To encourage students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds to explore careers in engineering, global engineering technology company, Renishaw plc, recently collaborated with Bristol Future Talent Partnership (BFTP) to host a science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM) insight day. The event offered a a group of students in years 12 and 13 the opportunity to visit Renishaw, take part in hands-on activities and discover the wide range of STEM-related jobs available.

The group of invited students engaged in a range of interactive sessions, including a sustainability workshop, a mini science experiment and a coding workshop. The activites provided the students with valuable insights into the range of disciplines in engineering, while allowing them to apply engineering skills to hands-on activities. Renishaw also showcased its early careers opportunities to highlight the range of roles available in a science and engineering based business, including apprenticeships and graduate placements.

Rebecca Bound, Early Careers STEM outreach officer at Renishaw, said: “Providing students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds the opportunity to explore STEM careers is pivotal in increasing diversity in the sector. Exposure to STEM and engineering activities allows them to explore the range of skills and tasks they could face in a future career and realise that it could be a more diverse career path.”

Employment opportunities
Kirsten Hambly, partnership and engagement manager at BFTP said: “It is great to have Renishaw as one of our partner organisations helping us to deliver our programmes. The partnership is a collaboration of like-minded individuals and businesses all working to make Bristol a fairer and more racially equal place to study and work, with a particular focus on providing talented young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds with education and employment opportunities.”

Renishaw has partnered with the British Future Talent Partnership for over two years, providing STEM insight days for young people from Bristol. Black and ethnically diverse people in Bristol face the seventh worst levels of multiple inequalities in England and Wales, including education and employment.

Bristol Future Talent Partnership aims to make Bristol the fairest and most racially equal place to study and work in the UK. The company works with young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds aged 14 to 21 to remove barriers, raise aspirations and provide talent with opportunity by providing high quality work experience opportunities.

Renishaw runs an extensive STEM Outreach programme, which includes supporting multiple local schools with visits to dedicated education centres at its Gloucestershire and South Wales sites. The programme aims to inspire young people to consider science and engineering as future career options by hosting regular events such as engineering workshops and supporting primary school technology clubs.