University News Last updated 07 July 2021
As of 2030, the UK has announced the end of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. This change will bring with it, a number of obstacles for the automotive industry. In order to get electric vehicles on the road, the challenge lies ahead to integrate this innovative powertrain technology into its existing production landscapes.
The PERSEUS project is an Innovate UK/APC (Advanced Propulsion Centre) funded project led by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The objective of the project is to help JLR and six other car industry partners transition from the manufacturing of diesel/petrol engines to electric vehicles (EV). Birmingham City University's contribution to the project is to develop and deliver purpose-made Continuous Performance Development (CPD) training courses. This will be based around industry 4.0 and the automotive industry and will support enhanced and more adaptable working in manufacturing scenarios.
The project, led by Dr. Shereen Fouad (PI Senior lecturer at CDT), began in 2019. With a team of more than 10 academics from the school of Computing and Digital Technology (CDT) and the school of Engineering and the Built Environment (EBE), this project provided a valuable opportunity to collaborate cross-faculty. The development of the project was monitored by Prof. Cham Athwal and Simon Handley.
The team was able to develop and showcase their technical expertise relevant to the industry and educate to the highest quality in technologies and engineering to the workplace as well as to the wider industry. The two schools worked together to develop and deliver 8 CPD courses to up-skill engineers within the consortium companies in the field of Automotive engineering, EV technology, Immersive technologies, Health and Safety, Cyber Security, AI, Business process reengineering, and IoT technology.
The new CPD courses were successfully delivered in 2020/2021 in a flexible and effective practice, as they covered technical and non-technical aspects. Through this project, BCU completed more than 200 enrolments from 7 leading organisations in the car manufacturing sector. Project Lead, Dr. Shereen Fouad was delighted with the positive feedback received from partners and funders.
The courses were initially designed to only be delivered as part of the PERSEUS project; however, the courses will now be offered to the wider industry in 2022. This includes accessibility to BCU students.
The PERSEUS project aligns to the BCU strategy of developing cutting-edge, industry-aligned courses, which have the potential to attract students to the faculty by showcasing the added value of this project through its outputs.