Improving the effectiveness of systems engineering organisations with top-class training

A range of professional courses developed by UCL is supporting growing technology organisations with over £5 million invested in the training since August 2013, totalling 7,148 trainee days.

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and technology management that focuses on the successful design, integration, and management of complex systems over their lifecycles. UCL’s Department of Space and Climate Physics (also known as Mullard Space Science Lab, or MSSL) research and expertise focuses on systems engineering in the most demanding environments with a low tolerance to project failure in any form. 

Efficiency under pressure  

The drive to exploit the latest technology to tackle more and more ambitious problems means that successfully delivering complex engineering projects with limited time and resources is a major challenge. This is particularly true in the space sector due to the remote and hostile environment. Here, the complexity of systems and the nature of the development approach make projects susceptible to large cost and schedule overruns.

Projects at NASA, for example, are delivered with an average of 27.6% cost overrun and 13 months of schedule delay, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has long recognised the need for “implementation of measures to better control projects’ costs and planning”.

To address these challenges, a team led by Professor Michael Emes (Director of UCL Centre for Systems Engineering and Head of the Technology Management Group - TMG - at MSSL) has, since 2008, developed a portfolio of training courses in systems engineering and project management.

The courses are underpinned by the principles derived from the TMG’s experience in space instrument developments and their research into systems engineering practice across a range of sectors including space, transport, health, and construction. Integrating insights from the TMG’s research reinforces the credibility of TMG staff as thought leaders, enabling them to bid for and win commercial contracts to train systems engineers and project managers.

Extending their experience in delivering training for industry, TMG has also developed Master’s apprenticeship programmes for PA Consulting in Systems Engineering (offered since 2019, 28 apprentices enrolled at the time of writing) and Transformation Leadership (offered since 2020, 30 apprentices enrolled, with up to 50 apprentices per annum expected from 2022).  

Creating the Systems Engineering competency framework 

Professor Alan Smith, Professor Doug Cowper, and Dr Ady James contributed significant insights to the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) working group and development of the Systems Engineering competency framework to improve the practice of Systems Engineering.

The framework was adopted worldwide by INCOSE in 2010 and continues to be used to date, including in the professional certification of systems engineers, and applied across 16 companies as a basis for career development and standardisation of systems engineering practice. Major organisations that have used the framework include Thales, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Atego, Bombardier, and the Ministry of Defence 

Setting a new standard  

Participants of a training programme developed in 2012 for ESA reported improvement by 14.1% across 33 project management tasks dimensions while their managers’ ratings increased by approximately 50% after training compared to pre-course evaluation. 
 
In November 2020, ESA sent UCL a Contract Change Notice (€450,000) to extend the training programme again for a further five cycles over 10 years, so the contract overall now spans a period of 18 years from 2012 to 2030. This reflects the high perceived value of the programme, which has become a focal point for the career progression of ESA project managers. 

Links

• Professor Michael Emes' academic profile
• Professor Alan Smith’s academic profile 
• Professor Doug Cowper’s academic profile
• The Technology Management Group
• UCL Department of Space and Climate Physics
• Global Engagement Office
• UCL Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences 
• UCL Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences REF 21

Image 

• Image credit: UCL Imagestore, credit: Alejandro Walter Salinas Lopez