The UK faces a critical challenge in relation to skills, employment expectations and pathways to employment in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. Young people are at the forefront of the response because of additional factors such as an ageing workforce (in healthcare and across other sectors) and the impact of the pandemic on society.

The pace and scale of technological changes across all sectors is also accelerating rapidly and the training and education of the future workforce needs to adapt. Integrating the latest knowledge and skills in digital technology across healthcare, for example, would help to embrace remote monitoring of patients, aid screening and diagnosis, and speed up and scale up rehabilitation via the use of wearable sensors.

To address this challenge, we focus our research, innovation and knowledge exchange activity on the creation of skilled individuals, ensuring the workforce of the future is fit for purpose.

We build strong relationships with schools, colleges and employers, create space to listen to the needs of young people, and help shape a path to employment. We stimulate and nurture ambition and entrepreneurship, by involving students and young people from local communities in our research and innovation, benefitting from their ingenuity. 

Developing skills through state-of-the-art facilities and the unique multidisciplinary, collaborative environment of the AWRC, we work to develop a workforce that is not confined by current boundaries. This new type of enterprise will produce highly skilled graduates and postgraduates who are adaptable, creative and able to act quickly and respond to new opportunities as they arise.