The Blair Project is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof John Perkins as a strategic adviser as we seek to grow and develop our exciting ProtoEV Electric Go Kart STEM Programme nationally so more young people will choose to pursue careers as innovators, technicians and engineers.
Professor Perkins is a former Scientific Adviser to UK Government and the author of the highly respected Perkins Review of Engineering Skills published in November 2013. The review called for government, employers, educators and the profession to work together to increase engineering skills supply by enthusing young people as young as 8, and to also target girls to close the gender gap.
An official Year of Engineering project, ProtoEV involves teams of students (14 – 25) converting used petrol go karts into fully electric ekarts, which they test and race to see which is the fastest and most energy efficient. The Blair Project and ProtoEV have also been chosen as one of 4 x exemplars in Greater Manchester which are delivering on the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy one year on.
With key responsibility for high level stakeholder engagement, Prof Perkins will work with The Blair Project to develop the organization’s growthstrategy and support us in securing the necessary seed funding to fuel our national expansion through closer links with government, universities and industry .
“ We are very excited to have Prof Perkins as a strategic adviser to The Blair Project. He is the UK’s leading engineering and skills expert; he will also help to advise on curriculum development “says Nile Henry, The Blair Project’s CEO.
Since the original release of the Perkins Review, there have been substantial changes in the education and skills policy landscape, including the UK’s decision to leave the EU and the launch of a new Industrial Strategy. The Royal Academy of Engineering’s latest report update, Engineering Skills for the Future: the2013Perkins Review Revisiteds, will be launched atthe House of Lords on 30 January 2019 by Professor John Perkins CBE FREng and Baroness Burt of Solihull.
Professor Perkins says:“I’m delighted to be working with The Blair Project to inspire tomorrow’s engineers and maintain our country’s commitment to developing and training new generations of highly skilled people to support Britain’s long-term economic ambitions.”
Prof Perkins was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empirein the 2007 New Year Honours. He is a Fellow of: the Institution of Chemical Engineers(since 1986), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications(since 1993), the Royal Academy of Engineering(since 1993), the City and Guilds of London Institute(since 1996), the Royal Society of Arts(since 2004), and the Institute of Engineering and Technology(since 2015).
He was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers for the 2000–01 year, and was Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2007 to 2010.