• Top Irish life science companies teamed up with the schools to help boost the STEM talent pool in Cork and Ireland

At an exhibition at Munster Technological University this morning, transition year (TY) students from three Cork schools unveiled the fruits of a pioneering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) initiative – where they worked on site with top Irish life science companies to acquire vital skills which will stand to them in their future careers.

Since the start of September, 24 TY students from Carrigaline Community School, Kinsale Community School and Christ King Secondary School have been taking part in the STEM TY Challenge, an initiative which aims to increase interest in – and experience of – STEM amongst young students and in doing so, improve the numbers of young Irish people pursuing careers in the sector. Top Irish and international Life Science companies Pfizer, Lilly, Janssen, DePuy Synthes, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Hovione are piloting the initiative.

More than 70 people attended the exhibition this morning – including pupils, principals and guidance counsellors from local schools, employers and STEM industry experts. Amongst the STEM experts in attendance today were representatives from Pfizer, Lilly, Janssen, DePuy Synthes, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Hovione, as well as schools from across the City and County.

Using videos, podcasts and reports, the TY students showcased the skills and knowledge they have learnt so far on the project.

The backers of the initiative were keen to make the exhibition open to the students’ peers – because of the huge influence which friends have on the career choice of students. “We know from government research that students are influenced by their peers,” said Marguerite O’Sullivan, spokesperson for the  STEM Cork Life Sciences Group, whose brainchild the  STEM TY Challenge is.

The initiative uses peer-to-peer learning to educate students – with those students then becoming advocates for what they’ve learned.

The STEM TY Challenge is currently a pilot project. Some of the schools who attended today’s exhibition are expected to be part of the next phase of the programme in 2023.

The students involved so far have got the chance to learn real on-the-ground skills as they are working on site with the six Life Science companies involved – alongside 12 industry mentors.

The STEM TY Challenge is the brainchild of the STEM Cork Life Sciences Group – a consortium of pharmaceutical and life science companies based in lower Cork harbour, including Pfizer, Lilly, Janssen, DePuy Synthes, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Hovione. The consortium believe that the region’s future economic performance depends, in part, on the pursuit of STEM careers by students.

As advocates of STEM and working in STEM roles in Pfizer, we see this opportunity to provide a greater understanding of STEM to TY students as an invaluable experience which we would have loved to have been involved in during our time at school. As past pupils of the school to which we are mentors, we can see how beneficial this experience would have been during our time spent in TY and we hope to see some of the mentees working in the biopharmaceutical industry in the future say Keeva McCarthy and Aoife Dunlea, of Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Ringaskiddy about the STEM TY Challenge.

A key driver of the STEM TY Challenge were the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Hayes Culleton Group in conjunction with STEM South West. Three out of four TY students are worried about their future career, according to the survey. Some of the concerns voiced by the students in the survey included whether they will love their job and whether they will make the right career choice. Another big concern of those polled was whether their chosen field and skill sets will eventually be made redundant by technology – and whether they would have the capacity to adapt to that. “We hope the STEM TY Challenge will help address those concerns and misconceptions about careers in STEM,” said Norma Kelly, Chemistry Manager from Thermo Fisher Scientific. “We believe that if the Government wishes to plug the STEM skills gap in this country – and improve the opportunities for young people and employers in this area  this kind of real-life experience of STEM careers should become an ongoing part of the educational curriculum for TY students in every school across the country.”

Notes

The STEM TY Challenge was designed and facilitated by Susan Hayes Culleton of the Savvy Teen Academy. Susan is an expert in the education of children – particularly in relation to educating them so they are ready to be part of the corporate world when they finish their school and college education.

The STEM TY Challenge has three aims:

• To showcase STEM careers to students – using young and talented mentors in their field
• To get the students to effectively demonstrate what they have learnt on the programme – and to do so in a way which will engage and get the attention of their peers
• Assess what students have learnt – and how useful the learning will be in the workplace.

STEM South West is a not-for-profit industry-led group which aims to increase the STEM talent-pool in Cork and Kerry that that STEM employers and workers can thrive.

Hayes Culleton Group is a group of businesses that aims to help people achieve their highest potential.

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