VR UK training center to assist future vax makers

The ‘RESILIENCE’ center aims to deliver training, programs, and outreach materials to students to address the skills demand in the life sciences sector. The training will be led by the University of Birmingham, alongside University College London (UCL), Teeside University, Britest Limited, and Heriot-Watt University.

“We will be expanding our network with affiliate membership over the next 2 years to scale up training provision and education across the UK,” Ivan Wall, professor of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Birmingham and co-director of RESILIENCE, told BioProcess Insider.

“Funding will go to the centers to create and deliver training in a flexible manner, to build accelerator programs and bootcamps, to undertake outreach to schools and colleges to build the future talent pipeline, to develop digital skills and use VR [and] augmented reality (AR) software to create accessible training and accelerated onboarding of manufacturing operators.”

University students across the UK will have the opportunity to access the training, which is being developed by the RESILIENCE center and it will provide them with VR and mixed reality situations to give the individuals a “near to real life” experience of lab environments for drug manufacturing. Additionally, there will be more traditional teaching approaches.

Additionally, 150 schools and colleges will have access to free resources to encourage and inspire the potential future generation of medicine manufacturers. As well as providing the future talent pipeline with education, monitoring, and outreach, this also allows the places of education to become affiliate members of the RESILIENCE network.

The training courses will also be advanced to support the workers in the UK medicines manufacturing community, across industry and National Health Service (NHS). The consortium said this will ensure the country continues to develop medicines and is prepared for future pandemics.

Wall told us there will be a wide range of courses offered to the various groups in the industry and it will cover “small molecule pharmaceuticals to biologics to advanced therapies.” The consortium claimed this type of training will provide a safe space and reduce waste, meaning the new employees and graduates are prepared for workplace environments at speed.

The $5.7 million funding is initially for two-years.