Coatings industry expands network of ambassadors to engage with the next generation

The British Coatings Federation has partnered with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Paint Research Association (PRA) and Oil & Colour Chemists’ Association (OCCA) to add to the growing network of ambassadors from the coatings industry engaging with schools and universities across the UK.

Coatings Ambassadors from a spectrum of businesses in the coatings supply chain are being trained and given materials to hold careers sessions at schools and universities. When delivering the course material, ambassadors will introduce the coatings industry and share their career paths and the varied jobs and opportunities available within the sector.

Held at the BCF’s office, April’s workshop, run by Cogent Skills, hosted a diverse group of attendees from organisations including AkzoNobel, University of Cambridge, HMG Paints, Nazdar, Thomas Howse and Generation Phoenix. This year’s event follows the success of the previous events back in 2019, 2020 and 2022, with students describing the day as engaging and enjoyable.

The workshop provided guidance on how to reach out to the younger generation, using activities, presentations and creative projects.

“On behalf of OCCA, PRA, RSC and BCF, we would like to thank the companies and individuals who took part.  Our network of Coatings Ambassadors is hugely important to educate the next generation on our industry and we wish them every success in engaging with local schools and universities, to help develop the future workforce for the coatings sector,”  concluded BCF’s CEO, Tom Bowtell.

For more information about the programme, visit www.coatingscareershub.com/ambassadors. To register your interest for the next workshop and receive the latest communications on future training dates, please email info@bcf.co.uk.