The first Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) Employers’ Forum was hosted by EDF Energy at Barnwood on Tuesday 18 September. This event was attended by over 60 delegates include representatives from academia, industry and commerce, specialists in employability skills, students and recent graduates.
The Programme included talks from:
Dr David Ogle CMath FIMA CSci and Ms Joanne Norman of EDF Energy who spoke about Recruiting Mathematicians for the Nuclear Renaissance, What EDF Energy does, Why they recruit mathematicians and How mathematicians progress through their recruitment campaign.
The Head of profession for Mathematics of GCHQ spoke about Mathematics in Cyberspace, Skills required of mathematicians for a career with GCHQ and Recruitment of mathematicians at GCHQ.
Dr R Leese FIMA of the Smith Institute discussed Embedded Employability and gave a guide to enhancing the university curriculum.
The talks where followed by three separate ‘Graduate’s Eye View’ Breakout sessions. These gave smaller groups the opportunity to hear about recent graduate’s, from both EDF Energy and AWE, experiences of the recruitment process, each ending in lively Q and A session.
The meeting concluded with a panel session in which the speakers were joined by Professor David Percy CMath FIMA CSci and the topics raised throughout the day were further explored.
Feedback from the delegates:
‘Speakers very interesting , I have already spoken to my 1st and 2nd year students in their induction about the event.’
Karen Wynne FIMA Programme Director for Mathematics & Statistics at Northumbria University
‘I left with greater awareness of the problems facing students and universities, and a greater desire to help resolve them.’
Mr Edward Bray AMIMA, Engineer at EDF Energy
‘The talks were very informative; their content will help us enormously in addressing the skills element of our modules.’
Professor Russell Davies CMath FIMA from Cardiff University
‘It was good to hear from employers and students and I thought the discussions with the audience were particularly valuable. It seemed to me that the IMA is playing a vital role in improving communication between HEIs and employers, as well as providing opportunities to improve communication within these groups and with other educational organisations such as MEI.’
Janice Richards, Programme Leader (Industry) at Mathematics in Education and Industry
‘All the presentations were useful and will help me in my work with STEM students and academic departments. The opportunities to network with academics and employers
was really appreciated and of great value.’
Ms Valerie Matthews-Lane, Careers Adviser from University of Leicester