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Engineering Family Fun Day – A Celebration of Curiosity, Creativity, and Community

Author engineering | Posted on

“It was great to see so many young people being interested in STEM. It was also a good day for parents who are not in the STEM field as well, to see them ask questions and inspire their children was amazing!”
– Sally Sin, Student Ambassador

UWE Engineering did it again! Our Family Fun Day welcomed a lively crowd of over 800 parents, children, students, and staff, all brought together by the magic of science, technology, and imagination.

The day was packed with hands-on activities that sparked curiosity across all ages. From making wind turbines, where every design seemed more creative than the last, attending the planetarium, to taking part in immersive simulations like car racing and flying, there was something to delight everyone.

Younger children dived into arts and crafts, decorating a beautiful wind turbine nature park. Meanwhile, our ever-popular Minecraft zone remained a crowd favourite, drawing in families for a digital STEM adventure.

For teens, the Degree Apprenticeship Talks offered valuable insights into future pathways in engineering, while those curious about sustainability took part in a fun ‘Find the Sustainable Job’ trail. The team championed for children to join the activity, and they enthusiastically did! As they explored the building, spotting posters and collecting stickers, their faces lit up with pride. And when their faces shone, so did their parents

Throughout the day, our enthusiastic staff and student ambassadors were on hand to guide visitors, answer questions, and make sure no one missed a thing. With plenty of food (yes, there were hotdogs!) and good vibes all around, the event kept everyone fuelled and smiling.

The whole team agreed, the day was exciting, curiosity was sparked, and the time flew by! We learned, we shared, we laughed. We’re already looking forward to hopefully hosting it again in summer 2026. See you then!

Building a Greener Future: UWE Bristol Brings Together Sustainability Researchers

Author engineering | Posted on

In April, UWE Bristol welcomed early career researchers from across the UK for a vibrant day of collaboration and knowledge-sharing at the 3rd Sustainability Multidisciplinary Meet-Up: SHAPEing Net Zero. Hosted at the Bristol Business School and organised by Dr Jill Zhao from the School of Architecture and Environment, the event explored how research and innovation can drive an inclusive, just, and technologically enabled response to the climate crisis.

The event brought together early career researchers from over 30 universities to connect across disciplines and explore themes ranging from climate justice and community-led decarbonisation, to big data, retrofit, wellbeing, and the power of storytelling.

Spotlight on sustainable engineering and community engagement

One of the UWE researchers presenting at the event was Sarah Behenna, Project Coordinator in the School of Engineering and Science Communication Unit. She shared work from the award-winning public engagement programmes led by Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers and Dr Laura Hobbs, focused on engaging underrepresented children and young people in sustainability through the use of Minecraft.

Sarah’s presentation, titled “Empowering Youth: Communicating Sustainability and Green Skills through Minecraft”, explored how the platform is being used to introduce young people to engineering principles, sustainable development goals, and green career pathways. By designing their own sustainable communities in-game, participants gain hands-on experience of building a better future—while having fun and learning STEM skills in the process.

Forging partnerships and new ideas

Also attending from UWE Bristol was Dr Iwona Gajda, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and a mentor on the Women Like Me/Women in Industry programme. Dr Gajda joined discussions on interdisciplinary approaches to climate action, bringing her expertise in circular economy and environmental systems.

A key strength of the event was the space it created for building new relationships and sparking collaborative ideas. During the day, Sarah connected with several researchers, including Dr Lui Tam from Cardiff University, and together they began developing a potential future grant bid – demonstrating the immediate impact of cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary networking in driving forward collaborative research.

Looking ahead

Events like SHAPEing Net Zero underline the importance of empowering the next generation of researchers to lead change across academic, policy and community settings. With sustainability, equity and engagement at the heart of its ethos, the British Academy and UWE Bristol is proud to support early career researchers as they shape a more just and resilient future.

A big thank you to Dr Jill Zhao for her vision and dedication in creating and delivering such a valuable and inspiring event.

Education and Engineering students work together to deliver workshops in schools

Author joshuawarren | Posted on

Over 1500 children across 7 local schools have received an engaging STEM workshop developed and delivered by engineering and education students, as part of the Professionalism for Engineers module.

The groups of students worked together to create inspiring and fun school workshops teaching various curriculum-linked engineering concepts, aimed at primary-age pupils. 56 classes in total took place, reaching over 1500 children in Filton Avenue, Shield Road, Summerhill, May Park, Stoke Bishop, Chester Park and Glenfrome Primary schools!

The project offers the engineering students an opportunity to practice and develop their communication skills, as well as learning how to turn their technical knowledge into an engaging activity. Supported by future teachers studying education, whom also benefit by gaining confidence in teaching STEM concepts.

Additionally, education students were last week invited by the Inspire Sustainability team to visit the Prototype and Play Lab at the School of Engineering to explore the STEM outreach workshops that the team provides. The students had an introduction to all the engaging and fun outreach activities the team have developed including The West in Minecraft and the new Green Futures card sets. The students were also treated to a tour of the building and even had a chance to check out the Digital Gallery and have a go in the VR cave and on the simulators.

Luke Arnold, Senior Lecturer in Education thanked the team on behalf of the cohort; and the education students have also been offered opportunities to join the Inspire Sustainability team on future outreach.

To find out more about the Professionalism for Engineering module, the Education course or the Inspire Sustainability team and their outreach, please contact Juliet.Edmonds@uwe.ac.uk, Luke.Arnold@uwe.ac.uk, or engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk.

You can also check out the Inspire Sustainability team’s outreach on curiosityconnections.net.

Green Futures workshops reaches over 2000 young people in first 3 months

Author louisacockbill | Posted on

Engineering’s Inspire Sustainability team are leading on a new exciting project to inspire local children into green jobs (thanks to funders the West of England Combined Authority). Last year they recruited 48 local people in green jobs to feature on a top-trump card pack and hot off the printing press in February – the cards went straight into schools and communities!

Visiting 25 mainstream schools, five special educational needs groups and two community events since the launch- the team are are acting on UWE’s duty as a civic university to benefit the local community – raising aspirations for all young people and creating the workforce of the future to deliver Net Zero aims.

Inspiring

The Green Futures sessions have enabled young people in primary and secondary schools to discover what a green job is and how it’s relevant to their lives. They’ve explored the huge diversity in jobs (& people!) featured in the card pack, alongside hands-on activities.

The funding includes a focus on young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and in alternative learning provision (ALP) – so the team have adapted their sessions to engage these groups.

The SEND summits began in April, bringing groups into UWE’s own Prototype & Play lab. In May, that’s continuing, with groups also going into We The Curious and ss Great Britain – learning about green jobs in inspirational settings.

“Really interesting and engaging. Loved the career cards and how they showed a range of skills.”

Parent from a SEND summit

Volunteer ambassadors in green jobs are involved as well – as it’s always an inspiration to meet someone in person and for students to ask questions!

“The children loved meeting people from the cards – it really brought the session to life.” 

Teacher from St Werburgh’s Primary

If your child’s school would like to book in a session please email: engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk (we’re taking bookings from September as we’re fully booked until the summer!)

Connecting

At the end of March, the card pack launch was celebrated with the people featured on the cards, along with local business representatives, teachers and members of the local careers hub. As well as celebrating and connecting the amazing people who’d featured on the cards, the event also marked Retrofit Action Week with three speakers outlining how their roles contribute to making buildings Net Zero.

Find out more about the celebratory launch or explore the real people in amazing green jobs – their profiles feature here and include lots of interesting facts (including earnings ££), career routes and inspirational quotes. Look for UWE representatives – Glenn Lyons, Laura Fogg-Rogers and Roger Griffith.


We’re not just connecting with schools and businesses – we’re also going into communities. We’re joining in with local events and leading our own events in community centres – like St Paul’s Green & Healthy Careers Fair on 19th May – read more and get a ticket to come along.

Want to find out more?

More information about the Inspire Green Futures workshops can be found on the website.

The project is led by Laura Fogg-Rogers and Louisa Cockbill at UWE. Who worked alongside – My Future My Choice, the Natural History Consortium and Graphic Science, the STEM ambassador delivery partner for the SouthWest – to recruit people for the cards and now to deliver to thousands across the region.

Inspire Sustainability team at the Somerset Sustainable Futures Summit

Author joshuawarren | Posted on

The UWE School of Engineering’s Inspire Sustainability team highlighted future green jobs to young people at the Somerset Sustainable Futures Summit.  The event brought together primary and secondary students, educators, and local businesses, to explore green skills and future career opportunities.

Students were challenged to design wind turbine blades and generate clean energy as part of the new Power our Future workshop activity. You can view teaching resources for the activity here on the Curiosity Connections website.

The event took place on 26th November at Taunton Rugby Football Club, and was a collaboration between Somerset Council, Dorset & Somerset Training Provider Network, Somerset Education Business Partnership, Somerset Careers Hub, and local stakeholders, aimed to inspire Somerset’s young people and build a sustainable future workforce.

Students engaged with interactive exhibits from local employers leading in sustainability and shared their perspectives during a youth voice summit. Key highlights included a keynote speech from climate activist and Castle School student James Lawson and thought-provoking discussions where students shaped priorities for the initiative.

Julie Young of Somerset Council praised the students’ passion and ideas, while Richard Jenkins of DSTPN commended businesses for showcasing practical sustainability efforts that inspired the next generation.

The day concluded with a logo design competition for the initiative, with the winning entry set to feature on the Somerset Sustainable Futures website in the new year.

There’s also a short video of the day from the Somerset Education Business Partnership, available here.

If you’d like to hear more about the event, or find out ways you can get involved in future events with the Inspire Sustainability team, please contact the team at engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk

Schools can also book free STEM workshops from the Inspire Sustainability team including the Power our Future activity, on the Curiosity Connections website, or by contacting the team.

Three Leader Scholarships awarded to UWE students

Author louisacockbill | Posted on

UWE Engineering is proud to announce that three of its outstanding students have been selected for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s prestigious Engineering Leaders Scholarships (ELS). The programme provides support for undergraduates in UK Higher Education Institutions, who display the potential to become leaders and innovators in engineering and who want to become leadership role models for the next generation of engineers. 

Massive congratulations go to:

  • Kate Wheatley, Aerospace Engineering Degree Apprenticeship
  • Leia Wright, MEng Aerospace Engineering with Pilot Studies
  • Neha Master,  BEng Aerospace Engineering

Congratulations also go to UWE Visiting Professor John Armstrong, who supported the three students and is thrilled by their success.

More about ELS

The scholarships help ambitious undergraduates, in engineering and related disciplines, to undertake an accelerated personal development programme, which will help them to gain the necessary skills to become engineering leaders, soon after graduating. 

Successful awardees receive:

  • £5,000 to be used over three years, towards career-related personal development activities
  • Dedicated training and networking events
  • The support of an Academy Mentor
  • Invitations to exclusive Academy events and opportunities 
  • Access to an alumni community of over 300 engineers

We hope to hear more about the students plans for the scholarships in the Autumn.

Plans for prototype invention revealed at children’s award ceremony

Author louisacockbill | Posted on

On Friday 5th June, UWE Engineers revealed early plans to turn a young person’s winning design into reality.

The Leaders Award is a nationwide engineering competition (run by Primary Engineer) for young people to design inventions to solve a problem. UWE Engineering is one of the Leaders Awards partners in the South West of England and hosted this years exhibition of distinction shortlisted, highly commended & winning designs.

During the Awards ceremony, Hollie Lewis, Lecturer in Sustainable Project Management, presented plans for a UWE team to build last year’s winner Elliot James’ design, the “Smart shower”. Hollie is heading up the “Proto team” which includes Electronics Mechatronics Technical Team Leader, Steve Regester and Engineering Students: Erika Aiwekhoe, Ruth Cockroft and Naing Tun.

120 people attended the celebration event to congratulate the winners and take a look at the activities UWE Engineering’s Inspire Sustainability team had to offer. The exhibition remained up the following day for the Family Fun day, where over 900 people visited and took part in a whole range of hands-on activities.

Hollie Lewis, Proto-team lead, alongside Elliot James, inventor
Hollie presents at the Awards Ceremony
Award winners & their families viewed the competition exhibition
Elliot James and his proud family

“Smart Shower”

Last year, Elliot James, pupil at St Katherine’s sixth form, won the prize for best Year 12 design – you can see his original “SMARTH” – SMART Bath – design below. The UWE proto-team have adapted this design and are starting to build the Smart shower.

Elliot James Leaders Award design won the Year 12 category in 2023

More prototypes!

Engineers from GKN, headed up by Ian Gent, Research Engineer in Composites, also revealed a prototype machine that purifies water.

Dean of Engineering, Ramin Amali expressed at the Awards Ceremony how wonderful it is to have so many local young people participating in this Engineering competition and having their designs turned into a reality!

Funding supports inspirational Green Job workshops for children

Author louisacockbill | Posted on

We’re pleased to announce that the West of England Combined Authority will be funding the Inspire Sustainability team at UWE Bristol to engage local children with the Green careers needed to achieve Net Zero.

The “Curiosity Connections Green Futures” project will use real-life local role models to inform and inspire local children about Green jobs. 

“What do you mean by a “Green” career?” 
“Do you have to like gardening or work in recycling?” 
“How do you get those Green-y jobs?”  

(Questions from local children)

The new resources will seek to answer those questions – helping children across the West of England to understand what job opportunities there are to build a sustainable future for our planet, and how their skills are crucial to that transition.

New partnership to reach thousands

Leading the project, UWE Bristol are bringing together local networks to identify a diverse array of local people in Green jobs to feature in a top-trump card set.

Collaborators include:

The new project draws on the success of the Engineering Curiosity top trump card set released by the Inspire Sustainability team in 2021, funded by the Digital Engineering and Technology Innovation programme. Those cards have been an incredible resource in highlighting career options and the Inspire Sustainability team hope to do the same, on an even bigger scale, with the new Green Job cards.

The aim is to show not only the great expanse of Green career options, but also that people from all backgrounds can enter these careers. So the card pack will showcase diverse local people at all career stages, from entry level to CEO, who’ve taken varied career pathways.

The cards will form the basis of a hands-on green careers kit, deployed by UWE’s outreach experts in 100s of pop-up sessions and whole school events in the next two years. Sessions will be tailored for both primary and secondary school classes, with additional mini-Green summits specially designed to effectively engage children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and in alternative learning provision (ALP).

To maximise awareness and support for Green careers, the project will involve families wherever possible, and this will be a particular focus at big events, such as the Festival of Nature in Bristol and Bath.

Green ambassadors will go into schools with the UWE team to inspire children face-to-face. And online resources will expand on the card profiles, with extra careers information and guidance enabling children to understand how a Green career could fit their interests and skill set.

If you’re in a Green job and want to get involved, please email louisa.cockbill@uwe.ac.uk.

Inspire Sustainability team speakersat CLF Schools ECO Conferences

Author joshuawarren | Posted on

The Inspire Sustainability team were invited to give a keynote speech and lead a workshop at the Cabot Learning Federation’s ECO Schools Conferences in June.

Year 12 students from several schools across the West of England took part in an ECO Conference at UWE Bristol on 27th June, whilst primary and secondary students from CLF eco-clubs across many schools gathered together in Weston Super Mare at Winterstoke Hundred Acedemy on the 28th June.

Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers led a workshop for Year 12 students on youth climate communications and Josh Warren gave a keynote speech about climate action, discussing a range of sustainability topics including what net-zero means, the challenges in reaching it, the need for green skills, and how they relate to green jobs. 

The teams also held stands for the student attendees to interact with sustainability-focussed STEM activities including the West in Minecraft and the Engineering Curiosity career cards.  

Also at the conference, held at the Winterstoke Hundred Academy, were other stalls dedicated to climate action and sustainability, such as the fight against Bristol Airport expansion, how to reduce your food miles, and the UN’s Sustainable Development goals.   There was also an interactive panel-game style discussion with Tom Walmsley from the Ministry or Eco Education, discussing which party has responsibility for climate action in various everyday situations.

The conference proved a real success with the students feeling empowered to take renewed climate action back to their respective schools, and be more equipped to make a meaningful impact.

To learn more about the Inspire Sustainability team, or if you have questions about their outreach, please email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk

To find out about the sustainability-focussed STEM activities that the team offer, and how to book them, please visit https://www.digitaltrailblazers.net/resources/

To learn more about the CLF Eco Conference, please contact sam.hodder@clf.uk

Young people become inventors at Izzy Gizmo themed STEM workshop

Author joshuawarren | Posted on

Last week, a class of Year 3 students from Cabot Primary were inspired by a STEM workshop at UWE’s School of Engineering based upon the children’s book, ‘Izzy Gizmo’ by Pip Jones. 

The workshop was a collaboration between the Inspire Sustainability team and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, as part of the development of a stage-show based upon the book. 

‘Izzy Gizmo’ is a young global majority girl with a passion for inventing all sorts of wacky machines.  In the book, she discovers that engineering is all about finding success by trying again when her inventions don’t always work first time.  One day, she finds an injured crow on her way home, and sets about trying to invent something to allow her new friend to fly again.

The children in the workshop, were delighted to be joined by the author, Pip Jones.  Pip introduced the children to the character of Izzy, and also talked to them about how inventions have changed their own worlds over time.  The children then were challenged to think like Izzy and design and build a flying machine for the crow, named ‘Fixer’.   

All students were awarded the ‘Izzy and Fixer’s Award of Invention!’ by Pip for attending the workshop and had a really inspiring day building and inventing!

More pictures from the day will be added here soon!

Learn more about the Bristol Old Vic here: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/

You can read about and order the Izzy Gizmo book here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Izzy-Gizmo/Pip-Jones/9780857075130

To find out more about this workshop or the other outreach from the Inspire Sustainability team, please email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk