On the 21st September 2021 two secondary schools in Wokingham Town, The Holt and St Crispin’s took part in the annual Science with Schools event.
This event was set up to show the variety of options for students’ post-secondary education within STEM fields.
This year we continued with our sustainability theme and concentrated on the topic ‘sustainable living’ with presentations from Re3 and Victoria Priestly a PHD student at Imperial College London.
Oliver Burt, re3 Project Director talked about his experience within the waste management as the council officer responsible to effectively manage a significant waste management contract.
Laura Fisher, MRF Supervisor, FCC Environment (re3 contractor) gave an overview of how she started from the apprenticeship programme to her current role as supervisor, considering a women’s perspective in waste management.
Victoria Priestly, PhD student, is developing methods to survey protected British mammals (Eurasian otter, European water vole and the hazel dormouse). Victoria talked about her career as scientist and academic in applied ecology. Her innovative technique, called Environmental DNA (eDNA), looks for traces of DNA from rare and elusive animals in samples of soil, water and from swabs of survey equipment. Her results are informative for developers to minimise the impact of new housing and infrastructures on the existing local fauna.
We look forward to extending the depth and breadth of this event over the next few years, giving students an insight into the world of work and options post-secondary education.