The projects, which are set to take place across the UK during 2017-18, will enable members of the public to meet engineers to learn about the work they do.
The selected projects represent the diversity of the engineering profession, and special consideration was given to proposals aimed at reaching under-served audiences.
The Ingenious scheme, which is supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, gives people an opportunity to explore some of the wide-ranging engineering challenges being tackled by researchers and industry, and provides funding to enable engineers to develop their communication skills.
The projects being funded this year are:
A car for women and other stories: engineering via storytelling – University of the West of Scotland
Engineers and artists will create a film based on the story of pioneering automobile engineer Dorothée Pullinger. Public events will showcase the film along with a song-writing project and additional workshops.
Birmingham city engineering week – Birmingham City University
The School of Engineering and the Built Environment and the School of Acting at Birmingham City University, together with Thinktank (Birmingham Science Museum) and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, will hold a week of events including street shows and demonstrations.
Circuits: connecting engineers with teachers to create novel teaching tools – University of Edinburgh
The project will empower secondary-school teachers to design and use an electrical circuit with a game-based app to provide insights on electrical engineering. Teachers will gain a broader understanding of the role of electrical engineering in biomedical applications, and the project will connect them with professional engineers.
Engineering Britain’s railways for a digital age – Children’s Radio UK
The project aims to equip young engineers with media skills by getting them to develop audio and visual features for broadcast and download explaining the new construction and digital technologies being introduced to create extra capacity on the railways.
Engineering your future – Science Made Simple
This science show, based on the award-winning book The Knowledge, will explore engineering as a way to solve problems and reveal the fundamental elements of how our modern world works. It will target audiences who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Heritage heresy: re-imagining Bath by breaking all the rules – Graphic Science
Young people will have an opportunity to reject practical and regulatory rules to imagine a future city where anything is possible. The project, supported by engineers and architects, will teach residents about the city’s environment, history and contemporary challenges, and enable them to bring their ideas to life at the Museum of Bath Architecture.
Hooked on invention: a young inventors’ club in a museum – Museum of the History of Science
The project will enable graduate engineers to establish a young inventors’ club at the museum in Oxford. Inventors aged 9-13 will develop creative problem-solving skills as part of the club, which will culminate in an event in Oxford.
How does stuff get made? Developing primary manufacturing outreach capabilities – University of Cambridge
The project aims to help address the inaccurate and incomplete perceptions of manufacturing that may be held by primary schoolchildren and their teachers. It will develop the primary-level outreach capabilities of manufacturing graduates and produce teaching resources that will be made available online.
iDiscover: introducing primary pupils to Stem careers – Inspire!
A week-long programme for primary schools in north London will introduce children to Stem careers while challenging gender and ethnicity stereotypes. A themed programme of activities will include meeting professionals, visiting workplaces and conducting experiments.
Imagineer – Glasgow Science Festival
This project will develop live musical shows that blend engineering with theatre, targeted at secondary-school pupils in areas of deprivation. The shows will draw on the experiences of engineers, with themes ranging from visions of the future to the legacy of James Watt. The project will also develop online and post-show learning resources for teachers.
I’m an engineer: online Stem engagement for schools – Gallomanor Communications
Students will be able to connect online with engineers to ask them questions and engage in live chats. The project will run six interactive engineering zones reaching schools that will most benefit from engaging with professional engineers.
Lincolnshire engineering festival: Spark! 2017 – school involvement and legacy projects – University of Lincoln
The project will provide free access for schools to attend Lincoln’s third biennial celebration of engineering prowess in May 2017. The project will also train engineers to hold linked events in winter 2017 and summer 2018.
Makespace: engineers and makers engaging us with the material world – Cheltenham Festival
The ‘Makespace’, on site at Cheltenham Science Festival, will bring engineers and scientists together to inspire the public to explore the material world and the joy of making. There will be interactive workshops and drop-in activities.
Public engagement in automotive engineering – Smallpeice Trust
The project will create a network of West Midlands and Warwickshire-based engineering graduates and apprentices, who will be trained to deliver Family Engineering Days for schoolchildren aged 13-14 and their parents. The days will involve activities themed around automotive engineering, with families given the opportunity to design and make a powered vehicle for themselves.
SMASHfestUK: the earth and sky tour – Middlesex University
The SMASHfestUK survival village is an interactive environment highlighting the powerful application of engineering in the face of adversities such as volcanoes, solar storms, and asteroid impact. The earth and sky tour will travel to disadvantaged areas to show how engineering solutions can help respond to disasters.
The sludgy stuff engineering roadshow – University of Strathclyde and University of Edinburgh
The roadshow will take researchers from the universities out of their labs and into schools and festivals to explore the world of sludge – materials such as custard, paints, magma and cement, which present unique engineering challenges owing to their unpredictable behaviour.
Turbines: a wind-wind solution? – Discovery Planet CIC
The project will deliver a free two-day event for Kent residents to learn more about the world’s largest offshore windfarm, visible from the coast of Thanet. The event will enable local people to work alongside technicians and engineers to design their own turbines while learning about the technology and associated career opportunities.