DETI Inspire Engagement Report 2020-2021

Fogg Rogers, Laura; Laggan, Sophie; Bristow, Ana; Warren, Joshua; Cockbill, Louisa; Lister, Liz; Hobbs, Laura

Abstract

From September 2020 to December 2021, DETI Inspire has delivered an impressive array of outputs and engagement activities. In two years, the team have directly engaged 6,832 children and 216 teachers from 73 schools and community groups in the West of England, with an estimated 97,550 children reached altogether through dissemination efforts. Along the way, children have been able to have conversations with real-life engineers through (online) Q&A sessions, card games and skill shares. 455 engineers have so far shared their experiences, as well as at least 17 industry partners and three charities.

42% of total direct engagements (N=3,415) came directly through in-person BoxED sessions, all four developed and launched by DETI Inspire in 2021: The West in Minecraft (N=2,047, 60%), Engineering Curiosity (N=357, 10%), WeCount (N=319, 9%), and We Make Our Future (N=692, 20%). 42% (10) of all the schools engaged in BoxED sessions (total = 24) came from areas within the most deprived 20% of the country, and 17% (4) came from the most deprived 30%.

The last 20 months has seen the programme: pair female junior engineers with senior female mentors (page 13); establish a network of 102 engineers from diverse backgrounds (page 13); distribute 132 Engineering Curiosity card packs to schools and community groups and launch 40 Tik-Tok videos to accompany them (p 16); host a Sustainable Solutions Summit to 16-18-year-olds (page 26); champion sustainable engineering at COP26 (page 28); beam in engineers to 3,500 children during the height of the pandemic (p39); and reach over 250,000 people through social media (p 35). For a full list of highlights, and for details of DETI Inspire’s engagements, see Table 1.

Despite another year of uncertainty, with rules around in-person events frequently changing, the DETI Inspire programme has excelled under the circumstances. Adapting to the changing rules and guidance, the team managed to engage in-person when they could – enriching children and young people’s cultural experiences, limited by the pandemic – and offer well attended online events when they could not. For instance, from two online events alone, DETI Inspire reached 9,000 children and young people.

DETI Inspire will continue to deliver BoxED activities to schools across the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), with a full calendar of bookings right up until June. The programme will also support this year’s Leaders Award (p 42), Great Science Share (p51), and take part in the long-awaited return of Bristol’s Storytale Festival (p 511), among other activities. DETI Inspire is excelling in promoting engineering for sustainability among children, young people and adults from diverse backgrounds, not only in WECA, but also nationally and across Europe.

• Report Type: Project Report
• Online Publication Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 1, 2022
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9031804