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East London School Students Get a Taste for Mechanical Engineering at UCL
17 February 2025
Last summer, almost 100 students aged 11 to 14 from schools across East London experienced engineering first-hand and discovered state-of-the-art research currently underway at UCL’s MechSpace.
This event was run in partnership with UCL East Schools Engagement, aiming to inspire the next generation of engineers and demonstrate the potential of a career in STEM to young students from diverse backgrounds.
MechSpace is a student hub in King's Cross, a short walk from the UCL Bloomsbury Campus. This dedicated space for students of UCL Mechanical Engineering spans six levels and around 12,000 square feet of workshops and study areas where students meet, discuss, design, and build prototypes for both assessed and extracurricular projects, with the help of an experienced team of dedicated technicians.
Arriving on a Thursday morning, the schools were welcomed by Dr Nelia Jurado-Pontes (Associate Professor (Teaching), Dept of Mechanical Engineering), whose introductory session raised awareness of how engineering impacts our daily lives and set up an exciting day of talks and demonstrations.
During the morning, groups moved between different stations in the MechSpace, meeting specialists along the way who introduced them to diverse engineering topics, ranging from robotics and nuclear fusion to nanoparticles and sustainable design. Representing a wide range of disciplines, the morning’s speakers included UCL staff members Oliver Ward, Dr Sara Abad, Dr Liwei Guo, Dr Marilize Everts, Dr Rupy Matharu and Sandeep Harrar. Students were encouraged to ask questions about the academics’ research interests, career journeys and personal motivations for working in STEM.
After lunch, students from the UCL racing teams were on hand to talk about their projects, offer insights into their own journeys and provide role models in engineering. The school students were given their own short challenge, with a prize for the best response: to explain something they had learnt from the day and how it related to a concept they had learnt previously in school. Two further prizes were also awarded by the day’s speakers: one for the best question and another for the most engaged participant. The winners received special trophies, laser-cut in the MechSpace on the day, to take back to their schools.
Dr Nelia Jurado-Pontes said, "This fantastic experience aligns with our citizenship duty of creating a positive impact in our local community, promoting social mobility through sharing access to what Higher Education has to offer these schoolchildren. We’ve secured a grant from the UCL EDI Engagement and Contribution Fund for this year’s event, followed by a non-residential summer school where we will be having 30 schoolchildren as part of the project Spark STEM: Inspiring BAME Students in East London & Camden."
The 2025 edition of MechSpace is now open for sign-ups from teachers. Please use the form below to register your interest.