During the course of May we have continued to strengthen the UKDSC organisation with two new permanent employees joining the team. Samira Braund was appointed as Executive Director, Operations whilst Daniel Cole has taken on the position of Senior Finance Manager. From a secondee perspective, Tyrone Stevens joined us from Lockheed Martin in the role of Simulation Engineer. I’m sure all three will be excellent additions to the team and wish them every success in their respective roles.
The UKDSC Liaison Board and DGP Steering Committee meetings also took place in the period. In summary, both meetings went well with our current priorities and collaborative initiatives continuing to be endorsed and supported by our major stakeholders. In advance of both these important meetings a DGP strategy review was held at the beginning of May. The purpose of this review was for industry members and BEIS, MoD and DSO colleagues to undertake a joint analysis of DGP/UKDSC progress during the previous three years and ultimately look at further options to develop greater team UK opportunities. Subsequently, additional work will be undertaken over the coming weeks to further develop this objective and will feature prominently in our short term activities.
Finally, we continue to work proactively with our BEIS colleagues in extending the Grant Offer Letter funding period, from March 2019 to March 2020. In line with recent updates this activity is progressing positively and our aim is to secure this extension during the summer period.
