b'36 Partner News Summer 2022CorporateDr Paul Gosling is the Chief Technical Officerbeaten by a challenge, that willingness toin STEM is open to all, regardless of gender for Thales in the UK and a holder of an IETfind a solution. And those solutions haveand background.Achievement Medal. A physicist at heart, hemade genuinely significant benefits for is acknowledged as a global expert in thesociety, he says.He says, Predicting the future is always development of new sonar technologies. tricky. I remember reading science The role has been continuously stimulatingmagazines as a child in the 1960s and For the UKs future growth and skills base,and professionally rewarding for Paul, butthey were filled with stories of flying it is absolutely critical that we must inspirehis own journey could have been verycars and living on the moon. What they young people to become interested indifferent. didnt predict, which has arguably had a engineering and technology. As a nation,greater global impact, was the societal we have an incredible history of innovation,I grew up in the South West of England andshift brought about by the introduction of but that requires investing in future skills,went to the local state school, Paul says.personal computers, the internet and mobile education and infrastructure, Paul says.Nobody from my family had ever been todevices. university, and certainly nobody from school That is why Thalesas a global technologyhad ever got into Oxford, where I went onBut fast forward to today and we are groupdecided to be a key partner to thisto study physics. living in an age when the space industry is years British Science Week with its corebecoming extremely exciting again.theme of smashing stereotypes. When I graduated, there werent that manyThales Alenia Space played a central role in tech jobs in the region and I suppose I wasthe build of the iconic International Space Engineers and technicians can be verywitnessing a lack of what we would now callStation, and they are now going to be passionate about their work and eventslevelling up early in my career. involved in the build of the new Gateway such as this are the perfect channels tospace station for the return to the Moon.amplify to the next generation just howI believe passionately that we have to do important science, technology, engineeringmore to attract young people into science,Our technology is currently operating and mathematics (STEM) is for the futuretechnology, engineering and mathematicon Mars in the search for life and we are of this country and how rewarding a careersubjects, and more importantly, making thatdesigning a spacecraft that will intercept path it can be.career path into industry more attractivepristine comets as we try and understand and cultivate retention. the origins of the universe, he says. When I reflect on my career to date, whatThat collective knowledge, skillset and stands out for me are the engineers andThe core theme, smashing stereotypes,passion for science and space transcends scientists I have worked alongside. Theirmeans just thatcreating awareness andstereotypes and labels. passion for knowledge, their refusal to beattractiveness among people that a career I am pleased to say that we are also playing our part in inspiring the next generation Future gazingthrough our innovative STEM programme called MarsBalloon. By offering schools the opportunity to send their experiments into space by high-altitude balloon so they can endure Martian-like conditions to for the nextunderstand the effects, we are showing schoolchildren that STEM is exciting, but just as importantly, accessible to all.The Thales space engineers do not come from one background, what they have in generation ofcommon is a shared love of space, pushing boundaries and working as a team to deliver solutions in the most extreme of environments.engineers andSecuring the future of science in this country will take more than just passion. At a government, industry and academic level, Paul believes we must also invest in research and development (R&D) for the techniciansfuture. Recognising the importance of R&D and the UK ecosystem that has driven numerous world-leading innovations is very positive.'