Message from RAeS
Message from RAeS
OUR PRESIDENT
Peter Round
Monday, 13 June, was the first Council Meeting of my tenure and we went hybrid. I firmly believe this is the way forward to achieve maximum engagement in the work of the Society from our worldwide membership. Nevertheless, the multiple time zones will continue to challenge us.
This past month has seen the events of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Depending a little on how you measure the start point, it is probably not an exaggeration to say the Queen has been on the throne for half of the history of powered flight and almost all of the history of space. In the year she acceded to the throne the first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet 1, received its airworthiness certificate and the last Avro Anson was delivered to the RAF, which is an interesting span of technology worthy of a column in itself. In 1952 work continued on ICBMs but space as we know it had not arrived. Nevertheless, the foundations for what was to come in the next decade were being laid. Our Society, of course, was over 80 by then but this still means the Queen has seen just about half of our lifetime.
IT IS PROBABLY NOT AN EXAGGERATION TO SAY THE QUEEN HAS BEEN ON THE THRONE FOR HALF OF THE HISTORY OF POWERED FLIGHT AND ALMOST ALL OF THE HISTORY OF SPACE
Other than by way of congratulations, my purpose of mentioning the Queen’s longevity as a Head of State is not only to celebrate and recognise her achievement but also put into context the huge advances that have been made in the period.
My key themes for my short year, which are unashamedly repeated here, will not be achieved in my time but will set the foundations for the future. The Queen has shown us how to change with the times and we can too. We must:
- Look after young prospects to bring them into our sector and sustain them thereafter.
- Make sure the Society is relevant and the go-to place for learned advice.
- Continue to reform the Society’s governance. My thanks go to all who went to https://www.aerosociety.com/about-us/governance/governance-review and looked at the Governance Review work done so far.
Those involved in the process are grateful for the feedback offered and there is still time to input if you choose. I am glad to report that the comments are generally positive; however, there were others with some excellent points that I certainly had not thought of and they will be taken into account by the President-Elect, Kerissa Khan, as she takes this work forward. The first stage will be to establish the necessary changes to the By-Laws (which require Privy Council approval) and then adjust the Regulations.
During the Council meeting we took the opportunity to welcome our newly-elected and re-elected members Sophy Antrobus, Lalitya Dhavala, Robin Saaristo, Susanne Svensdotter, Scott Vaughan and Alisdair Wood, as well as new Coopted Members, Air Vice-Marshal Simon (Spoons) Edwards who is the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Strategy) and Patrick Cahill who is Deputy Director in the Cabinet Office’s Strategic Partnering Programme with responsibility for supporting and developing Suppliers to the UK Space Sector. They join Nick Shave (Chair UKSpace) to complete our complement of three Co-options. We also re-elected Richard Gearing from the Council, and independents Sarah Moynihan (Chair of the Finance Committee) and Andrew Cowdery (Chair of the Audit Committee) to the Board of Trustees. I thank all volunteers who serve on the Council, as Trustees, and in the myriad of other roles at No.4, internationally or locally, for their invaluable efforts.
The Council took some time to discuss the ongoing supply chain issues affecting our sector as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The clear message from UK and South Africa-based commentary was that the situation is serious with no obvious end in sight and the role of the Society is to help ensure that best practice is shared. A key discussion point was that we keep the momentum up in persuading young people to join our sector, making the point that we must prepare for the future when things will inevitably improve. Creating the specialists needed in every aspect of civil and military aviation for the future takes time and we cannot let up in preparing for the future.
Last month I asked for feedback and my thanks goes to those who shared their thoughts with me. I continue to be available at president@aerosociety.com – please write or if you want to chat I am always happy to set up a phone call or VTC.
FROM THE EXECUTIVE TEAM
Nick Davis – Education, Skills & Diversity Manager
It is a pleasure to introduce myself and the team to you. I have been with the Society since the start of 2019 working within the Education, Skills and Diversity team. I took on the lead at the start of 2022 but I have had the pleasure of already working with so many of you. Without your amazing continued support with our core outreach programmes, our team would not be able to achieve its goals. So I, once again, say thank you!
What a challenging couple of years it has been for everyone, but the pandemic has been particularly difficult for young people across the world. It is now more vital than ever we at the Society continue to inspire, engage and support everyone who is interested in working in our industry, and we need to make sure we uphold the talent pipeline well into the future.
I work with three colleagues, who all support our activities: Rishi Radia, Education & Skills Executive; Rikki-Louise Davies, Careers & Education Officer; and Akelia Moxam-Black, Diversity & Inclusion Officer. Together the team covers core outreach programmes at the Society, including Cool Aeronautics, Project Altitude and Falcon 2, careers advice and guidance, our 1-2-1 careers support for everyone, external events engagement, such as Big Bang and air shows and employability workshops in schools, colleges and universities. Diversity and Inclusion strategy support working directing with the D&I Committee at the Society, support and administration of the Alta mentoring platform – our female mentoring matching platform available for free. Women in Aerospace and Aviation Committee management and support and involvement in external employer skills groups, such as the Aviation Industry Skills Board and Aerospace Growth Partnership – Skills Working Group.
I could go on, but as you can see this extensive list is supported by a small but dedicated staff team, as well as hundreds of volunteers who support our efforts and give up their time to support these activities.
WHAT A CHALLENGING COUPLE OF YEARS IT HAS BEEN FOR EVERYONE, BUT THE PANDEMIC HAS BEEN PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS THE WORLD
The Farnborough Airshow’s dedicated STEM day is returning this year. We are once again delighted to be supporting the show with the support of our partners to help showcase the best the industry has to offer for young people. Things have changed, as you can imagine, since the last time we attended in 2018 – what used to be called ‘Farnborough Friday’ is now called ‘Pioneers of Tomorrow’. Our aim is to provide a series of fun, interactive activities for everyone, including our new Xbox flight simulators, as well as the ever popular paper plane activities. On the Friday my team will be located in three areas.
This includes the Society’s main stand in the Innovation Zone, which will be converted into a careers advice stand on Friday, ‘the Square’ which will be the designated STEM activity area, located outside, and finally inside the Careers Hub where we will be providing careers, information advice and guidance, as well as delivering talks and workshops. I hope you can join us on Friday – everyone is setting the stage for a big return to the show after four years.
We are delighted that 2022 began with the restart of many in-person events and engagement. Now six months on, the invites are flooding back in. Cool Aeronautics for the past two years has been mainly virtual, with many events taking place over lockdown that can all be viewed on the Society’s YouTube channel. This includes our supporters from the Yeovil Branch, who each year organise the biggest Cool Aeronautics, who in 2020 and 2021 did a fantastic job of reaching over 500 students virtually, by broadcasting into classrooms live. This year, we have once again returned to previous 2019 venues, such as the Stansted Airport Aerozone and Sheffield Hallam University. We are also delighted to welcome some new venues for 2022, including the East Midlands and Manchester Aerozones and Luton Airport. Keep an eye out on our social media and in AEROSPACE for information about the events in the pipeline.
Falcon 2 is now well on track to launch officially in September, the Covid pandemic having delayed the launch. After long discussions with teachers and educators, we are very confident that they will be ready to take part during the new academic year. Working with Boeing, Middlesex University and the disabled flying charity, Aerobility, we are tasking young people and youth groups with designing and building an accessible flight simulator, so everyone, no matter their ability, can experience the wonders of flight. If you would like to be involved in Falcon 2, we would very much like to hear from you. We are also looking for a secondee from industry to lead the project management. Please drop me an email if you can support in any way.
Our funded secondary school outreach programme, Project Altitude, is well on track for an in-person restart from September at the request of schools. Similar to Cool Aeronautics, but aimed at 14+-year-olds, we take aerospace and aviation themes to young people across the UK. The days consists of inspirational talks by the Society’s Corporate Partners and supporters, followed by a build challenge. Again, if you know a local school who might be interested or would like to take part, please let us know.
The Education and Skills Committee hosted its first in-person meeting at No.4 in May after two years of virtual. It was wonderful to get together again and discuss the challenges and opportunities within our sectors. Skills gaps and skills fade was discussed
at length, and there was a mutual feeling which stressed the importance of CPD, life-long learning and outreach. We are also well on track to deliver an in-person careers fair on 2 November at No.4. Due to the success of the virtual events, we do not want to lose that element but, from feedback, our exhibitors prefer in-person. So, we may broadcast the talks live using a virtual platform. If your organisation would like to exhibit, please let us know. Our online careers support platform for members continues to see good engagement numbers and interactions. Feedback from members continues to be very positive and users are engaging with multiple aspects of the platform, including the CV AI tools and e-Learning courses. Members can log in and use it for free – Career Flightpath Platform (aerosociety.com).
The Diversity and Inclusion Committee continues to play a vital role in shaping the Society’s strategies and policies, but also in influencing changes within the industry. Recent activity includes our webinar series celebrating racial diversity, the first focusing on BAME Terminology and the second on optimising recruitment and selection for the 21st century. Both are now available to watch back on-demand via our YouTube channel. Looking ahead, the committee is planning to host a couple of events in the autumn at No.4, including a networking event celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. The Society also expects to launch in the summer its new D&I feedback process to allow it to better understand and adapt its activities for the widest possible audience. This will be supported by a new Society D&I Policy to complement the existing provisions in the Society’s Codes of Conduct. The Society is also putting in place the technical mechanisms for it to improve the capture of diversity data to support our work in increasing our understanding in this area.
The Alta mentoring platform for women, a partnership with Airbus, RAF, UWE and Little Blue Private Jets and a blended programme based on an online matching platform and supporting events, grew to 400+ users, and we organised a number of virtual mentoring events to connect Alta mentees during Covid. The platform is free to all users and open to members and non-members as part of our public benefit commitment and provides a secure way for women to connect and arrange mentoring sessions, supported by guidance materials.
Once again, if you would like to support any of our projects, in particular support in helping us find a secondee for Falcon 2 from industry, please drop me an email – nicholas.davis@aerosociety.com