Royal Academy of Engineering
Over the last 12 months, together with our charitable arm, STEM Without Borders, we have been proud to work alongside The Royal Academy of Engineers and Mindsets Online to provide the accreditation process for Royal Academy badges and Global STEM Awards as part of the ‘Connecting STEM Teachers’(CST) programme.
North Lincolnshire Council
UKSTEM Ltd has partnered with North Lincolnshire Council in several projects over the last few years. From 2016 – 2020 UKSTEM ran a series of workshops to support adult learners who had experienced difficulties accessing formal education. The learners included refugee groups, NEETS and young offenders. The workshops used combinations of coding and robotics activities set in real world situations to stimulate interest. By working with the process chemical training centre, CATCH, those taking part in the courses were also able to see the access routes into jobs that used the skills they were developing.
In early 2023 UKSTEM was commissioned to develop and deliver a Wind Turbine project with 10 primary schools in the N. Lincs region to celebrate and raise awareness of the offshore wind farms in the region as well as the skills and careers related to the industry. The project has included teacher CPD sessions on offshore wind careers, how wind turbines work and using the crumble control software to power their own turbines. Each participating school was present with a kit based fully working scale model of a wind turbine to build with their Y5/6 pupils. Schools also participated in the UKSTEM ‘Supergrid’ activity, which is one of our flagship STEM activity sessions. Schools also received presentations on skills and careers which were supported by representatives from Orsted, based in Grimsby.
Following the build of their model wind turbine the children were tasked with creating an artistic design to incorporate within their model and decorate their turbine. In further collaboration with the 20-21 Arts Centre in Scunthorpe the project was celebrated in July 2024 with an exhibition of the models as well as some further STEM activities with the children. The turbines were so eye catching that they were then displayed in Scunthorpe library, and at the University of Hull Aura Innovation Centre.
University of Hull & Humber Science Festival
UKSTEM Ltd has supported a number of projects in collaboration with the University of Hull. From 2016 to 2019 (when covid caused the programmes to be cancelled) UKSTEM ran a series of ’Control Freak in the summer‘ courses. Control Freak workshops engage children in coding and building controllable artefacts. The courses were well attended by children from year 5 and 6 from primary schools across Hull and East Riding and for almost all children it was their first experience of enjoying learning at a university.
In 2022 and 2023 we have supported the organisation of the Humber Science Festival and in September 2023 will be proud to deliver a programme of activities for visiting young people and families as part of the festival’s ‘Discovery Zone’ events on the university’s campus on 9th and 10 September. The Humber Science Festival aims to celebrate science in it’s broadest sense, including maths, medicine, engineering, technology, innovation and the history of science over a series of events and activities across the region.
CATCH
UKSTEM Ltd are proud to support with N. Lincs based training provider CATCH in the development and delivery of its school engagement programme. UKSTEM has supplied and supported staff in using the highly engaging Candoo STEM pathways game and we are working with CATCH to help them with the integration of Global STEM Award into their activities.
RWE
UKSTEM is engaged by the £3bn Sofia offshore wind farm project in the delivery of the Sofia commitment to education engagement.
Owned by RWE and with an output of 1400 megawatts, Sofia will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world supplying electricity to 12.2 million homes.
East Yorkshire based company UKSTEM designed the ambitious education engagement programme that was laid out in the Sofia Contract for Difference (CfD) bid, submitted to BEIS in early 2019.
Following the success of the CfD bid and RWE financial investment decision, delivery of the education engagement programme started in March 2020 during covid lockdown. Once lockdown was eased the delivery of the whole 6 year programme was confirmed with completion due in July 2026.
The programme is focused on students in regions directly linked to Sofia. From the construction port of Blyth in the North to the operations and maintenance base at Grimsby in the South. The furst phases of the programme were aimed at Primary and secondary level students in and around Redcar and higher education students at universities in Teesside and Newcastle. Key elements of the programme are:
• Teacher CPD and bursary support to develop classroom resources to deliver careers information through the curriculum
• Range of offshore wind primary resources available for anyone to download, supported by online CPD
• University internships, engineering competitions, specialist lectures and contextualized curriculum projects
Equinor
UKSTEM has been the chosen partner for Equinor in the delivery of stimulating STEM sessions for both primary and secondary school students. UKSTEM uses its expertise in hydrogen activities to set up hydrogen powered buggy racing alongside presentations by Equinor on its activity around the Humber estuary and the role that hydrogen will play in future energy supply.
