Many sectors are working towards mitigating the challenges of climate change, in aerospace this is no different and significant work is being undertaken to establish More Electric and All Electric aircraft to significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels and therefore reduce global emissions. To enable this technological shift from fossil fuel to electrically powered aircraft, a pipe stream of highly skilled engineers and scientists is required to invent, develop, test and manufacture solutions for this sector. To be effective, these people need a set of multi-disciplinary skills. They need to be trained in leadership and management whilst also understanding their own technical fields in depth, and understanding the impact of their research areas upon other disciplines in these complex new systems. For example, an electrical engineer needs to understand the technological limitations of materials within the designed systems so to avoid excessive thermal energy dissipation which may destroy used materials.
The European Commission has driven this skills agenda and set out a vision for aviation and a future aerospace industry called ‘Flightpath 2050’. The report determined that “A network of multidisciplinary technology clusters” needed to be at the heart of technology development to keep Europe competitive in this strategically important global industry. At the time of publishing, multidisciplinary training tailored to the needs of the aerospace industry was limited.
The EU MSCA COFUND doctoral programme, INNOVATIVE aimed to address this shortfall in multi-disciplinary skills gap and has delivered a step-change in the training of 23 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in aerospace technologies. It has done this by providing a comprehensive programme empowering researchers with a multidisciplinary skillset comprising tools, techniques and methods suitable for pursuing careers in Aerospace Technology and related fields. The 23 ESRs have been distributed across 4 research areas: Aerospace Electrification and Propulsion, Aerospace Materials, Aerospace Manufacturing and Aerospace Operations. Each ESR has worked with leading academics undertaking a PhD in a specific topic and utilised generous funding to pursue technical and professional skills training whilst also disseminating their work at international conferences and high ranked journals. Concurrently, developing their team skills has been at the core of the programme and has seen ESRs design test and manufacture solar powered UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or work in multi-disciplinary teams to develop novel concepts for the Airbus ‘fly your ideas’ international competition. ESRs also gained unrivalled exposure to the aerospace industry through secondments into leading aerospace companies. These secondments have been pivotal to ESRs gaining confidence in their skillset and ability to make an impact in industry and have thus influenced many ERSs choices to enter industry post-graduation and consequently validated the original aims of the programme.
The 23 ESRs also benefited from being based in the supra-disciplinary environment of the Institute for Aerospace Technology (IAT) at the University of Nottingham, which regroups all aerospace interests and activities in the University, from science and engineering, to business, law and political sciences and psychology. To quote ESRs: Dr. Vincenzo Madonna: “Being at IAT has meant I’ve been able to work within a larger, multidisciplinary team and interact with colleagues from other faculties who are working on fuel and propulsion technologies. This has provided me with an overall view of aerospace research at the university, helping me to see how my project fits into an overall vision.” Sarah Shabbir: “Everyone at IAT works in aerospace, but with different scopes – mechanical, electrical, human-factors, etc. The IAT provides interdisciplinary learning – it’s a place where you can bounce ideas off each other and learn through collaboration.”
