Owen Rackham, Research Assistant in the Computational Genomics Group based in the Department of Computer Science, and Adam Sardar, a PhD student in Complexity Sciences also in the Department of Computer Science, received this annual award in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the regional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador programme. This government-funded scheme helps researchers interact with young people and enable them to develop their creativity, problem-solving and employability skills.

After speaking to local school teachers at a STEM networking event, Adam and Owen developed a workshop centred on the 'Maths of Social Networking'.  They piloted the workshop at Castle School, Thornbury, and received exceptional feedback from staff and students. Since then other ambassadors have been trained to run the workshop in a number of schools in the local area.

Owen Rackham and Adam Sardar, speaking about their award, said; “We were delighted to receive the award and hope that our success will motivate more students and academics to become involved in outreach.

“We hope to build on our achievement and are planning a module for schools based around mathematics and genetics.”

The work that Adam and Owen have done for STEMNET is part of wider outreach tradition that has built up amongst students and alumni in the Bristol Centre for Complexity Sciences. They have visited music festivals, performed at stand-up comedy nights and written articles for magazines all in the name of improving the public perception of STEM.

To find out how you can get involved with outreach activities email caroline.higgins@bristol.ac.uk