Widening Participation

Recognising that Black students need representation and role models in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (collectively called STEM subjects), Students from secondary schools with high BAME representation are invited to the University of Bristol to experience engineering.

KS1 & KS2 students are introduced to science through the inspirations and inventions of Dr. Lonnie Johnson- Inventor and Engineer.   https://cargomovement.org/classroom/.     

A real rocket scientist and inventor, Dr. Johnson built a robot out of scrap metal and helped to develop interplanetary missions for NASA and the stealth bomber program for U.S. Air Force.  

 He also came up with a massively popular toy called the SuperSoaker, which he thought of one day while thinking about a heat pump idea in his bathroom. The Super Soaker has earned more than a billion dollars in sales. All lessons are aligned to the national curriculum. 

Unknown to most, many Black scientist have a played a pivotal role in our science and medical industries.  Creative Tuition Collective, working in collaboration with the Fellowship provide 'Diversifying Stem' workshops to schools. The workshops have been carefully selected and planned to provide students with knowledge and skills that they would miss out on with the standard curriculum. 

This includes crucial life skills on topics such as personal finance to deeper, culturally informative topics such as pre-colonial African science. The activities are fun, engaging and insightful and show students some of the integral contributions of Black scientists, and the diversity within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field. It is particularly  important for Black and black heritage students to learn about people who may look like them, achieved incredible things, something they do not see often.

With a focus on the specific needs of underrepresented communities and intersectional experiences, Creative Tuition fosters an environment that enables pupils to thrive, increasing their grades, confidence and future aspirations.  The workshops are interactive, enabling students to develop the following skills: Communication, Delegation, Teamwork, Investigative, Presentation, Analysis, Summary and Consolidation, Organisation.   

Through the work of the fellowship, an independent agency was contracted to produce a report based on first-hand research into the experience of Black Engineers at the University of Bristol on under-graduate and post-graduate courses in CAME and SCEEM.  

'Black’ refers to those who identify as having Black African and Caribbean heritage and can experience the specific combination of discrimination, racism and bias this brings.  By focusing on interviewing and holding conversations with this specific group we aim to provide a more in-depth representation of a particular experience at the University of Bristol with more specific recommendations which can be more realistically achieved in the given timescale.