We often get asked to engage with schools to support their curricula. Its not an area where we have any experience and realistically the influence we might have is extremely localised at school age.
Instead we engage at degree level or higher, both with UK-based researchers and students, and with overseas academics.
To date we’ve carried out the following;
- supported multiple interview or questionaire based research programs at a global level
- spoken at academic conferences and attended synposia
- supported multiple final year projects for arts and design focussed students
- provided a live industry challenge for a business school class
- contributed raw materials and technical support to multiple academic projects including – sustainable cricket gear (UCA/Oxford), motorsport componentry (Wolverhampton) and sustainable materials for low cost 3D printing (Loughborough)
- contributed to an academic paper for peer-review (Loughborough)
So our focus in educational engagement is in the more immediate, rather than the more distant future, reflecting the company’s own progress and priority.
We need to effect change in today’s physical systems and engage those that will effect that change, the young designers, technicians and engineers who will use our materials to change their worlds. And we welcome that engagement.