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Successful take off for the North East’s first space and engineering careers fair

Over 400 school children aged 11 to 16 from across the region attended the inaugural Great North East Space and Engineering Expo at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.

Organised by the by Ashington Learning Partnership (ALP), which is the Northern hub for the National Space Academy in Leicester, the event welcomed students from 19 schools along with industry experts and employers to take part in a variety of interactive workshops and explore the growing range of career opportunities in the UK space industry.

Trevor Swann, director of strategy and standards for Ashington Learning Partnership, said: “We’ve been blown away by the positive feedback from students, parents, employers and teaching staff. Our aim was to showcase this rapidly growing sector of Britain’s economy and present the fantastic job opportunities available locally for students with an interest in STEM subjects.

“We are now putting plans in place to make The Great North East Space and Engineering Expo an annual event. It’s been fantastic working with the National Space Academy and local companies to illustrate how diverse and fascinating science and particularly engineering can be.”

Local companies that participated in the Expo included Rolls Royce, AMEC, EDF Energy, NaREC, Quest UAV Ltd, The National Space Academy, Durham University, Northumbria University, Newcastle College and Northumberland College.

Ruairi Hardman, from award-winning Quest UAV Ltd in Amble, which specialises in the design and manufacture of drones for surveying, monitoring and mapping landscapes, showed students how to use a flight simulator and develop processing software to create interactive maps.

He said: “All too often talented youngsters think they have to leave the region to find work. The Expo presented a fantastic opportunity for us to engage with students to highlight the diverse range of tech companies operating in the region and the importance of enthusiastic new engineering talent with maths and science skills to ensure its continued success.”

The space industry today is worth around £9bn annually to Britain’s economy and sector trade association UKspace is forecasting this will more than double by 2020 and increase to around £40bn by 2030 creating over 100,000 new and highly skilled jobs.

Organisations interested in taking part in next year’s Great North Space and Engineering Expo should telephone Andy Gaskell, director of enterprise and vocational studies for Ashington Learning Partnership on: 01670 812 360.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Amy Maughan, Contributor .