The Unilever Bright Future Inspire Programme aims to get students engaged with STEM subjects by introducing them to the sorts of activities that take place on site at a global organisation’s Research and Development site.
A team of 4 or 5 students (Y8-9), from state-maintained schools in Merseyside, Cheshire and the wider North West region can register to attend a day of workshops (usually sometime in November), each hosted by Unilever Port Sunlight employees from the following on-site functions:
– Formulation
– Packaging
– Processing
– Digital
– Customer Technical Insights
The workshops introduce students to the work done within each of the functions, as well as highlighting the different types of roles and entry routes available within a global organisation such as Unilever.
Following the workshops, teams are set a real-world product design challenge, which they work on for several months, in school and with the support of their teacher, before returning (usually sometime in March), along with all the other school teams, to take part in the Inspire Celebration and Assessment Day.
The students display their project ideas and prototypes, which are assessed by judges from each of the on-site functions. Marks are provided for how well students have evidenced the learning they gained in the original workshops. A ‘best in category’ prize is awarded for each function and Overall Winners prizes are awarded for First, Second and Third Place. First place winners are given the opportunity to come back to the Unilever site to have their product ‘mocked-up’ so they get to see their ideas come to life!
The Inspire Programme is cross-curricular and covers subject matter relevant to a broad range of school subjects including the Sciences, DT, Art & Design, Business Studies, Psychology, Digital Skills, English/Literacy, Engineering, Maths etc.
This year’s programme launched at our (remote) Teacher Twilight Launch Event on Thurs 3rd Oct at 4pm. Schools in attendance had the opportunity to register their interest in entering a team in this year’s programme. Applications for the 2024-25 cycle are now closed.
For more information contact [email protected]