Students, parents and local councillors hail an inclusive and eye-opening Middlesex STEM Festival

Middlesex University marked British Science Week on Wednesday 11 March with its annual celebration of science, tech, engineering and maths in the Quad, a fixture in the calendar since 2008.

Twenty-eight stands offered games, activities and engaging exhibits, facilitated by students and staff, while planetary scientist and science communicator Dr Sheila Kanani MBE gave an inspiring lecture about the solar system and her career journey.

Hundreds of students from Barnet secondary schools filled the Quad after a record number of sign-ups, before an early evening session opened the fair up to the wider community, including young members of 8th Hendon Scout Troop.

Perennial favourite attractions included strength and jump tests from Sports Science; riding the MDX rollercoaster - a moving platform synched with VR computer visuals, developed by Middlesex staff and graduates to give the sensation of a hair-raising ride; and posing with Baxter the selfie-taking robot. 

Among other challenges were using your brain activity to set a digital barrel alight, via an EEG headset; a design-your-own-space habitat programme; and controlling real industrial-style robots, turning code into physical movement.

Sara Dbouk, a Year 12 student at Bishop Douglass School in Finchley taking Biology, Chemistry and Maths A Levels, said the event “opened her eyes” to different degree possibilities.

“STEM Festival gives you lots of options to take in,” Sara said. “It’s the range of disciplines you see. You might see a maths and physics display and think it’s really interesting. It prompts you to go out after the event and research topics.”

London Assembly Member for Harrow & Brent Krupesh Harani toured the stands with Middlesex Vice-Chancellor Professor Shân Wareing.

Cllr Caroline Stock, representing Mayor of Barnet Cllr Danny Rich and one of five Barnet councillors attending, said that as a scientist herself, it was “wonderful” to see so many young people, particularly so many girls and young women, absorbed in the exhibits.

“It’s really important for people to understand that at the end of science study, there’s a career with very wide-ranging options,” said Cllr Stock. “Environmental Health lecturer Julie Wilson was demonstrating how important food storage was, and explained the opportunities to study and go on to be employed, as she had done at Barnet Council.”

Citing the sickle cell anaemia research exhibit as another example, Cllr Stock said: “It’s brilliant to show that these things are happening in Middlesex, and that it’s not something far off in the future, it’s here today.”

Dr Sheila Kanani MBE gripped the lecture theatre with her candid and informative talk, at the end of which she conducted a live experiment to simulate the material in a comet, mixing dry ice with ammonia, water and coffee and holding the resulting snowball aloft. She covered recent thinking on topics such as the possibility of ice volcanoes on Pluto, alongside telling her own story about “falling in love with space,” via 1995 film Apollo 13 and reading astronaut biographies.

The exhibition had stands for external partners, including Enfield-based electrical distributors Underwoods, and leading supplier of technical education equipment and services Festo Didactic, plus on the Sports Science side, Martin Johansen from the Danish national golf team and representation from British Weightlifting.

First year Robotics student Alina Seier introduced the Middlesex chapter of the Women’s Engineering Society, now in its third year. Inspired to go into her field through her interests in movies and puppetry, she says, “people think of engineering as a very boyish activity – it doesn’t have to be”. She says she met a huge range of people at the festival and advised fellow students to seize volunteering opportunities with both hands: “never be afraid of saying yes”.

Cllr Alison Moore, Barnet Council cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Barnet Council who last attended STEM Festival just before lockdown in March 2020 said she was “delighted it is back in full swing. 

“One of the joys of having a uni that draws a lot of its young people from the local area is that it changes lives - that’s really special,” she added.

Agata Kalisz-Casey, attending with her son and daughter, came last year and says she will be back in 2027.

“It’s great to see children engaging in science and it’s a lovely venue,” Agata said. “I wouldn’t think science was something my children would be interested in, but here I can see how it is – because it’s practical, they can see the equipment and talk to people.”

Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology Professor Klaus Dodds said: “STEM festival embodies the commitment of our staff and students to engage and enthuse in science and technology. I am indebted to them for helping to stimulate curiosity, spur new topic exploration, and encourage a lifelong passion for further discovery.”

Read more about Science and Technology at Middlesex University.