PLACINGS: Partnership for LAunching Careers in engineerING and Sciences

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By establishing imaginative synergies between academia and industrial partners, this project will provide leadership in public engagement and social interaction to inspire society by enhancing public appreciation of engineering research, to attract young minds to a fulfilling career in engineering and physical sciences, and to help underrepresented categories access education in STEM subjects.The scientific and technologic innovation coming from engineering and physical sciences is vital for boosting economic growth, improving quality of life and ensuring national security in the UK. To maintain and further enhance UK's international standing in the engineering sector requires higher education institutions to provide a pipeline of highly skilled professionals that can move between engineering disciplines with confidence and fluidity. Regrettably, schools and universities are not currently optimised to meet the demand of such high-skilled individuals, as the graduate-level shortfall is hitting the 20,000 people-per-year mark. A large untapped human capital is represented by women and minority ethnic groups.If the UK is to address its massive skill shortage in engineering and physical sciences, many more young minds need to be enthused and attracted to a career in engineering, and vigorous actions must be planned to involve underrepresented groups. To address these issues, we will design activities to demonstrate the breadth and importance of engineering research, to attract underrepresented groups to careers in engineering and physical sciences, and to facilitate stronger connections between schools and industry. The project will initially bring together Loughborough University and industrial partners BIAS Ltd, DNV GL, and TFM Networks. Other partners will be actively recruited during the project.This project will involve close engagement with schools and policymakers. The activities designed in the work packages will be tailored to support schools to achieve the relevant Gatsby Benchmarks. The Benchmarks were recently formulated by the Careers and Enterprise Company and define a framework of eight guidelines that schools should follow in order to offer top careers guidance to their students. We will make the project results accessible to policymakers in an engaging and influential way by writing a policy brief, which we will advertise on the project website and social media channels. The policy brief will enable Parliament to shape future policies to fill the engineering skills gap in the UK.