Work Insights Week 2025

By Nicci Rigby missioncx 16 July 2025

Igniting Curiosity, Commissioning Futures

Last week, MissionCX opened its doors to the next generation of innovators, engineers, and business minds as part of our Work Insights (WIn) Week 2025 — and what a week it was!

Held at Westlakes Science Park, WIn Week offered students a rare, behind-the-scenes look into commissioning, operational readiness, and transitioning — three essential, yet often overlooked parts of the UK’s infrastructure delivery machine. Through hands-on challenges, live demonstrations, interactive sessions, and some serious team bonding, we gave students a real taste of what it’s like to bring complex, high-value projects to life.

And guess what? They rose to the challenge.

Skills, Spark & Rollercoasters

From day one, students got stuck into their first team task: designing and building a fully functional rollercoaster prototype that could transport a marble in the most creative and efficient way possible. Why? Because commissioning is all about testing systems, managing complexity, and ensuring performance — and this challenge brought those concepts to life in the most engaging way.

Throughout the week, students worked on their Essential Skills — from speaking and listening to problem-solving, teamwork and creativity — guided by our newly launched Skills Builder Mascots and underpinned by our Pathfinder™ Programme. Pathfinder is part of our structured early careers journey that ties everything together — from WIn Week and Work Experience to our full apprenticeship scheme. We’re proud to say WIn Week is now officially accredited by the Skills Builder Partnership at Impact Level 4 — making us the first SME in Cumbria to achieve this milestone.

Industry-Led, Future-Focused

This wasn’t your average careers week. Students got to meet real commissioning professionals, project leads, engineers, and business ops specialists from across MissionCX and our partner organisations, including:

Guest Speakers

Cavendish Nuclear– Jordan Coulthard
Westlakes Engineering – Ross Cleeton & Tom Walker
Sellafield Ltd – Stuart Gorman
MissionCX – Rob Moore, Ben Slater. Joanne Slater
ProjectCX – Paul Zannacci

Also a special shoutout to our WIn team MissionCX – Mark Cant, Nicci Rigby, Jordan Logan, Keisha Stephenson and the wider MissionCX team. A huge thank you to every company that took part — your time and enthusiasm made a massive impact.

Golden Tickets, Real Opportunities

From more than 65 students, we identified 10 standout stars who were awarded our exclusive Golden Tickets — granting them a place at our Work Experience (WEx) Week in October. This next stage will be more immersive, task-focused, and tied closely to real-world commissioning work.

Even more exciting? These students are now on the fast track toward our first-of-its-kind Apprenticeship Programme, launching in 2026 — the UK’s first commissioning-focused apprenticeship scheme.

A Big Thank You

A heartfelt thank you goes to:

Our amazing guest organisations and speakers
All careers fair exhibitors and demo participants
The MissionCX and ProjectCX teams who gave their time, energy, and mentorship
Energy Coast UTC for their continued support of early careers
BEC our amazing hosts
The students themselves, who brought enthusiasm, curiosity, and great attitudes all week

And finally, to the families, schools, and support systems behind the scenes — thank you for encouraging your young people to explore careers in industries that truly shape the future.

This Is Just the Beginning

WIn Week is part of our wider Pathfinder™ early careers journey — designed to nurture talent from classroom to career. Whether through T-Levels, Work Experience, or our Apprenticeship Scheme, we’re on a mission to commission the future, today.

Keep an eye out this October as our Golden Ticket winners return for WEx Week… and stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved.