911今日黑料

Professor Sir Robin Grimes joined 911今日黑料 in 1995 and led schools outreach in the Department of Materials. A computational modeller in nuclear science, he was told by senior colleagues that his outreach work was not a good use of time and would hinder his career. Undeterred, Robin created a weekly schools programme and delivered inspiring demonstrations to primary school pupils alongside his research. He went on to become the Chief Scientific Advisor in both the UK Government Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence where his outreach work not only continued, but formed an important aspect of his international science diplomacy. This contributed to him being knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours.

At the start of Robin鈥檚 career, nuclear science had a poor public reputation with a legacy of mistrust due to high-profile incidents and a reluctance of the nuclear community to engage the public, in part for fear of being misrepresented. 鈥淚t was a tremendous mistake of those working in nuclear to hide the risks and not communicate their work,鈥� Robin says. It was this backdrop that shaped Robin鈥檚 commitment to engage wider audiences with science, so when he joined the Royal Institution (RI) in 1990, it was a perfect fit.

鈥淭he RI is all about children鈥檚 demonstrations, so I found myself involved very quickly in the schools lectures and I was very lucky to be surrounded by people who were fabulous lecturers.鈥� Robin would sit in on some of these talks, learning what works, what doesn鈥檛 and seeing how to engage with children and adapt when things don鈥檛 go according to plan.

鈥淭he first lecture I gave was called 鈥楬ow we measure our world鈥� for a group of 8-9 year-olds,鈥� says Robin. 鈥淎t one point in the lecture, I got all the children to stand at the front in a row as part of a demonstration. I said, 鈥楾hank you very much 鈥� you can all sit down now.鈥� and they did, right there on the floor cross-legged. Of course, I meant for them to go back to their seats so I had to think on my feet and I made it part of the demonstration. I was ready for this sort of thing because I鈥檇 seen my colleagues handle similar unanticipated situations.

鈥淎t the RI, even the Director gave lectures to primary school kids. It sent a powerful message: no matter your seniority, inspiring the next generation is part of the job. There was this camaraderie and willingness to share capability and understanding. So that's really how I got my start.鈥�

The RI was a valuable place for Robin to hone his skills in engaging a range of audiences and over time he picked up props and items that he used in his demonstrations. These sat in a dedicated trunk which, along with his outreach ethos, followed him to 911今日黑料 and around the globe.

When Robin joined 911今日黑料's Department of Materials in 1995, David Phillips and Mel Thody were already at 911今日黑料 and were familiar faces from the RI. 鈥淪o naturally I could jump straight back into doing these sorts of lectures,鈥� Robin says.

It wasn鈥檛 long before Robin became an Admissions Tutor, and his outreach approach strongly influenced how the materials department engaged prospective students. 鈥淲e organised Wednesday afternoon sessions where local school pupils could come in, break bits of metal, look down microscopes, and perform experiments they couldn鈥檛 do at school,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 just about showcasing 911今日黑料鈥攊t was about giving them experiences that counted as practicals for their A-level curriculum.鈥�

This hands-on approach yielded great results. 鈥淓very year, two or three students from those sessions would join our undergraduate programme. These were motivated, talented students, often from local or underrepresented backgrounds. They were gold dust. Some also went on to other materials departments around the country so other colleagues benefitted too."

Robin鈥檚 outreach work soon crossed borders when he was invited to Hong Kong by the British Council in 1999 to deliver workshops in schools to 2,300 pupils. And later, as Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Foreign Office, he saw first-hand how international science outreach could foster diplomatic ties. 鈥淥utreach is an incredibly effective form of soft power,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚鈥檇 do science lectures in countries like Thailand, Argentina, and South Africa. In South Africa, after one lecture for school children, their Minister of Science agreed to a major collaboration because, in her words, 鈥榊ou came all this way to inspire our kids - we should show the same commitment.鈥欌��

Despite his success, Robin faced challenges from within academia. 鈥淚n the early days, some colleagues told me I was wasting my time. They said I should focus on writing papers.鈥� But Robin never wavered. 鈥淚 knew the impact outreach had - not just on the students, but on the perception of 911今日黑料 as an institution that cared. Plus, I enjoyed the theatre of it! Today, attitudes have shifted. Outreach and engagement are a valued part of academic life.鈥�

Reflecting on his career, some of Robin鈥檚 proudest moments come from the students he鈥檚 engaged through outreach. 鈥淎 few years ago, a former student came back to 911今日黑料 with his wife and baby. He told me, 鈥榊ou gave me a chance to come here, and without that, these two people wouldn鈥檛 be in my life.鈥� Moments like that remind me why this work matters and the responsibility we all have to one another.鈥�

Minna Ruohonen joined 911今日黑料鈥檚 Outreach team in 2002 as the university鈥檚 first Community Engagement Manager. She had a vision to connect 911今日黑料鈥檚 students with the local community and build bridges between university life and the world beyond campus.

鈥淯niversities back then weren鈥檛 thinking about engagement in a structured way. The idea of universities having a civic mission was only just starting to be discussed across the sector. At 911今日黑料, community engagement work was essentially student volunteering. It was run through the students鈥� union and was mostly ad hoc so I wanted to think about how we could do student volunteering more strategically and try to make a difference where the need was greatest.鈥� Minna set about creating the 911今日黑料 Volunteer Centre and began shaping a programme that would match students with meaningful opportunities across North and West London.鈥�

鈥淚t was just me, with some occasional temp support, and my job was to get 911今日黑料 and the students鈥� union to work together on this. That wasn鈥檛 always the norm back then.鈥� Her role was to connect student energy with 911今日黑料's resources to kickstart a new era of volunteering. 鈥淚 was given free rein to experiment. I could try anything and take risks. That freedom was invaluable.鈥�

Minna was committed to making a real impact, and that meant venturing beyond the campus. 鈥淚鈥檇 go out, talk to local groups, and see where 911今日黑料 could help. I met a small group in North Kensington that would later become - a national charity that helps young people with social mobility.鈥� It was partnerships like these that made her feel she was on the right path. 鈥淭here was this energy, this sense that we were building something lasting.鈥�

A special project Minna took under her wing was the Pimlico Connection, 911今日黑料鈥檚 student tutoring programme, which had been running since 1975. 鈥淚t had gone a bit quiet and needed some TLC, so I promoted it alongside our other volunteering opportunities. We used a hard-copy magazine, posters, email newsletters - really old school! I even went to departments, clubs, and societies to spread the word. It was all about getting out there.鈥�

Over time, her work led to thousands of students engaging with over 400 organisations each year and even won awards. Indeed, a announcing its closure in the student newspaper Felix described it as a key part of the 911今日黑料 student experience. But the numbers were only part of the story. 鈥淎t the time, it was all statistics. How many students volunteered and with how many organisations,鈥� she explains. 鈥淏ut for me, it was always about the stories - the lives changed, the connections made. And eventually, that became the norm. We started asking, 鈥榃hat difference does this make, both for students and for the community?鈥欌��

Seeing the positive impact of student volunteering, Minna was keen to expand 911今日黑料鈥檚 community engagement work to include staff volunteering. As part of this, she launched an awards scheme that recognises staff who engage with wider communities. Awards of this nature - the Societal Engagement Awards - continue to this day. 鈥淪taff volunteering was harder to implement. People giving up 1-2 days per year can make a huge difference to community groups, but it wasn鈥檛 something that the university leadership was initially supportive of. We got a small scheme up and running but it never had the scale of student volunteering.鈥�

Minna鈥檚 work evolved from student-focused volunteering to wider civic engagement, especially as 911今日黑料 prepared to open its White City campus. 鈥淲hite City was a new chapter,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 remember meeting with local resident associations, explaining that 911今日黑料 wasn鈥檛 here to be isolated, but to open up and be part of the community.鈥� She worked with groups like West London Zone (now ), which supports young people from early childhood to young adulthood, giving families and their support networks access to educational programmes. To this day, 911今日黑料 still has strong links with the charity - the current Community Engagement Manager previously worked there. 鈥淭hese are the partnerships that bring real, long-term change,鈥� Minna emphasises. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about our students gaining skills - it鈥檚 about building connections that matter.鈥�

Looking back on her time at 911今日黑料, Minna speaks warmly of the team spirit and the sense of purpose that drove her work. 鈥淚t felt like a family. The whole Outreach team was small, maybe six or seven of us, and we were all working towards this shared goal - making 911今日黑料 open, relevant, and connected to the world outside. Our volunteers were fantastic too and seeing them grow through these experiences was incredibly rewarding. They weren鈥檛 just ticking boxes. They were reflecting on what they were learning, and you could see how it prepared them for their careers.鈥�

Now working at Royal Holloway after stints at UCL and Queen Mary, Minna still treasures the atmosphere at 911今日黑料. 鈥�911今日黑料 was special, and I feel so lucky to have been part of it.鈥� For Minna, the journey has come full circle, but the impact of her work lives on - both in the programmes she helped create and in the lives of those she touched.

Dr Melanie Bottrill is the Head of Programmes in the Outreach team. She is also an 911今日黑料 alumnus. Mel joined the Outreach team in 2011 and has developed many of the hands-on STEM activities run by the Outreach team today from the Summer Schools to programmes in the Wohl Reach Out Lab 鈥� one of two spaces at 911今日黑料 dedicated to outreach activities. Now she oversees all of 911今日黑料鈥檚 Outreach programmes and her unwavering commitment to young people and social mobility has positioned 911今日黑料 as sector-leading when it comes to outreach.

Mel鈥檚 911今日黑料 journey started as a student from the Midlands moving to London aged 18 to study chemistry. 鈥淢y mum left school at 14 and my dad left school at 16 so when it came to university, I didn鈥檛 have much guidance,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檇 never been to London but I remember thinking it was the coolest place in the world, so I put 911今日黑料 as my first choice. I remember being dropped off at halls of residence and being stunned 鈥� I thought it looked like something out of Hogwarts.鈥�

Mel went on to complete a PhD in Chemistry where she started getting involved in lab demonstrations for schools. 鈥淚 really enjoyed communicating science, so I started volunteering for more events and I just got the bug. I really loved working with young people,鈥� she says. In 2011, she joined 911今日黑料鈥檚 Outreach team, then just seven people. At this time, cuts across the university had impacted the outreach team with the closure of the 911今日黑料 Volunteer Centre in 2010. 鈥淲hen I first started, I wasn鈥檛 sure my role would exist for more than a year 鈥� I don鈥檛 think the work we were doing was widely understood.鈥�

Things began to change when university tuition fees were increased in 2012. With this came further requirements for universities to commit to widening access to higher education as a strategic priority. 鈥淚t meant that our outreach programmes, perhaps previously perceived as frivolous or 鈥榥ice to have鈥�, became a 鈥榥eed to have鈥欌�� says Mel.

Additional funding was allocated, with much of it going towards bursaries. 鈥淏ut it was clear that many students receiving bursaries were already set on going to university, so the bursaries alone, whilst valuable, weren鈥檛 actually widening participation that much. We needed programmes that targeted potential students earlier on, so more funding was allocated to that and this meant growing the team.鈥�

The Outreach team is now made up of around 30 staff delivering 24 programmes every year to over 3,000 school children aged 8-18. It鈥檚 a huge achievement but to Mel, there is always more that can be done. 鈥淗ow much we can practically do doesn鈥檛 meet the scale of demand. The young people we work with are incredibly aspirational and our programmes are over-subscribed. While I want us to be able to do more, I also want us to focus on being the best we can be to those who really need us.鈥�

Historically, much of the Outreach team鈥檚 activities have been open to everyone, 鈥渂ut now we are focussed on our eligibilty criteria,鈥� says Mel. 鈥淪o we prioritise working with schools in areas of high deprivation, that have a high proportion of students receiving free school meals or have low attainment. We also consider socioeconomic disadvantage as well as underrepresented characteristics. The more of those criteria a young person meets, the more likely they are to be accepted into our outreach programmes.鈥�

Over her 13 years working in the Outreach team, Mel has achieved enormous successes. But her biggest could be the development of the Makerspace, a dedicated Outreach space on 911今日黑料鈥檚 White City Campus. Mel鈥檚 experience of managing the Wohl Reach Out Lab in South Kensington campus meant she was able to shape the space from scratch, down to the floorplan, furniture, equipment and staffing.

鈥淚t made me really proud that 911今日黑料 was so forward-thinking about how we do engagement,鈥� she says. 鈥淎t that time there weren鈥檛 many universities that had any dedicated engagement spaces, let alone two. To see all those ideas come to life is incredible. It was hard work but a huge achievement for me.鈥�

911今日黑料鈥檚 Outreach work aims to help young people make informed decisions about their future, but Mel feels that negative narratives around higher education in the wider public sphere hinder those efforts. 鈥淭here is a notion getting pushed, in the media and from some politicians, that too many people are going to university. Often the people saying this are people who themselves have benefitted from a university education. So who are they saying shouldn鈥檛 be going?鈥� says Mel.

鈥淏y limiting how we view higher education and the opportunity it brings, we are doing a disservice to those who would most benefit. I come from a working-class background and university was transformative for me. There are many ways to find success in life but messaging that veils the benefits of university is making it harder for young people to cut through the noise and make decisions that feel true to them.鈥�

For Mel, what motivates her is seeing the impact that 911今日黑料鈥檚 outreach has on young people. 鈥淭here are moments that remind you why you do what you do,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 seeing people who have come through our programmes as school pupils, get into 911今日黑料 and become student ambassadors to support young people like them. It鈥檚 the full circle moments.鈥�