Training and development for the food and drink sector will be enhanced with a new partnership that will bring together industry and academic expertise.
The University of Nottingham is partnering with Briggs of Burton to launch a new training academy that will provide theoretical and practical training to its staff and valuable hands-on experience for students. The University’s Faculty of Engineering will also be collaborating with Briggs of Burton, exploring world-leading research and future innovation together.
The International Centre for Brewing Science is a centre of excellence for brewing education and research at the University of Nottingham and is where Briggs of Burton designed and built a ‘Research Pilot Brewery’ for the University that has been operating successfully for 14 years.
The centre will now be expanded to offer theoretical and practical training to equip Briggs’ teams with the expert knowledge needed to deliver projects for customers, and generate a new talent pipeline of mechanical, electrical/control, chemical/process, and industrial automation/software engineers.
The Research Pilot Brewery is a production operational environment and a working factory that features a high level of instrumentation and control and automation. Using this as a training facility will allow the Briggs team and students to directly explore and enhance their skills across topics such as hygienic process design, industrial process control, and health and safety operations.
Experts from the University of Nottingham and Briggs of Burton will join forces to deliver a blend of theory and practical training on site. The training will include: practical hands-on brewing experience days, process engineering deep-dives, and health and safety training workshops.
The partnership will also provide opportunities for wider industry engagement and collaboration as the Research Pilot Brewery will be used as a hub for manufacturers, suppliers and customers to explore and learn more about the hygienic process.
Professor Sam Kingman, provost and deputy vice chancellor at the University of Nottingham, said: “Our new partnership with Briggs of Burton further strengthens our position as a leading centre for excellence in brewing research.
“This is an exciting new partnership which showcases how industry and the university can work closely together. It allows us to support Brigg’s objectives to be a sector-leader, creates new research projects and new employment pathways for our students”
Robert Buxton, CEO of Briggs of Burton, said: “The Research Pilot Brewery at the University still surprises people with respect to its design, layout, finish, and sophisticated instrumentation/control.
“Supporting the learning and development of our current and future workforce is a major focus for our business and providing further hands-on access to this excellent facility and worldclass teaching from the team at the University will provide opportunities to members of our own team and potential future engineers.”
Jo Simpson, chief revenue officer at the University of Nottingham, said: “This new partnership brings another global-leading organisation onto our campus to benefit from our unique ecosystem. It is a relationship that is driven by excellence. Combining the very best of our facilities and technical staff with a truly sector-leading company.
“We are proud to support the ambitions of Briggs to develop their outstanding workforce alongside creating important new opportunities for our students to interact directly with industry. This is just the starting point of what is going to be a very exciting partnership.”