Meet the Team: Chanida Fung

Originally joining OAS as Recruitment Co-ordinator in 2021, Chanida has recently moved into a new role enabling her to focus on inspiring more people to join the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) community by making science more accessible, more diverse, and more fun!

We talked to her about how she first discovered her passion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I), why inclusion is such an important part of closing the engineering skills gap, and what she’s enjoying most about her new role.

What is your role at OAS?

I’m the ED&I and STEM Coordinator based at OAS. I’m supporting the Access and Awareness initiative, which is a joint project between UKAEA, MTC Training and the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) that aims to make engineering, STEM and apprenticeships in general more inclusive and accessible for anyone from any background. In particular, we’re working to encourage more awareness and engagement by people from underrepresented groups and communities.

Currently, we have a lot of highly skilled older engineers who are very specialised in their own field, but there aren’t enough new engineers for them to pass their knowledge onto, and this is creating a huge skills gap in the engineering sector. Closing that gap means making engineering more accessible to a diverse range of people – there’s so much talent that will stay hidden if we don’t give everyone an opportunity to fall in love with science and engineering.

I’m helping to raise awareness about careers in STEM and showing people the huge range of areas that engineering covers. I help local schools to build an inspiring science and engineering curriculum, get out into local communities that might not have access to resources and opportunities to get hands-on with STEM. I also help to make sure that current and future apprentices, colleagues and employers have the tools they need to manage and respond to any additional needs people may have when they join the programme so that everyone is supported to fulfil their potential.

What do you enjoy most about your role / working at OAS?

My job is really about making science fun, which is what I’m passionate about! I first unlocked my passion for communicating science to different groups and inspiring their passion during my PhD studies, and I’ve loved it ever since. I originally joined OAS as Recruitment Lead, helping to fill the training centre with the next generation of engineering talent, and this role has given me the opportunity to continue to do that but with a focus on making science more diverse and accessible, which is my core passion. I really enjoy going out into the community, working with underrepresented groups and people that might not have had the opportunity to have a go at engineering before, watching them become fascinated with the work that we do and really sparking their passion for science.

Why is OAS so important for local businesses / industry / people?

There are so many different engineering sectors and companies in Oxfordshire, but not everyone knows about them! OAS is helping to train and develop the local workforce, making people aware of all the amazing opportunities that there are here and giving them the skills they need to pursue them.

OAS has also raised local awareness about apprenticeships, showing that that are different routes into great jobs, not just A levels and university. Not all schools offer engineering as a subject, so the work that we do with our local network making people more aware of the opportunities that engineering offers is also so important.

How is OAS different from other training centres? (E.g. facilities, technologies, future focus, stretch challenges, enrichment activities, additional support)

One of the key differences of studying at OAS is our delivery model. In their first year, our level 3 apprentices are purely based at OAS full-time. They learn all the basics, network with each other to build a cohort community, and get to know all the different teams who are available to provide support and training throughout their apprenticeship programme. This means they’re much better prepared when they return to the workplace in the second year – they’ve got a huge range of skills and they know who and where to go to if they need any extra support for the rest of their journey. All of our trainers are also industry experienced, and we have state of the art facilities. OAS is a brilliant place to come and learn.

In your opinion, what are the benefits of choosing an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships are great if you like more hands-on or practical learning, and an engineering apprenticeship in particular is all about problem solving. You earn while you learn, so there’s no student debt, you’re being trained by your employer to have the exact skills you need to work for them so you’re more likely to have a job at the end of the apprenticeship, plus you gain a qualification that’s equivalent to three A levels.

Why should someone choose to work / study at OAS?

We’re ambitious and passionate about making our training centre more inclusive, providing high quality support and training to help everyone to succeed and be the best they can be. We recently won Oxfordshire Mind’s annual Commitment to Workplace Wellbeing award, recognising all the positive changes we’ve already made throughout the training centre and beyond to help improve the wellbeing of our apprentices, colleagues and employers. It’s great to be part of that.