Children asked to consider STEM careers

A new pilot initiative to inspire young people in Devon to get into STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) has been launched.

At an event at The Box in Plymouth on Friday, Babcock International invited children to take part in free, interactive activities across science, engineering, aviation, robotics and related fields.

Neil Young, global engineering capability director at Babcock, said the point of the pilot was to co-ordinate STEM activities across local schools and the wider South West so every child could get the opportunity and think that they had the potential for it.

"It's opening up their minds to what this is, but it's linking it to what we do here in Plymouth," he said.

He said the event involved "working with the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and Babcock to basically show people what engineering is about; playing with robot dogs, going for a submarine and just inspiring minds effectively about careers in STEM".

He added: "Here in Plymouth, with the work we're doing on submarines, we've got work out to 2070.

"Effectively, the people that are going to be manning those submarines and looking after them, they're at primary school now. So, we really need to inspire them into those high-value careers later in life."

Young added young people had no fear of technology and it was about given them a practical sense.

"I think they're they're fantastic because they do have that innate knowledge of how that works," he said.

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