Become a volunteer

Want to contribute to the UAS competition?

Find out about opportunities to take part

To find out more about opportunities and applying to volunteer, please email the UAS Challenge team.

BeBenefits for engineers

  • Enjoy a week of exciting aerospace engineering action with dozens and teams and hundreds of student engineers.
  • Expand your professional network by connecting with fellow aerospace professionals, academics, industry partners, and future talent.
  • Share your industry expertise and help bridge the gap between academic learning and professional engineering practice.
  • Develop leadership and mentoring skills by judging, advising, and providing constructive feedback to teams.
  • Enhance your Continuing Professional Development through volunteering activities that demonstrate leadership, communication, assessment, and technical competencies.

Benefits for organisations

  • Demonstrate industry leadership by actively supporting one of the UK's leading student engineering competitions.
  • Increase employee engagement by allowing engineers to give back to the profession and inspire the next generation of engineers.
  • Strengthen your organisation among aerospace, mechanical, systems, and software engineering students.
  • Support corporate social responsibility objectives by contributing to STEM education and the development of future engineers.
  • Build links with the wider engineering community through collaboration with engineers in industry, academia, and the IMechE.
Get involved

Volunteer opportunities include:

Judging

Contibute to scoring across multiple areas of the UAS Challenge, including written reports, formal presentations, and technical elements of the UAS devices.

Safety

Ensuring that activities and UAS operations in the hanger, repair tent and around the flight line take place safely and in line with the rules and site regulations.

Repair tent

Assist students with their last minute alterations, repairs, and, in some cases, complete aircraft rebuilds using a variety of tools and materials.

Scrutineering

A crucial part of getting a team ready to fly by assessing each aircraft and ensuring they are rules compliant, certified, and ready to fly.

What our volunteers say

"I have now been involved with the IMechE's UAS Challenge for over four years and been Chief Scrutineer for several events. This has been both interesting and enjoyable, running a small team of dedicated and capable engineers, from a broad spectrum of the aviation world, civil and military. UAS Challenge takes a lot effort to pull together with the IMechE staff, but it is great to see the teamwork, application and technical understanding of the students in designing and building their air systems.

Their enthusiasm and commitment is infectious, as they endeavour to get the aircraft to fly effectively and it is very rewarding to see them complete the mission, having overcome a number of technical difficulties and practical operating issues. I think they all get a buzz out of completing the Challenge as part of their academic studies and learn a lot about regulation, project management, trials and evaluation and operational requirements on the way."

Rod Williams, Principal Consultant, Frazer-Nash and Chief Scrutineer, UAS Challenge