Background
This document outlines the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy’s response to the Scottish Affairs Committee’s (Commons) call for written evidence for Securing Scotland’s Future: Defence Skills and Jobs inquiry.
Our response
Technical roles supporting defence-related research and innovation
- Scottish universities contribute to defence-related capability across engineering, medicine, digital technologies, and data-intensive disciplines. Technical professionals enable this activity by operating and maintaining specialist laboratories, secure data systems, research infrastructure, and high-risk experimental environments essential to defence research.
- Technical expertise supports applied engineering platforms, health, and human performance research, digital and forensic analysis, and advanced data processing. These roles are embedded across mainstream research and teaching activity rather than confined to discrete defence units, making them a foundational component of the research system underpinning defence outcomes.
Technical workforce challenges
- Technical professionals remain insufficiently visible in institutional strategy and workforce planning despite their central contribution. Formal recognition, progression frameworks, and inclusion in funding and workforce models are inconsistent, limiting career development, and retention.
- Sustainability risks are increasing due to reliance on short-term research funding, an ageing workforce, and the loss of tacit knowledge. Growing demand for advanced digital, data and infrastructure skills further intensifies pressure on the technical workforce supporting defence-related research.
Education and training pathways into technical roles
- Foundation apprenticeships, graduate apprenticeships, work-based learning, and university placements provide important entry routes into technical careers and early exposure to defence-relevant environments. However, practical barriers and funding constraints limit their effectiveness within research-intensive settings.
- Misalignment between apprenticeship policy, funding rules, and higher education research employment models restricts progression pathways. Stronger integration across schools, Further Education (FE), Higher Education (HE), and industry is required to establish coherent technical skills pathways aligned with defence and research workforce needs.
A strong long-term strategy for Scotland should include:
- Explicit recognition of technical professional roles as a strategic asset to achieve the economic growth ambitions as set out in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy
- Integrated technical skills and education planning across schools, FE, HE, and industry
- Funding models that support stable technical professional careers rather than short-term employment dependant to research-funding
- Strengthened technical workforce collaboration between universities, defence partners, and regional employers.
Prepared by: Farheen Akhtar, Institute Policy and Engagement Manager
The Institute’s Research and Policy Group conducts research to help the sector better understand the technical workforce. We use these insights to influence policy changes related to technical roles, education, and training.