September FIT Meeting Focuses on the Roadmap for Growing Fusion Sector Skills

By Fusion Industry Taskforce

October 2, 2024

Earlier this month, the Fusion Industry Taskforce (FIT) representing organisations from the fusion supply chain, engineering companies, academia and professional services organisations, came together at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, to discuss industry actions and recommendations for government to grow the UK’s fusion skills base.

Guest speakers included Nick Walkden, Head of Fusion Skills and FOSTER programme Director at UKAEA and James Jopling, Fusion Sector and Investment Lead at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Nick provided detailed insights on the challenges and opportunities growing the UK fusion talent pool and how industry must work in-step with Government to help bridge the skills gap through a multi-decadal strategic programme.

Given the academic representation in the room, a significant part of the discussion focused on the role of universities in nurturing the next generation of fusion PhD students and engineers, who will be critical in defining the UK’s success in the sector.

A key focus of the UKAEA’s vision is to deliver a fusion skills ecosystem with significant international reach to train the next generation of fusion specialists who will ultimately deliver and manage future plants. A key pillar of this is to train over 2,000 individuals in the immediate years ahead while ensuring that fusion specialists remain in the UK and grow their careers together with the industry.

Specific points on the fusion skills agenda included discussion about:

Deepening the available talent pool and ensuring that the UK is able to attract the best and brightest talent without barriers over visas and immigration.
Widening the available talent pool to increase the number of people from different backgrounds and different skillsets joining the sector.
Increasing awareness of opportunities in the fusion sector with job seekers, and those who are seeking to retrain. This must be accompanied by targeted outreach.
Creating a community focused on skills within the existing fusion sector so that there is a central location skills mapping exercise that all organisations and universities can access and utilise.

The Fusion Industry Taskforce is grateful to Corpus Christi College and the University of Oxford for providing its affiliate organisations with a space to share knowledge and insights on key issues relating to the UK fusion’s skills sector.