Around 6000 young people, teachers and businesses attended Get up to Speed with STEM, an annual event aiming to inform and inspire students about the diversity of careers in STEM industries.
The interactive event gives pupils the chance to speak to a variety of businesspeople about future career opportunities.
John Barber, CEO of The Work-wise Foundation (the event’s organisers) said: “Our primary aim is to show young people what industries are out there. In school, most students think about the generic jobs such as being doctors or nurses, but we want to show them that there is so much more that they can be and there are so many other options that they won’t have even heard of. We ultimately want to inspire them and raise their aspirations”.
Amit Kotecha, the Young Careers manager at Network Rail, said: “I think with young people, unless they see relatable role models in jobs, they’ll never see a career for them. We have a mantra in our team which is ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, so being here means we can be face on with young people to talk about the different jobs and get them a little bit more inspired.”