Workforce Foresighting Hub podcast series
Focusing on the alignment between future skills and innovation, the Workforce Foresighting Hub Podcast brings together coaches, system developers, participants of cycles, and convenors from the Catapult Network to discuss how we can work together to start addressing the skills challenge.
The Workforce Foresighting Hub is an Innovate UK initiative created to provide insights and recommendations that will help identify and prepare for future skills demands. The aim is to foster the organisational capability and workforce skills required to adapt to continuing change and enable the adoption of innovative technologies to enable a prosperous UK industry.
Episode 1 – What is the skills challenge?
In the first episode of the series, we are joined by Workforce Foresighting Hub Lead Consultants John Lanham and Paul Shakspeare to delve into the UK skills challenge.
John has worked in the higher education and skills sector for over 30 years and has been part of the work to develop the Workforce Foresighting Hub for the last five years.
Paul is an engineer who spent most of his career working on how we train and educate people in various fields, which is how he initially met John. They now work together as consultants to help deliver the ambitions of the Workforce Foresighting Hub programme.
The pair examine what exactly the skills challenge is, why it is important and how it impacts the UK. As well as this, they discuss what has been done to address this challenge so far and what can be done to ensure UK organisations have a skilled workforce ready to adapt to new capabilities aligned with emerging technology and innovation.
If you want to hear about the skills challenge and how we can deal with it, watch the first episode below. You can also watch as a video on YouTube or listen on Spotify.
Future episodes
Episode 2 – Introducing the Workforce Foresighting Hub – Available August 2024
The second episode looks at how the Workforce Foresighting Hub programme and the wider Skills Value Chain approach can address the UK skills challenge.
We’re joined by WF Hub coaches Steve Picker and John Lanham who explain what the programme consists of and how it works, as well as how we can use insights and data to inform how we prepare for the future.
Episode 3 – OREC – a Workforce Foresighting Hub Case Study – Available September 2024
Our third episode sees us speak to Andrew Esson, Future Skills Lead at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (OREC).
OREC were part of one of the first Workforce Foresighting Hub cycles, where they looked into preparing the workforce for future challenges in the offshore floating wind sector. In this episode, we hear about OREC’s experience in the programme, how they benefitted from it and what they learned along the way.
Episode 4 – Coaches Corner – Available October 2024
The Workforce Foresighting Hub coaches are at the heart of the WF Hub programme. They work closely with all participants to ensure everything runs smoothly and offer advice and guidance throughout the workshops. So, who better to get on the podcast to discuss the WF Hub process with?
For this episode, WF Hub coaches Satchin Semage, Jack Lockhart and Samantha Yair discuss their background in skills and share the insights they have learned from the workshops.
Related programme
Workforce Foresighting
How do we build a skilled workforce for tomorrow’s industries? The Workforce Foresighting Hub has developed a structured process, aligned with national policy, to help deliver a workforce to exploit innovative technologies in the UK. We’re supporting industry, policymakers and educators to adapt to continuing change.