Webinar: Online panel session: Building the skills base for the North West Aerospace & Defence sector by MA Business

Online panel session: Building the skills base for the North West Aerospace & Defence sector

About

The North West is home to one of the largest clusters of manufacturing excellence in the UK and - in the shape of the Global Combat Air Program - key elements of one of the most ambitious defence aerospace projects on the planet.

However, to ensure it has the skills in place to deliver on its ambitions the sector faces pressing skills challenges across the value chain. For instance, in the case of BAE Systems - which is the partner for this session - this means recruiting an estimated 1000 new engineers a year just to stand still.

During this session we will hear first-hand from employers and experts from across the region about the skills challenges and opportunities presented by these projects and the measures employers are taking to address these challenges.

We will explore the projects and trends that are shaping the skills requirements of the sector and look at some of the measures that employers are taking to meet these skills requirements: whether its new approaches to attracting, retaining & upskilling staff; capturing the knowledge of experts leaving the sector; or tapping into and attracting engineers from other areas of industry.

Attendees will gain insights into the opportunities available in the NW aerospace & defence sector and also business critical first-hand insights from some of the UK’s leading engineering employers and thinkers in the region on how they are addressing their current and future engineering skills requirements.

Discussion areas
• Next generation technology and key skills requirements
• Upskilling the workforce and retaining critical skills
• Skills-fade & Succession planning
• Motivating the apprentice and skills pipeline
• Transferrable skills

Presenters

Andy Pearson

Senior Business Director, Hays - specialising in defence recruitment.

Andy has over 25 years’ experience in recruitment and joined Hays in 2021. Having gained experience in both recruitment agencies and internal recruitment functions, Andy has in-depth knowledge of what customers need, and the challenges organisations face when hiring. Andy currently develops new and existing client relationships within the defence industry and leads a team of passionate and talented specialist recruiters focused on exceeding customer expectations.

Prof Andrew Schofield

Chair - North West Aerospace Alliance

Professor Andy Schofield is an experienced business leader and Technology Director with extensive experience and knowledge working at Senior Executive level in the Aerospace and Defence industry. Responsibilities included the development and deployment of advanced technologies and capabilities across a variety of current and future defence products. Now a Consultant and Advisor, a Professor of Practice in Aerospace at the University of Nottingham and the Chair of the North West Aerospace Alliance. A previous member of numerous Advisory and Strategy Groups and representative on the programme boards of a number of High Value Manufacturing Catapult Technology Centres in the UK. A reliable, conscientious, considerate business leader.

Iain Minton

Delivery Director - Technology & Capability - FalconWorksTM, BAE Systems

Iain leads BAE Systems Technology team, responsible for a wide range of technology programmes across the Air Sector that span the lifecycle of BAE’s current and future products. An active STEM Ambassador, Iain chairs the Engineering Advisory Board of Burnley College, is a past Chairman of the Aerospace NorthWest Centre of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a past Board Member of the North West Aerospace Alliance, and a Chartered Engineer.

Dr Jonathan Smith

Business Development Manager - STFC

Jonathan Smith is the Business Development sector lead on Materials, Space and Aerospace at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Hartree Centre. The Hartree Cente helps UK companies accelerate the adoption of and derisk investment into advanced digital technologies such as data science and AI. Prior to this, Jonathan trained as a physicist, before working as an engineer on space and defence product at Teledyne e2v. After briefly returning to academia, he ran the UK arm of a US headquartered technology SME, and has experience dealing with skills and recruitment challenges in the UK and internationally. His current role involves working on a number of government funded initiatives which help build digital skills into organisations.

Melissa Conlon

Commercial Director - AMRC North West

Prof.Melissa Conlon is Commercial Director at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).In addition to running the research centre Melissa is the supply chain lead for the AMRC and sits on the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Supply Chain Resilience Forum. She is a Commercial Director with over 30 year’s experience, she has extensive private and public sector experience and has developed and implemented a number of strategies for SME engagement. She has worked in a number of industry sectors including finance, education, software and advanced engineering and manufacturing. Her career includes senior roles at major corporates eg Repsol Petroleum, GE and BNP Paribas. She is currently a member of the LEP Innovation Board, The Digital Skill Partnership Board , REDCAT Advisory Board,NWAA Board and Nelson and Colne College Advisory Board Member.

Jon Excell

Editor

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