MORE THAN 100 young scientists and engineers will be attending a special girls only event tomorrow. 

Year 9 students from South Wiltshire schools will be having a go at a range of careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) at the event which is being hosted by Salisbury's new University Technical College. 

Local employers will demonstrate a wide-range of potential careers at the event, which has been designed specially to encourage girls to have a go at technical skills they may not have considered before.

Employers including the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Public Health England, Roke Manor Research Ltd, the Royal Navy and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust will be running workshops.

The girls will have a go at laboratory techniques for chemical detection, emergency planning for disease control, blade design for gas turbine engines and the technology involved in biomedical engineering.

Alison Kingscott, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, said: “There is a growing shortage of STEM skills in the UK. As employers, we need to work together to address this problem. We need to expand the pool of well-qualified STEM professionals, and this means opening up STEM career opportunities to people who don’t currently choose this career path – particularly girls.”

The event will take place in the state-of-the-art new facilities at South Wiltshire’s new UTC in Salisbury. 

South Wiltshire UTC principal Gordon Aitken said: “We’re delighted to host this special event, helping local girls to meet employers and to try out possible careers. There are enormous opportunities for girls in STEM subjects and we hope they’ll all find something here that excites and inspires them to pursue a career in STEM. UTC students have the opportunity to engage regularly with local employers, so we’re helping to extend that opportunity to students from other schools.”