North East Stem Foundation

North East STEM Foundation is a new charity, registered in January 2020 (number 1187275). The charity aims to advance the education of young people in the North East of England, in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). As well as brokering activities to introduce children and young people to STEM, the charity aims to support students attending UTC South Durham, removing financial barriers to access such as travel costs and uniform/PPE costs for those students from poorer backgrounds. The pandemic has shown us how different areas of knowledge and skills can come together to help a country in crisis. Medical scientists, data and behavioural scientists, academics, engineers, military logisticians and businesses collaborated to solve seemingly intractable problems, such as getting a new ventilator created, approved and on the market in weeks; getting a system for widespread testing into supermarket car parks around the country and building a fully functioning bed hospital in 9 days. What this crisis has shown is that we must continue to develop the best scientists, manufacturers and engineers to manage and resolve the toughest of situations in the future. It is imperative that we encourage more young people to study and work in areas of STEM both for the economy generally and as a long-term response to COVID 19: • To help the economy regrow in areas of substantial importance to the future sustainability of the UK • by creating a pipeline of talent to enable employers to look with more confidence to the UK for the skills they need • and by ensuring every young person, regardless of background, has an opportunity to study STEM subjects in a high quality, modern environment supported by employers.