New appointment to tackle dairy skills crisis
Lynne Somerville has been tasked with re-evaluating how the dairy industry can attract and retain workers
A new role has been created by the Digital Dairy Chain project to re-evaluate how the dairy industry can attract and retain its workforce.
The government-funded project, led by Scotland's Rural College (伊人直播), seeks to address the skills shortage via its 鈥榃orkforce for the Future鈥� programme.
Lynne Somerville, who is employed by Digital Dairy Chain partner the University of the West of Scotland, will run the programme in her new role as Skills Lead.
Lynne鈥檚 aims for the five-year role include establishing a dairy skills forum and conducting a full sector review to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape and what training provisions and education policies are needed to support the dairy industry over the next 25 years.
Speaking about what led her into a career in skills and education, Lynne said: 鈥淎fter spending years working both in the private sector and launching my own start-up ventures, I鈥檇 had a taste of working within the education sector both here in the UK and in the Middle East.
鈥淔ive years ago, I joined the education sector full time working with a private Skills Development Scotland training provider and then Heriot Watt University working cross sector to bridge skills gaps and aid organisation in succession planning.
鈥淛oining the Digital Dairy Chain team allows me to hone my knowledge in one very specific and unique industry. It is vital we encourage and support more young people into a career in the dairy sector, not just for economic reasons and to ensure our dairy farmers can stay in business but so that the UK鈥檚 dairy sector can compete in international markets.
鈥淭here are various career paths and roles available in dairy so it鈥檚 fantastic to be part of a project which is not only showcasing this but helping to break down barriers to new talent entering.鈥�
Stuart Martin, Programme Director of the Digital Dairy Chain, said: 鈥淟ynne鈥檚 drive and experience made her the ideal candidate for this role. We鈥檙e delighted to have her leading what is fundamentally one of the most important programmes the Digital Dairy Chain is running.
鈥淚 have no doubt the Workforce for the Future programme will be a key part of the project鈥檚 legacy and will have a significant impact upon on the dairy sector.鈥�
If you鈥檙e interested in finding out more about the Workforce for the Future programme or how you can get involved, please contact lynne.somerville@uws.ac.uk.
Posted by 伊人直播 on 17/10/2023
