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Birmingham chosen for new medical manufacturing skills hub

2025-04-22 19:21:26 By

Ivan Wall, a professor at the University of Birmingham and a co-director of Resilience

Birmingham has been chosen as a base for the UK's first Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellence.

The new facility will use virtual reality to train in laboratory skills and support the NHS' goal of net zero.

The new initiative, known as Resilience, will address the skills shortage faced by the medicines manufacturing industry in the UK and the University of Birmingham will be one of the partners delivering the programme.

Funded by the Office for Life Sciences, part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, and managed through Innovate UK, Resilience is a £4.5 million, two-year programme.

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Lord Patrick Vallance, the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, said: "With over £108 billion turnover, as a provider of over 300,000 jobs nationwide and as a source of treatments helping tackle some of the most debilitating diseases, the life sciences sector is one of the UK's true industrial champions.

"Our medicines manufacturers' work is critical to the economic success and health of the nation. For them to keep being successful, it is imperative that we help them bridge the industry's skills gaps.

"This new centre of excellence will be an important part of those efforts, bringing industry, universities and the NHS together with schools and colleges to ignite the next generation of life sciences talent."

Resilience will create and deliver new training courses for industry, the NHS and education providers, addressing key sector priorities, including digital technology, artificial intelligence, data analysis and environmental sustainability.

The Resilience partner organisations will deliver in-person and remote training courses in advanced laboratory and medicines manufacturing skills to schools, higher and further education colleges, universities and the NHS.

Ivan Wall is a professor at the University of Birmingham and a co-director of Resilience.

He added: "The use of VR technology will be central to the project, helping young people safely learn skills that it would be impractical to gain in the real world due to logistics and capacity.

"It will also help the NHS to meet its long-term goal of achieving net zero. 25 per cent of their emissions are in the supply chain and VR will help the industry deliver net-zero medicines manufacturing."

The Resilience STEM Outreach programme will produce curriculum-aligned materials and careers awareness events.

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Manufacturing

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Manufacturing

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Manufacturing

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Manufacturing

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Manufacturing

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Manufacturing

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2025-04-22 19:21:26

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Manufacturing

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2025-04-22 19:21:26

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