Laura Giddings

Why did you launch The STEM Project?

"During my professional and volunteer roles, I saw a demand in an ever expanding industry - organizations wishing to inspire and educate the next generation but not having a dedicated person or team in house with the relevant expertise, skills or knowledge. With so many organizations offering services and solutions to educators and business at high costs to engage with the wider community of education, I recognized the need to bring these services under one roof at affordable costs along with those involved with projects receive accolade for their input. By working with those who are the masters in their fields, clients receive quality support and content - collectively we will all inspire the world and help the current and next generation, prepare for the future!"

Background

As a child, Laura was always interested in STEM related subjects, with a wish to one day become a veterinarian. She credits her parents for their support in her interests with home science kits, books and visits to museums throughout her childhood. Going as far as challenging Laura to understand telecommunications when she and her siblings wanted to switch from dial up to broadband along with the numerous requests to get a mobile phone (which involved reading Open University Books on how a phone call is made and how The Internet works) Laura was driven to pursue her career as veterinarian but as she progressed through education, she found that the careers information she received was minimal with little support available.

Education

Upon obtaining a triple distinction in 2008 with a BTEC National Diploma in Animal Management from Moulton College she unable to secure a place at her chosen veterinarian universities. She refocused on education (keeping her lifelong love of animals) and decided to pursue a career as an Education Manager in Zoo's, wishing to teach young people more with regards to animal preservation and conservation, she opted to attend Bangor University in 2009 North Wales where she graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology and Ecology.

In 2023, Laura will graduate after completing a two year-part-time Masters in STEM Education. Studying at King's College London University.

Reading subjects:

Policy and Practice in STEM and Education
International and Comparative Education
Digital Technologies in Education
STEM Making and Creating
Leading Practices in STEM Education.

Dissertation: Careers in the Curriculum

(A critical analysis, review and interview of those supporting of secondary school education in England)

Volunteer Experience

In 2012, Laura spent her spare time with the Wildlife Trust and became a volunteer Wildlife Watch Leader in Corby for three years. In a team of three volunteers, Laura and her colleagues created content and projects for young people and their parents to engage with, aligned to suit their ages groups, abilities and theme of the month and its impact to wildlife.

Since 2017, Laura has been a DBS cleared STEM Ambassador in the UK. In this role Laura engaged with over 100 organizations and reached over 123,500 students across 66 activities (STEM Ambassador Dashboard - July 2021) and continues to volunteer to support STEM Learning opportunities to support young people as they explore STEM roles and subjects.

In 2018 she became an Enterprise Advisor for Brooke Weston Academy in Corby (and an interim Enterprise Advisor for Maplefields in Corby, a specialist SEMH school for children KS1-KS5 in 2020)

In 2019, Laura become a founding co-member of the Northamptonshire Schools Business Alliance (NSBA) a non-for-profit, volunteer organization made up of three industry leads, connecting businesses with education in the greater Northamptonshire region.

Since 2017, Laura has and continues to volunteer and support other organizations in their events and campaigns to support young people, these include:

• Young Enterprise UK (Event Host, Business Advisor and Judge)

• VEX Robotics (Judge)

• First Lego League (Judge and Event Host)

• NESTA (Team Mentor - Longitude Prize)

Professional Experience

Unable to find a suitable position post her undergrad, Laura became a live in au-pair for 18months, working with families with children ranging in ages from 18months to 11 years.

Exhibitions/Events

In 2012, Laura started her exhibition and event experience through agency work as a brand ambassador and staffer. Laura progressed to working for exhibition houses as a sales executive on some of the biggest exhibitions in the UK, ranging from design, international relations and then eventually science. Laura joined New Scientist in early 2016 and launched the New Scientist Live at the London's ExCel in September 2016.

Working on the event, Laura engaged with numerous industries and contacts across the event science themes; Space, Engineering, Technology, Earth and Humans. The event went on to win twelve awards during Laura's tenure, including being awarded EN Consumer Show 2017 for the 2016 launch

RS Components

In December 2017, Laura joined RS Components as an Education Events Manager and was then promoted to STEM Education Manager in 2018.

The role varied and responsibilities grew as the strategy evolved for the business, these included:

• Co-design and management of RS Components’ STEM Education strategy

• Supporting global internal stakeholders; developing and supporting STEM Education plans and campaigns for their countries.

• Liaising with senior stakeholders from external organizations/agencies supporting STEM and Education around the world

• Developing curriculum aligned workshops and lesson-based materials to promote STEM careers around the world, as part of the Imagine X education sub-brand for RS Components for KS2 and KS3 students.

• Design and implementation of new STEM workshops for global STEM Ambassadors to suit classroom learning aims (aged 6-17 years).

• Working closely with key EdTech brands.

• Working closely with industry contacts for STEM Education projects

• Managing and working on the stand at external events and major exhibitions targeting STEM and Education (Big Bang, BETT Show, Learnit, Electronica Germany, New Scientist Live and MakerFaire Paris)

• Manage and deployment of work experience programme for Corby office (14-17 years old).

• Curate and Direct RS STEM FEST (3 day exhibition held at RS Components HQ, Corby).

• Manage Titan II Education Visits for Northern Europe

• Co-ordination of STEM activities hosted by RS for education across UK and Ireland.

• Support and manage STEM competitions for RS Components

• Managing the STEM Ambassador Community within Electrocomponents Plc (Consequently growing this from 40 volunteers in December 2017 to 200 by June 2021)

• Management of STEM Hub digital channel (design, content and updates)

During Laura's tenure, RS won three years back to back at the Electronics Industry Awards for Academic Support (2018-2020) along with being shortlisted at the Indy Awards for RS STEMFEST, Highly commended as Employer of the Year at the STEM Inspiration Awards, by STEM Learning (2019) and was a 2021 finalist at the Educational Resources Awards for Imagine-X, in the category of Free Educational Resources. Laura was also named as the Engineering Ambassador of the Year at the British Engineering Excellence Awards in 2019 for her work and dedication in STEM and Education for the Engineering Industry.

In the Summer of 2021, RS Components made a change of direction, to focus more on those in higher education and to reduce STEM outreach in its current form; as a result of these changes Laura was made redundant and left the business on the 31st July.

She spent the Autumn of 2021 working at the Royal Institution of Great Britain as the temporary Schools Programme Coordinator, providing operational support to ensure the effective delivery of the Science in Schools (SiS) and L’Oréal Young Scientist Centre (LYSC) programmes.

She then spent the Spring of 2022 managing The Farmshop at Chester House Estate, Northamptonshire. Owned by The Creating Tomorrow Trust. A trust that celebrates differences as strengths. The majority of the workforce are young people, aged between 17-24, with learning disabilities. With a view that these young people will have more opportunity open to them based on the skills they have, remove biases associated with learning disability.