PUBLIC EVENT
Data‑centric engineering (DCE) and AI are rapidly reshaping engineering practice. As industries move toward data‑driven operations, universities play a critical role in preparing graduates with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to lead this transformation.
Join us for the launch of a new report exploring how DCE and AI are currently embedded within UK higher‑education engineering programmes, and how they can be more coherently and equitably scaled across undergraduate and postgraduate education.
This report marks the first release from the Skills Observatory, a key function of the Academy’s National Engineering Skills Centre. The Skills Centre is a new centre of expertise that will upskill and reskill engineers at scale, responding to the UK’s chronic and growing shortfalls in engineering skills capacity.
You will hear directly from the report authors and representatives from academia and industry with a panel discussion and Q&A, where you can have your questions answered.
Be the first to hear the insights from this new report and take part in shaping a more data‑centric future for engineering education in the UK.
Programme*
| 2.50pm | Zoom webinar opens |
| 3.00pm |
Welcome and Introduction Dr Rhys Morgan, Director for Education and Skills, Royal Academy of Engineering |
| 3.05pm |
Presentation of report findings Dr Adam Sobey, Mission Director for Sustainability, The Alan Turing Institute |
| 3.25pm |
Panel discussion
|
| 3.35pm | Audience Q&A |
| 4.00pm | End of webinar |
*subject to change
Recording notice
Please note this event will be recorded and published on the Royal Academy of Engineering website. Your video will be off and your account will be muted throughout the entire event. Only the speakers and presentations will be visible on your screen.
Accessibility
It is very important to the Royal Academy of Engineering that our events are accessible to all. If you have any accessibility requirements, please contact the Events team at your earliest convenience so that necessary arrangements can be made. Contact details: [email protected].
Diversity monitoring form
The Academy is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and one of our goals is to develop an engineering community fit for the future. To help us achieve this, we would like to collect some basic anonymous data about the event attendees. If you would like to help, please complete the diversity monitoring form by logging into your user account on our website and completing ‘Update my D&I data’.
Dr Rhys Morgan
Dr Rhys Morgan is the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Director for Education and Skills and is regarded as one of the UK’s leading experts on engineering and technology education. He is responsible for the Academy’s policy and programme work in STEM education - from elementary schools through to skills in the workforce. His portfolio of work includes analysis of the UK engineering and technology skills base and the capacity and capability of the UK education system to deliver the workforce of the future. Rhys advises various UK government skills taskforces including nuclear, quantum, semiconductor, 6G telecoms and future transport. He has led major projects including Formula 1 Champion Lewis Hamilton’s Commission into improving the representation of Black people in motorsport and the Formula 1 Diversity and Inclusion charter which was published last year. Rhys is a materials engineer by background, and developed one of the first metal 3D printers in 1996.
Dr Gabin Kayumbi
Dr Gabin Kayumbi is Senior Research Community Manager for the Sustainability Mission at The Alan Turing Institute, where he leads initiatives at the intersection of research community development, skills and training, and international knowledge exchange. The Sustainability Mission applies Data-Centric Engineering to support the safe decarbonisation of transportation networks, manufacturing processes and critical infrastructure, contributing to pathways towards net zero.
He holds a PhD in Computer Vision from Queen Mary University of London and a degree in Telecommunications Engineering completed between the University of Genoa (Italy) and Aalborg University (Denmark). His expertise spans open science, FAIR data, digital research infrastructure and applied AI, with a focus on interconnected systems encompassing open-source software, datasets, communities, and processes.
Dr Kayumbi also focuses on the design and delivery of training programmes for multidisciplinary audiences, covering areas such as research data management, open science practices and collaborative research methods. He has a strong interest in international engagement with stakeholders across Europe, Africa and Asia. He has contributed to knowledge exchange activities linking universities, research institutions, and industry.
Professor Claire Lucas
Professor Claire Lucas is Executive Dean of the School of Engineering and Innovation at Aston University and Professor of Engineering Education and Skills. Her work focuses on the development of skills and capabilities required for a future engineering workforce with particular emphasis on the development of systems models of skills and national skill planning for the future.
She has contributed to national engineering education policy through leadership roles in accreditation and standards, including with the Engineering Council and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Her research spans skills development, human factors and curriculum design, and has influenced approaches to professional formation, including the development of the “key-shaped engineer” framework and the UK’s first behavioural skills taxonomy for engineering.
She works closely with industry and policy partners to align education, innovation and workforce development with emerging technological needs.
Professor Adam Sobey
Professor Adam Sobey is Mission Director for Sustainability at the Alan Turing Institute and Professor of Data-Centric Engineering in the Maritime Engineering group at the University of Southampton. The Sustainability mission focuses on the safe decarbonisation of transportation networks, manufacturing processes and critical infrastructure, to create pathways to net zero. The mission uses the tools of data-centric engineering, pioneered by researchers at the Turing in partnership with Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a global safety charity with a mission to engineer a safer world. He is also a Non-Executive Director at Theyr Ltd, a MetOcean and Voyage Optimisation Software provider and at AQ, provide tools for Digital Assurance.
He completed his degree in Astronautics at the University of Southampton in 2006 and his PhD in the Maritime Engineering group in 2010 using AI in the design of leisure boats. From 2009 he managed the Lloyd’s Register/Ministry of Defence Centre of Excellence in Marine Structures at Southampton, developing new techniques to model damaged ships. This research was incorporated into Lloyd’s Register’s design guidance and in 2015 he was awarded the Royal Institution of Naval Architect’s Jeom Paik Award for stochastic analysis of ship structures. In 2014 he became a Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust funded Research Fellow with 50% of his time seconded to the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, developing novel algorithms in Evolutionary Computation. In 2015 he was a co-Investigator for the University of Southampton Lloyd’s Register Foundation University Technology Centre in “Ship Design for Enhanced Environmental Performance”.
He became a lecturer in the Maritime Engineering group in 2018 and was asked to start a theme in Marine and Maritime within the Data-Centric Engineering programme at The Alan Turing Institute in 2019 with Gabriel Weymouth. He became the first Professor in Data-Centric Engineering in 2022 and Programme Director for Data-Centric Engineering in 2023. In 2025, he became Mission Director for Sustainability, part of the Environment and Sustainability grand challenge at the Turing.
Poppy Harrison
Poppy Harrison is a senior engineer at AtkinsRéalis, working in the nuclear sector across new build, emerging technologies, and legacy decommissioning. Her current work focuses on systems engineering and how digital and data-centric approaches can support better engineering decisions in complex, safety-critical environments.
Poppy is involved in a number of engineering skills and education initiatives, including as a taskforce contributor to the City of London's Skills for a Sustainable Skyline, and as part of EngineeringUK & BCS's gender pathways into engineering and technology project. She is actively involved in outreach and volunteering initiatives through SheCanEngineer, and professional institutions, including the IMechE and IfSE. Poppy is interested in how the profession can build the skills and confidence to navigate an increasingly data-driven landscape, and in making sure that the transition is inclusive and accessible.