Ensuring equity of access to a STEM placement programme
Year Awarded
2020
Amount
€37,882
- Organisation:University College Dublin (UCD)
- Audience:Transition Year Students
- Format:Careers Experience Programme
- Location:Dublin, Wicklow
- Topic:Science
Project Summary
This project invites 15 and 16 year olds from all backgrounds to experience the daily life of scientists working at world leading research institutes. Postgraduate researchers at the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research and Systems Biology Ireland in University College Dublin will be trained to deliver activities for pairs of transition year pupil ‘buddies’ for a week, training them in lab techniques and working with pupils on their research projects. Pupils will visit cutting edge research facilities and hear about the variety of careers available to scientists. Through practical work and talks the pupils will learn that science works as a global, multidisciplinary enterprise to solve great challenges.
The innovation of this project is that it is co-designed with the UCD Access and Lifelong Learning Centre specifically to include those who are most excluded. It includes practical measures to remove barriers to access. Pupils from 17 UCD Access-linked schools with high concentration of pupils from low socioeconomic backgrounds are invited to take up places first.
This is a pilot project to explore specific mechanisms to engage pupils from low socioeconomic backgrounds and inspire them to pursue STEM subjects and careers. It builds on the institutes’ records of offering high quality hands-on curriculum-linked lab experiences in the Amgen Biotech Experience and is co-funded by that project. We will produce a best practice guide to supporting postgraduate researchers to deliver an ambitious STEM education and public engagement activity for less represented children.