Record Breaking Attendance For South Yorkshire Largest STEM Career Showcase At Magna

South Yorkshire’s premier STEM showcase, Get up to Speed with STEM, has concluded its most successful event to date, welcoming more than 6,500 young people and educators to the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham.

The two-day event, held on 18 and 19 March, featured over 55 exhibitors and 14 major attractions. It provided students from primary and secondary schools with a hands-on look at careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths. Activities ranged from testing a virtual reality welder at the AMRC Training Centre to trying out 3D pens and competing in a robotic football game hosted by engineers from Accu.

Over the last 16 years, the showcase has introduced more than 55,000 people to industry opportunities. Peter Edwards, CEO of the Work-wise Foundation, said:

“As CEO I get to see first hand what an incredible amount of work goes into this event, which wouldn’t happen without its sponsors, volunteers, our staff and the supporting businesses. This year we have had more demand from schools and it has been great to welcome more exhibitors than ever before. Everyone remembers the person who encouraged and inspired them to seek a particular path in life and we have seen lots of examples of this happening over the last two days, which is really satisfying for our team and the businesses involved.”

The event also hosted a Business Breakfast where industry leaders discussed the future of the workforce. Professor David King, from the University of Sheffield, said:

“The focus of my research is on exploring the next frontier of human-machine interaction and how we can extend human capabilities with robots, not replace them. Humans are creative and robots have extensive speed, consistency and efficiency capabilities, so bringing them together means they can really benefit from each other’s strengths. Technology and innovation have the opportunity to save people’s lives and the future involves humans and robots working together to augment the workforce and expand possibilities.”

Elliot Fisher, a Machine Learning Engineer from AESSEAL, said:

“There is huge excitement around AI and automation and we use it increasingly often within our processes. It isn’t the case that robotics are replacing people, but that they are optimising productivity, whilst humans are essential to exercise good judgement and add value to a business.”

The event was supported by a wide range of sponsors, including gold partners AESSEAL, Sheffield Forgemasters, and The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers.