Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) help nurture the next generation of scientists and inspire young people to pursue a science subject at university.  The main way of encouraging young people to think about a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) career is to introduce them to the subject matter in a relevant and engaging way early in their academic life.

We value the key role that schools and parents have in motivating and enabling their students to pursue higher education and run an extensive outreach programme to help show their students the exciting opportunities they can have in higher education.

We regularly host school visits to our main Highfield Campus where pupils get a chance to explore our excellent state-of-the-art laboratories before taking part in an exciting activity.

We run a range of activities from computer programming using Raspberry PIs to making electronic circuits. We can tailor-make the activity to suit your specific requirements and key stage needs.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to discover the campus and chat to some of our existing students.

The Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) Outreach Coordinator Reena Pau said: “We want to encourage as many young people as possible to come to The University of Southampton Highfield campus. By inviting them to come and join us for a day we can share with them the exciting opportunities that studying Electronics and Computer Science can bring.”

As well as visiting us, we can also go out to schools and colleges to share our research into new technologies and show that there is more to Electronics and Computer Science than meets the eye. Let us know if you are looking for a specific theme or subject for your talk and we will endeavour to find one of our experts to meet your needs.

We also run or host a number of major annual events that further encourage young people into science.

These include:

• Think IT with IBM – a two-day event designed to encourage secondary school girls to continue studying computing, engineering, technology, and science, and to consider careers in the IT industry.
• The Institution of Engineering and Technology Faraday engineering challenge – part of a national initiative aiming to encourage more young people to study and consider careers in science, technology, engineering and maths by encouraging creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills.
• Robogals – an international group that encourages girls into technology using robotics.
• Student robotics – an ECS-run challenge where teams of young people from schools have to design, build and test their own fully-autonomous robots before competing them against other teams.

We also open our doors to teachers, parents and pupils at special open days and events throughout the year.

To find out more about our outreach events and what we can do for you please contact us using the form below or by emailing Reena directly at R.Pau@soton.ac.uk

We also run or host a number of major annual events that further encourage young people into science.