The Team

Mr René Dopper is responsible for the Rijn IJssel excellence programme. He is the Skills coordinator, and the chair of a group of 7 staff members responsible for the Skills in their vocational field. Mr. René Dopper is for 5 years experienced in developing policy on Skills, establishing an internal organisation of skills, training and guiding staff in organising skills. Mr. Rene Dopper is member of the Steering committee of World Skills Netherlands and from that perspective involved in innovation and promoting of Skills in the Netherlands.

I am a lecturer in the school of Building Engineering and Technology in the Wall and Floor tiling Dept. I am also the Worldskills UK training expert, Lead judge at Construction Industry Training Board UK and Chief expert at Worldskills Africa. My roles involve training age eligible competitors for the Worldskills finals held every two years in different countries and I select from all colleges in the UK, I design test projects and judge them in regional and national finals in the Worldskills UK competitions and I am involved in a capacity building project in Africa that is using skills competitions to drive up the standards in Africa by working with ten countries to develop occupational standards and a competition project for Worldskills Africa competition in March 2022.

As I am heavily involved in international competitions we decided to develop an Erasmus project that SRC partners with Finland, Basque, Netherlands, Scotland to share best practice and develop tools that will help promote, identify and support better involvement in international competitions from grassroots. This has been a fantastic project and we are still forging ahead remotely despite the obvious restrictions. We are currently planning a week long event in the Netherlands to include Cookery and Mechatronics students competing in a small competition and workshops aimed at outlining the links between increased employability and involvement in Skills competitions.

Diana Farrelly, External Funding & International Affairs Manager, has for the past 20 years taken a leading role in the development, implementation and management of Lifelong Learning and EU programmes. Before SRC was formed, for 8 years Diana was the Manager of the Lifelong Learning Department of Armagh College and during that time was successful in developing and securing over €3M in EU funding.

The team was awarded an AOC Beacon and President's award and Diana was given a Local Heroes Award by the Home Office. Since 2007 Diana has been responsible for managing over 50 EU Projects funded through the Lifelong Learning and ERASMUS + as Call 2019 Round 1 KA2 - Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices KA202 - Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training summarised above and in 2010 was awarded an MBE for services to Further Education. Diana developed the College's European Internationalisation strategy and was instrumental in helping the College secure the ERASMUS + VET charter.

Gavin has been a senior administrator/ researcher within the External Funding and International Affairs (EFIAT) Unit at Southern Regional College (SRC) for the past ten years. Through his role he has gained extensive experience of research, administration and coordination on externally funded projects under the Lifelong Learning programme and then onto Erasmus+ programmes. Gavin’s initial role at SRC was Research Officer for supporting a major project commissioned by the Southern Health & Social Care Trust that examined the health inequalities of Craigavon Neighbourhood Renewal Areas (NRAs). His role then progressed onto the current role as Senior Administrator of EFIAT. He also assists with the submission of a series of funding applications under the Erasmus+ programme. Prior to Gavin’s employment at SRC, he has worked in the private sector for a number of years and has gained experience in both SME business and hospitality sectors.

Tamara Rodríguez is responsible of international projects. She has coordinated projects from different EU programmes such as ERASMUS+, Leonardo da Vinci TOI and DOI, Grundtvig and Europe for Citizens, dealing with different topics, such as teleworking and virtual mobility, intergenerational communication, evaluation and development of transferable competences, intercultural communication, serious games or career advisory. She co-leads the group of international relations together with the responsible of mobility projects. She will be in charge of the administrative management of the project, the coordination of activities at the local level and the dissemination activities.

Miren Arrien has been responsible of international projects in HETEL, in collaboration with Tamara Rodriguez. She has participated in various projects pertaining to the Erasmus+ EU program dealing with different topics: virtual mobility, exchange of successful practices, development of transferable competences, etc. She has been in charge of the administrative management of the project, the coordination of activities at the local level and the dissemination activities. She will be leaving the project after the reincorporation of Tamara Rodriguez to HETEL’s staff.

Marget Darroch is head of the WorldSkills Academy and Development and Strategy Lead for WorldSkills UK Scotland. Margaret has a wide range of experience working at all levels in education and is committed to developing and promoting skills development and vocational opportunities within the Scotland, the UK and internationally. She specialises in skills performance and development supporting learners and apprentices to be the best they can be in their chosen field within the UK and internationally. She has a special interest in integrating and growing inclusive skills and was one of the first devolved nations to support inclusive skills competitions which continues to grow. She is committed to supporting a culture and environment in which our learners can excel and staff can give of their best to enhance the daily experience of learners and their achievements. This involves putting in place supporting teams and infrastructure.

Established in 2013, the WorldSkills Academy at City of Glasgow is now ranked no 1 in the UK Skills League Table (out of 260 colleges) and is seen as a platform that further develops future vocational leaders, driving excellence in learning and teaching and developing world class technical and professional skills.

Lecturer Outi Suopanki has been teaching patisserie, confectionery and bakery at Salpaus Further Education for 12 years. She has a Bachelor in Engineering in Bio and Food Technology, Teacher qualification to universities of applied sciences and vocational training, Further vocational qualifications in Baking and in Confectionery, and at the moment she is studying her Master´s degree in Engineering. She was Finland´s Expert in Pâtisserie and Confectionery 2016-2018 and was working as a judge at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi in 2017. In 2017 Finland won its first gold medal in Pâtisserie and Confectionery and Outi was also a member of gold medalist Emeliina Papinniemi´s training team. Outi has been involved in Finland´s national skills competitions as a workshop manager 2014, a trainer since 2014 and a member of jury in 2017-2019. She´s applying for the Expert position for Shanghai WorldSkills 2022.

Teacher Tommi Backman, Master of Engineering in Automation Technology, B.Sc Machine Automation, Teacher qualification to universities of applied science and vocational training. WSC Chief Expert 2022 - Skill01 Industrial Mechanics, WSC 2017 and 2019 Expert – Skill48 Industrial mechanic Millwright. Expert and workshop manager duties in national competitions.

Elisa Hassinen, Master of International Relations, works as international development coordinator and is responsible for internationalisation development and international project management at Salpaus. Elisa has worked for 20 years in international education and in international projects in higher and vocational education, especially in Leonardo da Vinci, LLL and Erasmus projects. Previously she has worked at the university of applied sciences HAMK as project coordinator in Finnish Academy of Skills Excellence, a project training skills experts in Finland.