STEM outreach training for Future Climate Engineers

A big thank you to everyone who joined us at the Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics STEM training event

PhD students from the Fluid Dynamics CDT were joined by water professionals from the Environment Agency, Arup and JBA Trust to learn how to use our wave tank and river flume models, alongside demonstrations of Wetropolis and Rotating Tables from the University of Leeds. Everyone enjoyed getting hands-on with the models and practicing how to demonstrate the key concepts of how water interacts with different structures in rivers, catchments and coasts.

We’re all busy preparing STEM activities for the ‘Future Climate Engineers‘ project and looking forward to working with Key Stage 3 students from four local secondary schools over the next few months. The students will be taking part in an engineering design challenge to explore how flood risk can be managed in a changing climate.

We’ll be welcoming the students to the University of Leeds on 14 and 21 March to take part in water themed STEM activities to inspire their own creative designs for a new interactive flood risk demonstrator.

As well as learning about the real-world challenges faced by engineers in protecting communities from flooding, students will also develop team-working, critical thinking, innovation and creative problem-solving skills and have a better understanding of the value and diversity of engineering careers.

The best designs will be constructed and installed at an educational outdoor activity centre, Nell Bank, and used as part of their River Studies workshops to help primary age students learn about water risks. Nell Bank welcomes over 24,000 children from the local area each year.

Future Climate Engineers is a project led by the Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics with support from JBA Trust, Arup, the Environment Agency and Nell Bank and funding from the University of Leeds UKRI Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) scheme.