Webinar: Transferable skills into the UK defence sector by MA Business

Transferable skills into the UK defence sector

About

The UK defence sector’s pressing need for a fresh influx of engineering talent creates challenges for industry and opportunities for individuals.

With the defence sector requiring a growing range of both traditional and non-traditional engineering skills, and almost half of its employers reporting a shortage of skilled engineers, the sector is increasingly looking to other areas of industry in an effort to grow and broaden its pipeline of talent.

In this panel session - run as part of The Engineer magazine’s “Work in Defence” month, we will bring together a panel of experts from across the defence sector to explore this trend; examine some of the opportunities for engineers considering a move into defence; and take a look at the sector’s shifting skills requirements. We will also examine some of the ways in which organisations in defence are successfully reaching beyond their core community in the search for fresh talent.

Attendees will gain first-hand insights from some of the UK’s leading engineering employers and thinkers on the opportunities available and the practicalities of transitioning to a different sector as well as insights into how some of the sector’s leading organisations are successfully engaging with the wider engineering skills base.

Discussion areas
- Key skills requirements & opportunities
- Overview of key technology trends in the sector
- Upskilling for defence
- Supply chain challenges and opportunities
- Engaging with the wider skills

Presenters

Jess

Donna Meakin

Air Lead Consultant Engineer

Throughout Donna’s 30+ year career within BAE Systems, she has been involved in a wide variety of test environment and engineering integration roles within both projects and shared services. Donna has worked within most of the engineering lifecycle phases from bid programmes for external integration rigs, to the release to service of a major aircraft programme. In addition to Donna’s engineering skills, she has also completed her project management training and has been managing a multiple million-pound cost centre programme on behalf of the Head of Airworthiness and Product Integrity.
Donna is currently the lead consultant engineer in the area of legislation, regulation and standards with heavy involvement in requirements engineering and design certification of ground products supporting all the engineering disciplines especially.

Dr Alex Rose-Parfitt

Executive Director for Engineering and Exec Sponsor for STEM

Alex joined Raytheon in January 2017 as Engineering Director. He is responsible for the Engineering function across Raytheon UK, which includes England, Scotland, Wales, and support to Canada. He is also the Accountable Manager for regulatory compliance within RUK.
Passionate about ensuring Raytheon UK is somewhere people are free to be their full authentic self, Alex is a active Executive Sponsor for RTX PRIDE ERG which has seen him lead on policy change cultivating a more inclusive workplace.
Alex has established track record in aerospace, defence and security having previously been the Engineering and Operations Director for QinetiQ (Cyber, Information and Training) during the transformation to a centralised engineering function.
Prior to this Alex spent 12 years in BAE Systems working across the air, land, sea and security business areas. He continues to work with key Government departments and has advised the Prime Minister’s Science and Technology Committee, as well as the MoD Science and Technology review committee.
Alex holds a PhD from the mechanical engineering department of the University of Bath, which was sponsored by the MoD to investigate adaptive camouflage.
He is an ardent STEM ambassador, keen to encourage people to take a closer look at how things really work and question alternative ways of doing things better. He has featured in several media publications including the BBC’s Science of Nature, The One Show and The Science of Harry Potter.
Externally he is on the Strategic Advisory Board for the Henry Royce Institute of advanced materials, and is part of a Charitable Trust.

Heather Goldstraw

Director Strategic Relationships – Defence & Security, Cranfield University

Heather brings over 30 years of systems thinking and leadership to the Defence Enterprise. She initiated the MOD’s drive for improved innovation in 2015 by challenging perceptions and eliminating barriers between different defence communities, from military end user to external regulators. Recognising the role of education in strengthening mutual understanding and coherence, she moved to the Defence Academy in 2019 and joined Cranfield University in 2023. Here she champions the role of academia across the defence supply chain and is currently focused on building the strategic relationships and workforce necessary to underpin the UK’s critical sovereign capabilites and alliances.

Paul Oxley

Director of Government Relations and Policy, ADS Group

Paul Oxley joined ADS as Director of Government Relations and Policy in July 2022. His department is responsible for ADS’s policy, public affairs, international relations, communications and economic functions.

Jon Excell

Editor

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