Event was top class
Uni hosts learning day
Girls from more than a dozen Renfrewshire schools have been learning about the sciences at Paisley’s university.
More than 250 girls met at the University of the West of Scotland to hear more about the benefits of careers in STEM - science, technology, engineering and maths.
This was at an event that saw EDF Energy teaming up with Paisley charity SmartSTEMs and UWS to inspire more girls to study the four subjects.
Research shows that science and tech jobs will grow twice as fast as other occupations between now and 2021 but the number of women currently working in core STEM industries in Scotland is just one-in-five.
The girls heard from Jacqueline Craig, from Google, and Victoria Hamilton, from VH Innovations, about their journeys as women in STEM.
They also had the chance to take part in workshops that challenged them to build their own Fitbit exercise tracker and learn about free wi-fi security issues.
SmartSTEMs events involve girls aged from 10 to 14 and encourages youngsters from diverse backgrounds to study STEM subjects at school.
Stuart Macdonald, founder of SmartSTEMs said: “We are delighted to pull together many wonderful industry partners and scores of generous volunteers to deliver this great event for these young girls.
“Inclusion is a key driver for our efforts.
“Making sure we have all parts of our society engaged in STEM will mean a future where we have the most diverse and therefore best performing teams in the world; creating ever new intellectual property and solving societal problems through STEM.”
Sma r tSTEMs recently announced a partnership with Scotland’s largest producer of low carbon electricity, EDF Energy.
The partnership will help them reach more than 2,500 girls across Scotland this year.
The sponsorship is part of EDF Energy’s wider commitment to education, which includes its Pretty Curious programme, a drive to change the perception of STEM subjects and help address the lack of women entering the industry.
EDF Energy’s Scottish business director Paul Winkle, said: “At the moment only one-in-five people working in core STEM industries in Scotland is a woman.
“Encouraging girls to study subjects that will open up a career in these areas is critical to filling the future skills gap.
“We are delighted to be supporting an organisation which is committed to that and I hope this event will inspire more girls to consider pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering or maths.”
EDF Energy’s stand at the event saw the girls sample a virtual-reality film that immersed them in the worlds of three successful women working STEM-related industries.
They were transported to EDF Energy’s offshore wind farm in Teesside with renewable energy research engineer Claire Canning, to the top of the Shard building in London with structural engineer Roma Agrawal and to an East London shared workspace where computer coder Claire Mitchell introduced the girls to the community of coders.
Professor Ian Allison, dean of the university’s School of Engineering and Computing, added: “UWS is committed to developing and encouraging the best talent in science, engineering, technology and mathematics and we were delighted to be hosting this event.”
Schools involved were: Brediland Primary, St Charles Primary, St Mary’s Primary, Todholm Primary, Castlehead High, Gleniffer High, Paisley Grammar School and St Andrew’s Academy – all Paisley – as well as East Fulton Primary, Linwood; Newmains Primary, Renfrew; St Margaret’s Primary, Johnstone; Gryffe High School, Houston; Linwood High School and Renfrew High School.