As a STEM Student Journalist, I had a wonderful opportunity to attend the East Midlands STEM Partnership Forum held at Rolls-Royce, Derby on Friday 28th November. This event was aimed at discussing how partners can work together to promote STEM learning and careers in the East Midlands.
The day started with my interview with Michael Carr, Executive Director of Business Services at East Midlands Development Agency (emda). I asked his views on issues such as why encouraging STEM skills and careers is so important to the region. Throughout the day I listened to discussions on National STEM Developments and other factors such as The UK Skills Challenge given from an aerospace perspective. I was also able to exchange my opinions and ideas in the ‘STEM Development, National Priorities-Regional Perspectives’ and the ‘Progress and Working Together Locally to Increase Impact’ workshops.
This event allowed me to understand what has been done in the East Midlands in order to encourage more students to take up STEM-related subjects, the challenges and future developments. What interested me most in this event was the opportunity to meet new people with a similar interest in encouraging a wider participation into STEM subjects, but in which many had different point of views as to how this could be done. These views came through various groups e.g. from a teachers point of view and from a student or a business point of view. I had an amazing time at this event and believe that it is important to provide continual opportunities to discuss these issues.
Ting-Hin Tang
Animal Sciences
The University of Nottingham