HIGGINS, Julia

Date	Role
2009-	Council Member, Imperial College London
2009-	Chair, Trustee Board of Imperial College London Students' Union
2007-	Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London
2006-2007	Principal of the Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London
2003-2007	Chair, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
2002-2006	Director of the Graduate School in Engineering and Physical Sciences of Imperial College – a part time post
2001-2006	Foreign Secretary and Vice-president of the Royal Society
1989-2007	Professor of Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1993-1997	Dean, City and Guilds College.
1985-1989	Reader in Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1976-1985	Lecturer, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1973-1976	Physicist, Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France.
1972-1973	Research Fellow, Institut Charles Sadron, Strasbourg, France.
1968-1972	SRC Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, UK.
1966-1968	Physics Teacher, Mexborough Grammar School, Yorkshire, UK.
1964-1968	D.Phil in Physical Chemistry, University of Oxford, UK.
1961-1964	BA Physics, Somerville College, Oxford, UK.

 

 

ABSTRACT

11:30-13:00 5 NOVEMBER
PLENARY SESSION II. "SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT: COMMUNicating WITH SOCIETY"

Communicating science to young people

Communicating science to young people is extremely important if we are to inspire them to pursue science, mathematics, technology and computing subjects. Greater numbers of STEM skilled graduates are vital, in the UK it is estimated that we will need a further one million STEM skilled graduates by 2020, to keep pace with current demand.

As well as inspiring the next generation to pursue careers in these subjects, a good knowledge of and interest in science among the general population are vital to enable people to make informed, evidence based decisions about the world around them; as well as to fully participate in an increasingly technological world.

In this presentation I will describe the education outreach work conducted by the Royal Society, and how this supports our Vision for science and mathematics education, published in 2014. Through this work, the Society aims to ensure that the population is inspired by science and that science is promoted as a key element in the cultural and economic life of the nation. Through various engagement programmes, Royal Society education outreach work is targeted towards inspiring young people and supporting their teachers.