The week of March 11th-15th will see an unprecedented number of engineers going into schools to give inspirational talks to students about the work they do and how they chose their careers. To get involved, sign up to the Inspiring the Future programme.
This week is an important week for engineering with many high-profile events happening. First, the inaugural winner of the global Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) will be announced. The QEPrize celebrates an engineer responsible for a ground-breaking innovation in engineering of benefit to humanity and will provide a great opportunity to raise the profile of engineering in the UK. We hope that the prize will inspire and engage the next generation of young people to take up careers in engineering.
A unique alliance of organisations: EngineeringUK, the British Science Association, Speakers for Schools and its sister programme Inspiring the Future along with the Royal Academy of Engineering are developing a programme of activities in March, to coincide with other STEM events: such as The Big Bang fair, the first Global Grand Challenges Summit and National Science and Engineering Week.
As part of that programme, and to mark the award of the first QEPrize, engineers from across the county are invited to visit state schools in order to share their passion for engineering with young people. The winner of the £1 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering will be selected by an eminent panel of international judges who are leading engineers and scientists. They will visit the UK in March and have been invited to join the programme of engineering activities, including visiting schools to engage and inspire young people in engineering.
Over half of all secondary schools in England have applied for a speaker through the Speakers for Schools programme and many are keen to hear these prominent engineers and scientists talk to their students. A similar number of schools have signed up for the sister programme Inspiring the Future, which aims to recruit 100,000 people at all stages of their careers – from apprentices to CEOs – to go into local schools to talk about their work and career route. The leaders of engineering firms employing large numbers of engineers will be asked to encourage their employees to take part in Inspiring the Future.
