Programme objective
The Diversity Impact Programme was launched with the aim of inspiring change within university engineering departments. The programme provides funding for projects that transform the experiences of engineering students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.
This year we have awarded 3 universities for projects that will use a range of innovative methods to tackle or better understand barriers to student success.
University of Plymouth
This collaborative project between the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics and Plymouth Institute of Education will continue to build on the success of two previous projects.
The programme will offer immersive learning experiences and mentoring to support the communication skills and attainment levels of pupils. The activities will be co-created and co-run by underrepresented undergraduate engineering students from our beneficiary groups in three workstreams...
Loughborough University
The Inclusive Engineering Hub, first developed through a Diversity Impact Programme grant in 2022, is an inclusive environment for students to celebrate diversity, receive professional personalised careers and coaching support, engage in engineering activities, ease cost-of-living pressures, socialise and focus on self-care. Based on student feedback, the new project aims to upgrade the existing Hub and develop new extended reality (XR) facilities for engineering education...
Edinburgh Napier University
This project aims to empower 12 and 13-year-olds from underrepresented groups in engineering to become future leaders. This will be achieved through Libraries of Inspiration, located in local high schools. Each Library will house 10 subject-specific writers’ kits, each containing the technology, tools and inspiration to bring STEM related topics to life. These kits will be co-created by students, teachers, library staff, and academics...