  • Working across teams and vendors to get things done
  • Spotting process inefficiencies and fixing them
  • Documenting things properly so knowledge doesn't walk out the door

What I work with

Technical skills

Observability & Monitoring

Built an application observability pipeline for my team. Now we get alerts before users start complaining. Usually.

DatadogAzure LogsKQL

Data & Reporting

Turning raw data into dashboards stakeholders actually look at. A rare achievement, apparently.

Excel/Power QueryPower BISQL

Backend & APIs

Building services and integrations for my work and my own side projects.

PythonFastAPIPostgreSQLPostman

Frontend

Building interfaces. More comfortable with this than I used to be.

ReactNext.jsSvelteTailwind CSS

Project & Process

Coordinating work, tracking changes, attending meetings about meetings. The usual.

YouTrackJiraServiceNowChange MgmtAgile

DevOps & Infrastructure

Deployment, version control, and debugging why it works on my machine but not yours.

DockerGitAzure DevOpsCoolify

Testing & QA

Regression testing, API validation, bug confirmation. Finding problems before anyone does is surprisingly satisfying.

Regression TestingAPI TestingBug ValidationTest PlansPostman

AI & LLM Tools

Exploring how to make AI more context-aware. Dissertation focus area.

MCP ServersPrompt EngineeringFastMCP

Stakeholder & Vendor Work

First point of contact for group projects, and vendors at my placement. Cross-team coordination.

Vendor RelationsStakeholder CommsRequirements

Selected work

Projects

Active · Side Project

Persona MCP Server

An MCP server that stores personal context for AI interactions—profile, interests, knowledge, preferences. Inspired by my dissertation on context-aware AI tools for small business owners using design science methodology.

PythonFastMCPPydantic
Active · Writing

just so i know

Substack about life as an international student. Mostly therapy disguised as content.

Completed · Event

CBC Hackathon

Led the first Claude Builder Club Hackathon at Northumbria. 90%+ retention.

Completed · Uni Project

Solterra

Full-stack healthcare event management app for Malaysian B40 communities, focused on cancer screening events. I handled as project lead for analysis, project management, quality assurance, and overall project coordination.

ReactNext.jsFastAPIPostgreSQL
Completed · Uni Project

Gateshead by Bike

Social platform for cyclists. Database modelling, role-based permissions, accessibility focus.

PythonSQLite
Completed · Uni Project

Events Great North

Events booking site with server-side rendering and data sanitisation.

PHPJavaScriptMySQL
Completed · Side Project

Capture Booth

Photo booth app to learn Svelte. Auth flow, canvas manipulation, state management.

SvelteSvelteKit
Active · Side Project

Portfolio Site

Personal portfolio built with Next.js and JSON-based content management, and a local editor because I got tired of manually editing JSON files. Static export for GitHub Pages.

Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwind CSS

Experience

Where I've worked

Honda Motor EuropeJul 2024Jul 2025
Placement Year

IT Operations Support Undergraduate

Managed day-to-day operations for the My Honda+ app across European markets.

DatadogAPI DevelopmentIncident ManagementVendor ManagementProcess Improvement
AIESEC in YangonFeb 2021Jan 2022
Volunteer Leadership

Local Committee President

Led a committee of 30+ members through COVID-19 and political crisis in Myanmar.

Team LeadershipCrisis ManagementEvent PlanningTraining Delivery
Northumbria UniversitySep 2025Present
Volunteer

International Student Representative

Liaising between international students, academic staff, and the student union to make sure the challenges we face get heard and addressed. Faculty of Environment and Science representative.

Student AdvocacyStakeholder Communication
Mantra Thai DiningSep 2022Jun 2024
Part-time

Front of House Staff

Customer service in a busy restaurant while balancing full-time studies. Trained new team members on service standards and POS systems. Best Part-time Staff Q4 2022.

Customer ServiceStaff Training

Education

Academic background

20222026

BSc IT Management for Business

Northumbria University, Newcastle

Expected First Class Honours

Dissertation: Development and evaluation of a context-aware AI adoption toolkit for SMB owners using design science methodology and MCP-based architecture.

Key highlights

  • Business Intelligence & Systems Thinking
  • Enterprise Project Management (PRINCE2, Agile)
  • SAP ERP & Integrated Enterprise Systems
  • Web Development & Application Design
  • Business Integrative Consultancy Project

Outside of work

When I'm not at a screen

🍜

Cooking

Asian cuisine, Burmese food. I cook when stressed—so, often. Also the dumplings are getting pretty good.

📚

Reading

Substacks, non-fiction, crime thrillers. My Kindle library is 80% unread. Working on it.

🛍️

Vintage Shopping

Vinted and Grainger Market regular. I don't need more jackets. I'm going to buy more jackets.

🏸

Badminton

Getting back into it. My backhand needs work. My competitive spirit does not.

Get in touch

Let's talk

I'm looking for graduate opportunities in IT operations, technology consulting, or business analysis roles. If you think I might be a good fit for your team, I'd be happy to chat.

Also open to conversations about AI tools, systems thinking, or just exchanging notes on navigating early career stuff. I reply to emails. (Revolutionary, I know.)

Graduate visa eligible till 2028 · Available from July 2026