After nine months of workshops and training, Queen Mary’s Proud to be an Engineer project culminated with two successful events showcasing the diversity of ideas, expertise and backgrounds in modern engineering.

In 2023, the School of Engineering and Materials Science's Outreach Team applied to the Royal Academy of Engineering's Ingenious grant with a proposed vision to organise public engagement training for engineers who would like to inspire young learners.

The bid was successful in gaining a £30k grant, and the project was named Proud to be an Engineer. Alongside participants from across Queen Mary, engineering specialists joined the programme from UCL, Bristol University, Coventry University, Nottingham University and RAL Space at the Science and Technology Facilities Council. As part of the training programme, they learnt about public engagement, branding, outreach and communicating complex ideas simply.

Eight engineers from typically underrepresented backgrounds took part in two public engagement events designed to inspire young learners from the east London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham.

On Wednesday 26th June, four local schools came to Queen Mary’s School of Engineering and Materials Science to take part in activities such as building spaghetti bridges, engineering ice cream, communicating in space with lasers and flying balsa wood gliders.

The school students also got a chance to drive a remote-controlled car with the Queen Mary Formula Student society.

On Saturday 6th July, the engineers ran stalls and activities at Rich Mix in Bethnal Green as part of a free event open to the local community, which aimed to introduce people to what engineering is, across industry and research.

More than 200 young learners registered to attend the relaxed event, where they could arrive at any time and engage with the activities in their own time. On average attendees stayed for one and a half hours, and many of them asked if the event would happen again. Of those young learners who attended, 91% of them said they learnt something new about engineering, and 82% said they felt inspired to find out more.

Outreach and Recruitment Officer Michael Woolley, who led the project, said:
“It was a pleasure to work with such an interesting group of engineers who all had inspirational stories to tell. I really enjoyed helping the participating engineers bring their stories to life as they developed exciting engagement activities. It was lovely to see young learners engaging with the participating engineers at both events, discovering something new about engineering, and who engineers are.”