Training and staff requirements in measurement,calibration and metrology

Abstract

After an opening argument for less usage of the words metrology and metrologist and a more consistent use of the word measurement as both noun and adjective, the paper deals with the author's main task of analysing the qualities required of people seeking to work in the measurements business. This is related to the author's own organisation, Sira Ltd, and its work in instrumentation R&D and technology services. After a broad review of Sira's work, the need for qualities ranging from inventiveness and breadth of vision to communication and commercial awareness are emphasised. Figures are given which show how the proportions of graduates with differing disciplines (physicists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians) are distributed differently between R&D and other demanding technical activities. Types of training needed to reduce the shortage of measurement specialists are discussed, from the postgraduate taught MSc course to the few-day specialists' courses. The measurements community should influence the teaching of measurement principles in all science and engineering courses. It must play its part in persuading young people to enter science and engineering careers and then ensure it attracts a good proportion of them to the field of measurement.