ICE President Peter Hansford has praised the support and enthusiasm for this year’s Big Bang Fair – the UK’s biggest single celebration of science and engineering aimed to inspire more young people to take up ‘STEM’ subjects.
The Big Bang Fair 2011 took place at ICC London ExCeL from 10-12 March and was fronted by TV physicist Brian Cox. Over 20,000 school children attended and took part in a range of shows, activities and workshops demonstrating the importance of science and engineering to society. The Fair also played host to the prestigious National Science & Engineering Competition, launched by Business Secretary Vince Cable, which saw two youngsters crowned "UK Young Scientist of the Year" and "UK Young Engineer of the Year".
Over 2000 school children visited ICE’s stand at the Fair – where students were challenged to build a sturdy bridge connecting two elevated points with just 20 sheets of paper and butterfly clips. 21 ICE members and 6 ICE staff were on hand over the three days to assist with constructing the bridges and showing the students how engineers use these skills in real life projects around the world.
Hansford praised the Big Bang Fair as “a great way to get children, parents and teachers alike involved and aware of the exciting and rewarding opportunities engineering and science presents.”
“It’s fantastic that so many youngsters visited the ICE stand to gain a better understanding of what civil engineering is all about and just how central it is to our day-to-day lives. By engaging children with civil engineering at a young age we can hopefully influence their career path early on – this is crucial if we want a homegrown skills base to deliver world class infrastructure in the future.” he added.
Skills development and retention is a core theme in Hansford’s ICE presidency, particularly engaging pre-19s which he says is vital to ensuring new talent is attracted into the profession. His centerpiece schools initiative, a major schools competition Create Sport developed in partnership with Arup and the Engineering Development Trust, challenges 12 to 13 year olds across the UK to plan, design and construct a model for a new sports venue in their region. More than 1,000 students, supported by around 200 working or graduate engineers, have enrolled for the project nationwide. Their designs for a community sports venue will be judged at the Create Sport Grand Final in June 2011 at the ICE HQ in London.
Commenting on the Big Bang Fair, Government chief scientific adviser Sir John Beddington said that the next generation of scientists and engineers would play “a fundamental role in tackling the global challenges of the 21st century.”
"These include the issues of climate change and the management of essential natural resources, and dealing with the threats to our world from diseases, floods, volcanoes and earthquakes." he said.
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is a leading source of professional expertise in transport, water supply and treatment, flood management, waste and energy. Established in 1818, it has over 80,000 members throughout the world including over 60,000 in the UK. ICE’s vision is to place civil engineering the heart of society, delivering sustainable development through knowledge, skills and professional expertise. The ICE has long worked with the government of the day to help it to achieve its objectives, and has worked with industry to ensure that construction and civil engineering remain major contributors to the UK economy.