Diamond the Board Game - engaging students in the science of Diamond Light Source and the process of being a scientist

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Rising costs of public engagement mean that it is harder to deliver activities inclusively across the country. This is set against rising pressure on teachers and a massive STEM skills shortage. We seek to address this through the development and distribution of 'Diamond the Board Game' ('DTBG'), which aims to provide a cheap, reusable and entertaining way to directly engage students in STEM careers and the underpinning scientific experiments (all of which highlight the cutting-edge science carried out at Diamond). DTBG is currently at the final prototype stage, and ready for larger scale and more cost effective production. The aim of this grant is to bulk manufacture 1000 copies of the game, which can then be distributed primarily to the schools aligned to the Wonder Initiative. We therefore aim to prioritise schools with a high proportion of free school meals, and will also charge for postage on a case by case basis as we will consider requests for postage costs from those schools who cannot afford postage. The introduction of 12 distinct careers and 36 interdisciplinary scientific projects during the game directly links to the mandatory careers guidance provision under the Gatsby Foundation recommendations that have been adopted by the government and specifically complies with benchmarks 1,2 and 4 for good career guidance. We therefore want to support schools to achieve their mandatory provision goals through the use of DTBG, which would be beneficial to many schools who are currently struggling to hit their targets for this. There are also benefits to Diamond as nurturing interests in STEM from an early age could be an opportunity for recruitment in later years.