Interview
At Connected Britain 2022, we caught up with PhD student Daisy Curtis to discuss her experience of working alongside 5G Rural Dorset, as well as the importance of digital skills in addressing the gender imbalance in the telecoms sector
As part of her PhD programme, Daisy spent six months working with 5G Rural Dorset, a 5G testbed funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. In the interview below, she shares her first-hand experiences from the project and offers advice to those seeking to craft an effective digital skills programme.
In particular, she spoke against the traditional ‘top-down’ approach to digital skills projects, instead praising a more targeted and integrated approach, with programmes tailored for the learner’s individual needs.
“This collaborative approach is important because it means, for the people seeking skills development, the course is interesting and relevant, and it is also helpful for those running the sessions,” she explained. “People are more likely to pursue further digital skills activities if they found that first activity interesting.”
Daisy also shares her thought on gender inequality in the telecoms industry, championing a holistic approach involving the entire industry, aiming to get women involved at every level of their organisation.
“Representation is important. Seeing women in a variety of roles and having them present in a variety of space – whether that’s conferences, meetings, or hiring panels – is crucial to create a sense of belonging.”
You can watch our full interview with Daisy from the link above.
Is your company doing enough to support the next generation of telecoms professionals and tackle inequality? Join the UK telecoms sector in discussion around this and other important issues at the upcoming Connected North conference
Also in the news:
Tech Mahindra and Microsoft team up for 5G core cloudification offering
London staff to take the brunt of Vodafone job cuts
Virgin Mobile begins migrating customers to O2 packages