Celebrating our partnership with Urenco - CREST Headline Partner

Our vision at the British Science Association - creating a future where science is more relevant, representative and connected to society – is not one that can be achieved alone. By its nature, our work is collaborative with communities, organisations and other STEM* institutions; we’re proud to have built lots of mutually beneficial partnerships across the sector.

One of our longest running partnerships, over ten years, is with Urenco, an international supplier of uranium enrichment services and civil nuclear fuel cycle products.

Urenco has a strong commitment to a sustainable future and supports many of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals through its work and partnerships with charitable organisations like us.

One of the Goals is quality education for all. Like us, Urenco is committed to promoting and advancing the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths by inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. As a Headline Partner of CREST - the British Science Association’s flagship education programme - and supporting other programmes we run including Smashing Stereotypes and Future Forums, Urenco helps us to engage thousands of young people with STEM.

We spoke to Rosie Salkeld, the Social Impact Lead at Urenco, about why Urenco chose to work in partnership with the British Science Association, developing CREST resources together, and supporting the future STEM workforce.

The British Science Association’s work in the education sphere is about making STEM accessible to children and young people from all backgrounds, and showing how engaging with it can be part of their everyday lives.

We want to encourage young people with a passion for STEM to pursue careers they might have thought weren’t open to them, but also to give all children the opportunity to enjoy science learning in itself.

It was this spirit that Urenco felt they shared with the British Science Association, and drew them to a partnership, Rosie told us.

Supporting that next generation through education, sparking that interest in STEM subjects is something that has always been part of Urenco's ethos. Supporting quality education and access to all. So that really sits at the heart of [the partnership] …that shared wish to engage and promote STEM and support that next generation of engineers and scientists.

Our partnership with Urenco has primarily focused on CREST - open-ended, investigative challenges and projects for children and young people aged 3-19. Those who take part receive an Award certificate to mark their achievement.

Why did Urenco want to support CREST? we asked Rosie.

For us, it's the growth and popularity of the CREST Awards, the fact that it's been building that audience. It's tried and tested and works well.

Rosie continued:

We recognise that CREST is kept up to date, is aligned with the curriculum, and flexible, so there are opportunities for the teachers to make the CREST project relevant to their group of students at that time.

She added:

It was great to see the CREST resources we developed together translated into Dutch. [This] meant that the materials could also be used as part of our outreach with schools near our site in the Netherlands.

Urenco’s social impact work includes The Richie education programme. The CREST team has collaborated with Urenco on CREST resources that introduce themes linked with Urenco’s work to budding young scientists. 

“For us importantly,” Rosie said, “the partnership was an opportunity to co-create with the British Science Association on CREST and to have that dual aim for us of bringing a nuclear-related topic to a new young audience.”

Spinning solutions, a SuperStar challenge designed for children aged 7-11, has them experimenting with centrifugal force, which is used in enriching uranium.

Enrich my classroom, a CREST Discovery challenge for young people aged 10-14, was also created in partnership with Urenco. 

Working through Discovery challenges is a brilliant opportunity for students to explore innovation in a more autonomous way than they might have had the chance to before. It allows them to get a feel for what working in STEM could be like. 

Raising children’s science capital has a direct impact on developing a diverse and talented group of students interested in working in industries like ours, and that starts from early engagement and insight into some of the exciting challenges a career in STEM offers.

To support teachers working at schools in challenging circumstances who might not have the budget or resources to run CREST activities in their classrooms, the British Science Association offers free CREST kit boxes that contain everything teachers need for their pupils to earn Star or SuperStar Awards (for pupils typically aged 3-7 and 7-11).

Urenco is funding 40 CREST SuperStar Kit Boxes for 40 schools in BSA's Engage Teacher Network local to Urenco’s offices in London and its site in Capenhurst, Northwest England, to celebrate CREST's 40th anniversary later this year.

This is part of Urenco's practices of engaging with their neighbours, Rosie said.

Our Riche education programme has always involved supporting schools at a local level. For schools most local to our sites, we run hands-on science workshops and get involved in school career fairs.

She added:

We are pleased to further support under-served schools in our local area with CREST kit boxes. They’re free of charge and perfect for enabling and encouraging STEM.

Rosie explained how funding this type of work - that directly reaches schools, teachers and pupils - can be a fantastic way for businesses to achieve their goals to boost education:

Our collaboration highlights the ways in which businesses can support organisations like the British Science Association to advance STEM learning. We're not education experts, but they are. Hopefully our funding for the kit boxes is a bit of a blueprint, and will encourage other businesses to help in the same way.

Just like the collaboration on the CREST resources, Urenco understands the importance of investing in young people today to secure a diverse, well-prepared STEM workforce. Giving children from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM opportunities and support could change their trajectory.

We want to continue to attract the best minds, irrespective of background, and it's only going to happen if we invest in the next generation.

Each year as part of British Science Week we run our Smashing Stereotypes campaign; we showcase a diverse group of STEM professionals in a diverse set of roles with a story to tell about how they get there.

Urenco colleagues have featured in the campaign, including Kay Pirali, a Project Engineering Manager. Rosie explained the value Urenco sees in shining a light on role models, particularly in fields young people might not know a lot about:

It's a great way to dispel some of the myths about the people and the jobs available in STEM.

She continued:

It's a brilliant series of profiles that showcase some of the varied roles and routes to a rewarding STEM career, and we’re delighted to feature in that campaign.

Our partnership has been a rewarding opportunity for Urenco to reach young people who could be interested in a career in nuclear energy. Alongside featuring in the Smashing Stereotypes campaign, in 2023 Urenco funded and co-created the 2023 Future Forum, a programme which involves surveying 1,000 14–18-year-olds.

The 2023 survey asked young people what they knew and thought about nuclear energy and it was found, among other things, that at least two-thirds of young people would consider a career in nuclear.

Rosie said of the published report on the findings:

We've used it to help us craft our early career website pages, recognising that there is positive interest in nuclear from the next generation…[Nuclear energy] sits alongside renewables, so it's a part of the low carbon solution to climate change.

So, what has the experience of working with the British Science Association on this range of projects and programmes been like for the team at Urenco?

“We've always had very open engagement with the team at British Science Association”, Rosie said.

We look for reciprocal communications and opportunities to be able to make a difference. And the British Science Association has come forward with different ideas, and we've enjoyed collaborating with them across a variety of projects.

Email our colleague Giorgio at giorgio.dagostaro@britishscienceassociation.org to learn more about supporting CREST Awards, or any other programmes run by the British Science Association 

*STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and maths