ABERDEEN-based charities TechFest and Aberdeen Science Centre (ASC) are on the lookout for influential young people to help shape the future of STEM in 2023.
United in their mission to support STEM education, the organisations have created a STEM Youth Board to ensure activities are relevant, peer led and appealing to youngsters across the North-east of Scotland and beyond.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
Sponsored by Shell and supported by Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, the youth board is seeking volunteers based in Aberdeen City or Shire.
A diverse, inclusive membership comprising those studying in years S3-S5 is encouraged, with all views and ideas welcome.
As a vehicle for the collaboration and to ensure representation from young people, the board will work with both organisations to ensure appropriate input giving young people a voice to propose new ideas for projects, activities, exhibits and programmes.
Sarah Chew, TechFest’s managing director, said: “Participation in the STEM Youth Board is a rewarding experience offering benefits such as the development of essential life skills, for example meeting attendance, minute-taking and public speaking.
“Not only do the board members have access to a ‘skills buddy’ to support them in their role but they also earn the coveted title of STEM champion, acting as an ambassador for the region.”
Bryan Snelling, ASC chief executive, added: “We are passionate about giving young people the opportunities to directly influence what we do – we aim to give them a voice across all our programmes and events and are excited that the STEM Youth Board collaboration is a new way of us giving them responsibilities and opportunities to shape the STEM initiatives across the region.”
Simon Roddy, senior vice-president upstream at Shell UK, said: “We believe the ingenuity of young people is important for a successful transition to a lower carbon energy system, so we are delighted to be working in partnership with TechFest and Aberdeen Science Centre on this project. The STEM Youth Board is a great opportunity for the next generation of engineers and scientists to share their views on STEM, generate new ideas, and gain essential skills.”
To find out more about the STEM Youth Board and register interest, visit https://techfest.org.uk/about-us/stem-youth-board
While the STEM Youth Board will be a shared project that is run and delivered by Aberdeen Science Centre and TechFest, there will be potential stakeholders who could be invited by the Youth Board to support the initiative.
