Babcock have stepped up its commitment to tackling the engineering skills challenge by supporting two of the biggest student engineering events in Europe this year.

From drones to cars powered by artificial intelligence, they are teaming up with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on its Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) challenge and Formula Student as its official AI partner.

Thousands of undergraduate engineering students from all over the world are taking part in the competitions. UAS celebrates its tenth anniversary this year and is taking place at Buckminster Airfield 1-4 July, while Formula Student will be held at the famous Silverstone Racing Circuit 17-21 July.

At Formula Student, students are tasked with designing, building and racing a single seater racing car from scratch. As AI partner, our focus is on mentoring and developing how students can develop crucial skills in areas like AI to bridge the technical skills gap.

Brad Yelland, Babcock’s Chief Engineering and Technology Officer, said: “For Babcock, investing in future skills is as important to us as investing in the next bit of tech. Supporting events like these challenges means we can directly work with future talent and help them transition from university to the workplace providing real-world experience.”

Babcock engineer, Chris Dix, who took part in Formula Student whilst at Cardiff University is volunteering at both events: “For me, this is about safeguarding future skills and ensuring that as engineers we’re doing our bit to support the next generation. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the teams step up to this year’s challenge.”