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Female school pupils from throughout Renfrewshire got the chance to discover more about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects at an event at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) in Summer 2016.

The event, which was co-ordinated by the School of Engineering and Computing, ran at the University’s Paisley Campus and saw up to 200 pupils, spanning P6 to S2 level, in attendance. 

This event was organised by UWS in conjunction with SmartSTEMs, with involvement from a number of local, national and international companies.  SmartSTEMs is a charity set up by Paisley firm Seric Systems, an award winning advisor in Security & IT Infrastructure.

The day started with addresses from Leah Hutcheon, Founder and CEO of online booking software company, Appointedd and Claire Reynolds, Project Manager of software developer, Avarix who seeked to  inspire the pupils to study and consider careers in STEM. The pupils then took part in workshops run by groups from both UWS and the external companies, such as HP, Fujitsu, BT and Atkins Global, giving them hands-on experience of STEM activities.

Professor Ian Allison, Dean of the School of Engineering and Computing, said: “It was great to see how much fun everyone was having on the day. We hope this will go some way to influencing choices in school and later careers. 

“This event gave female pupils from throughout the area an important opportunity to discover more about STEM subjects and the exciting career opportunities available to them in these areas.”