About

Skills and Education in Robotics and Autonomous Systems

The SERAS task group was established in March 2020 with funding from the UK-RAS network as a UK-wide national body to address Britain’s skills deficit around Robotics & Autonomous Systems.  Further funding from Research England’s Pitch-In project in April widened the task group’s remit to explore skills provision for the Internet of Things. 

The task group will deliver:

  1. A White Paper on closing the skills gap in RAS. This paper will cover (i) the challenges in relation to UK productivity, RAS skills shortages, and the future of work; (ii) the state of RAS education in the UK, including its relationship to STEM learning at primary, secondary and tertiary levels; (iii) a review of practices in RAS education, including strategies for scaling; (iv) inclusion, gender and diversity issues; and (v) a roadmap for transforming the education and skills landscape in both the near and long-term.

  2. A programme of hackathon and engagement activities around improving skills and diversity in RAS and generating educational resources. The programme will include activities in UK Robotics week.

  3. A series of sustainability workshops involving task group members, third sector organisations, technology and HR companies, and education providers to develop strategic partnerships and co-create funding bids.

  4. A multi-media campaign to promote the findings of the task group and white paper to policymakers, educational institutions and other key stakeholders.

  5. A national conference on skills and education in RAS.</li?

    Steering Group:

    The Steering Group for the project comprises of

    Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield and Sheffield Robotics
    Patricia Charlton, The Open University and Institute of Coding
    Zhibin (Alex) Li, The University of Edinburgh & Edinburgh Robotics Centre
    John Sexton, Coleg Gwent
    Michael Cregan, Queen’s University Belfast
    Richard Waterstone, University of Sheffield and Sheffield Robotics