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Inspiring future engineers at the Royal International Air Tattoo

At MBDA, we’re passionate about inspiring young minds to take up science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at school and showing them the fantastic engineering careers they can lead to.

That’s why, at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) this year, our Bristol Outreach Team organised our presence at the RIAT Techno Zone®. Alongside a host of other companies, Emily, James and Lydia helped bring STEM to life in an exciting way.

The three were kind enough to share their experiences with us. Lydia started by explaining what activities they had brought along for visitors to interact with.

“We brought three activities for visitors to take part in. The first was a boat activity, where they could design a boat using reusable materials or a sail to put on a boat. We then tested their chosen boat design in our 'ocean' to see how much weight it could hold while still floating and not capsizing.”

Lydia added, “Our second activity tested problem-solving skills. Mechanical Engineering undergraduates and graduates at our Stevenage site designed a 3D-printed puzzle cube. Illustrations on each side of the cube represented engineering sub-systems that we manufacture as a business. The challenge for visitors was assembling the puzzle pieces so each 'sub-system' connected."

"However, our showpiece activity was the HoloLens AR (augmented reality) headset from MBDA’s software department. Visitors got to ‘virtually’ play with either a Rubix cube or the periodic table. All three were very popular with visitors to our stand, and the children were just as excited to try out their boat as they were with the AR headset.”

Giving an idea of how busy it was, Emily said, "Throughout the weekend, RIAT had thousands of visitors and an estimated 30,000 entering the Techno Zone! Luckily, the three of us were fortunate to have 12 apprentices and graduates from across MBDA to help support our stand throughout the weekend. Without their support, we would not have been able to run as many different activities as we did."

She added, "Through our varied activities, we were able to engage all age groups, meaning our stand was never empty, and getting the next generation excited about STEM is an important thing to do."

Leading the Bristol Outreach team is a role the three take on in addition to their day-to-day work as systems engineers. As well as inspiring the next generation, the experience proved to be a learning one that the three will take into their careers at MBDA.

James explains, "We are all early in our careers, so attending RIAT is quite unusual. Organising attendance at such an event over three months is something we're unlikely to do in our day-to-day roles and we've benefited enormously from it. It has taught us the importance of organisation, communication and adaptation throughout a project especially when things don't go to plan! These are all important skills to master as we progress in our careers."

The importance of what they were doing did not go unnoticed with the stand visited by our UK managing director. However, they had no time to rest on their laurels, as after RIAT the team took their stand to the Royal Navy's STEM Day at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

Approximately 60% of MBDA employees work in a team focused on engineering, design or technology. These careers require specific skills that are often in short supply in the UK workforce. That's why we are committed to encouraging more young people to study STEM subjects through outreach programmes.

We also invests heavily in developing the next generation of skilled STEM professionals through our extensive early career programmes for graduates, students and apprentices.

Find out more about our Early Careers Programmes HERE.