Here is just a brief glimpse at the many things going on around Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire during this weeks National Science and Engineering Week…. 

Going off with a bang, the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham is presenting their Thunder and Lightening Demonstration Lecture. 

Key Stage 3 students are showcasing their projects to make energy savings at their schools at the Go4SET Celebration at CELS, Nottingham Trent University. 

The British Geological Survey at Keyworth is opening its doors to schools and the public for the ‘Fossil and Rock Show’ and ‘Fossil Fun for all the Family’. 

4 to 7 year olds are exploring the science, wonder and mystery of the Universe through Cosmos, a participatory performance at the Waverley Theatre, Nottingham Trent University. 

Year 6 pupils have the opportunity to bottle their own DNA at the BioKneX education lab in BioCity, Nottingham. CELS at Nottingham Trent University are organising activities covering Sci-Art, Forensics and Astronomy. 

Many schools are organising their own celebration of NSEW 2009 including Top Valley Engineering College with a week of STEM activities for students, concluding with a Science and Engineering Family Day on 14th March.

GuestBlogger: Jacqui Aram, Nottinghamshire Education Business Alliance, Nottinghamshire STEMPoint

I attended this event on 3^rd September and was struck by the messages about skills needs in Nottingham City and beyond. For instance, the expanding bioscience incubator BioCity doesn’t need many life scientists as you might expect. Instead, they need a wide range of expertise in chemistry, medical technology, process engineering, bioinformatics and others to work within this complex environment. 

A statistic that will stay with me is the prediction that, by 2014, half of all school leavers will have to go into healthcare to meet the demand in that sector. 

So there are some huge challenges to meet the skills’ needs and to achieve scientific excellence in the city. Many ideas came out of the delegate discussions around how we can encourage people to develop STEM skills and to move into STEM sectors and how we can excite the whole population about STEM. A number of great partnership projects have already emerged from the Nottingham Science City Education and Training Group which has been meeting for the last 2 years. This event has provided a basis to take the work of the Group forward to tackle these challenges and aspirations. 

www.science-city.co.uk

Cathy Brown, Regional Director, STEMNET