Research Technical Professionals (RTPs) across the UK have benefited from eleven ambitious projects to improve long-term career prospects for the UK’s technical community in higher education and research.
In the last 12 months these projects, funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and supported by the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy (UK ITSS), have been training, supporting and developing RTPs across the UK.
Technical specialists working in AI, data wranglers, research software engineers, robotics and autonomous systems, biomolecule engineering and materials innovation have already benefited from physical and digital training and development.
UK ITSS hosted a workshop to share best practice and identify synergies across the 11 projects and overcome challenges.
Dr Ian Hancox, Co-Director for the UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy and Project Lead for UK Technology Specialist Network RTP Opportunities, Knowledge, & Skills (TSN ROKS), one of the eleven EPSRC-funded projects said:
“These eleven unique and specialist projects funded by EPSRC and many led by RTPs are making a real difference to the skills and capacity of technical teams within universities. They each have a strategic regional or national focus and are based around a group of institutions or a particular scientific field or technology.
“Collectively, these initiatives are unlocking valuable and vital opportunities for career development for specialists who play a vital role in science and engineering.
“The RTPs leading these projects are working together to overcome challenges collaboratively to reach this specialist workforce, with support from the Institute and growing UK Technology Specialists Network (TSN).”
The UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy has partnered with EPSRC to encourage cross collaboration, create a community and share best practice, to accelerate developments within a particular scientific field or technology.
The eleven Strategic Technical Platform Project received £16m of funding in 2024. Find out more about the Strategic Technical Platform projects here
Find out more about TSN here