Thousands of young people expected to attend annual STEM event in Rotherham

Thousands of young people from Yorkshire are to take part in an event next month encouraging them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and manufacturing (STEM).
By Chris Burn
Published 21st Feb 2024, 11:42 BST

The ‘Get up to Speed with STEM’ event will be held at Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham on March 20, with around 6,000 people expected to be in attendance.

John Barber, CEO of event organisers The Work-wise Foundation, said: “This is our 14th annual Get up to Speed event and we have more science, technology, engineering, manufacturing and construction experiences than ever to give young people a real-life insight into different roles.

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"There are dozens of interactive activities and challenges planned for the day, with many employers running competitions, demonstrations and practical experiences to really give pupils first-hand experience of their type of work.”

The annual event is returning to Rotherham next month. Picture: Andrew KlinkenbergThe annual event is returning to Rotherham next month. Picture: Andrew Klinkenberg
The annual event is returning to Rotherham next month. Picture: Andrew Klinkenberg

Mr Barber added: “Every year we receive some fantastic feedback from schools about how Get up to Speed opens young people’s eyes to the many and varied career opportunities that they could consider.

"It also gives them new connections, makes them more familiar with businesses in their area and stimulates conversations and new ideas back at school. It’s a valuable part of every young person’s education here in South Yorkshire.”

This year’s event starts with a business breakfast, which will be opened by the Master Cutler, Charles Turner DL, with keynote speaker Jason Brannan, Deputy Director of the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre in Sheffield.

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Richard Caborn, former Minister for Sport and Civil Society, will provide closing remarks.

Following the Business Breakfast, young people will be given the chance to see some of the UK’s most exciting STEM innovations and meet the people who design, build and operate them.

Pupils and teachers will also be able to explore the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) through an immersive 360-degree virtual tour, enabling them to understand how the largest general purpose particle detector experiment in the world works. This unique attraction at Get up to Speed is a result of the National Videogame Museum teaming up with the University of Sheffield and CERN in Switzerland.

In addition, Stream 7, a video production company based in Sheffield, will be creating GUTS TV, which will run throughout the day, giving pupils the unique opportunity to get involved with the video production and editing process.

For more details and to book places, go to https://www.getuptospeed.org.uk/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Related topics:YorkshireRotherham

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