STEM engagement informing Skills and Employment plan
By Deborah Woods, Community Liaison
As 2025 draws to a close I am taking a moment to reflect on the huge amount of engagement the project team has enjoyed with the local community over the last 12 months.
As part of the project’s outline Skills and Employment plan, our programme of STEM engagement (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) across school years and early careers, is designed to build awareness and educate of the career opportunities available in the renewables energy sector.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimate global wind power could employ more than 6 million people by 2050.
IRENA project that for each megawatt of offshore wind made operational, approximately 2:01 jobs are created; this equates to 1 million people projected to enter the offshore wind sector over the next decade to meet the projected 2032 demand.
Partnering with local education providers to raise awareness of renewable energy career paths
Our school and higher education engagement programme has seen the project team over the last year work with local junior and secondary schools, through to sixth form colleges, further education centres and Special Educational Needs Provision (SEN).
Our STEM engagement strategy for schools aligns its activities with school curricula, providing interactive workshops, guest speakers and project-based learning to develop children’s curiosity in real-world energy concepts, while inspiring interest in STEM subjects. What’s more, as a Community Liaison Officer on the Morecambe project, I am trained as an accredited STEM Ambassador tailoring my workshops to each school and each individual year group taking part in the sessions.
Deborah Woods, Community Liaison Officer with student wind power model kits
Junior school children in XXX 2025
It is well known that STEM subjects can provide useful foundation knowledge for a skillset suited to certain roles in the renewable energy sector. Working towards addressing the expected skills gap projected to follow the growth of UK offshore wind is a key consideration as we build awareness of the opportunities that lie ahead in our communities.
Equity in engagement
As part of the planning behind the engagement programme, our team map socioeconomic factors to ensure we are reaching communities associated with the project area who may face additional barriers to accessing the opportunities and knowledge our school engagement workshops pass on to audiences.
Deborah presenting to XXX in XXX 2025
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Winds of change – Getting hands on
Complementing school curricula, the workshops introduce the concept of climate change, climate legislation and goals, before then moving into what we mean by renewable energy. Below provides something of an overview as session content then typically moves into looking at wind power generation in detail, covering off the differences between onshore wind and offshore wind.
How do we convert wind into energy? How are engineers taking inspiration from nature (biomimicry) in turbine design, windfarm planning and operation?
Workshops see students enjoy building their own wind assets – using paper wind turbines for younger children and our model kits for older school puils to demonstrate how blade shape and pitch interact with wind speed and direction to produce tangible results. In further education sessions the project team discuss how windfarm design factors maximising yield through design as part of a discussion on Betz’s law (wind energy physics in action)!
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The importance of Health and Safety
The workshop sessions typically then finish with an important Health and Safety focus on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), with class volunteers getting to try on a high-vis jackets and helmets.
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To support with future skills outside of the STEM package: The Winds of Change I have participated in a range of career and climate themed events.
- Youth Climate Conference workshops around Morecambe Bay in both Blackpool & Barrow-in Furness
- Plans with Morecambe Bay curriculum lesson plan creation and workshop support for teachers & educators and co-production with local stakeholders – including 2 conferences with group session co-production
- Compass curriculum – Fylde coast – Linking in with school curriculum pedagogy and industry knowledge
- Lancs CAN Stakeholder session on STEM & green careers
- Mock COP session with Liverpool World in Ormskirk
- INWED Girls in Engineering Event in Barrow-In-Furness with Bae System and Vattenfall & Ørsted
- A Cuppa with STEM, participating in a panel discussion around careers in STEM
- Careers Fairs for students and parents
- Climate change ambassador – Flagship accreditation to support education with energy efficiency plans in line with government legislation
The project team has plans to expand the educational engagement programme in 2026 through discussions with our supply chain contractors and other organisations and businesses across the project area.
Deborah is passionate about her work and looks forward to engaging with the project area community over the months and years ahead. Look out for the next blog instalment where Deborah reviews the engagement work the project team is doing with local environmental groups.
Deborah Woods, Community Liaison