The University’s Faculty of Science & Engineering’s Social Responsibility & Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility team is working with the Manchester United Foundation (MUF) to showcase the excitement of science and engineering to local secondary schools.

Established in 2007, MUF’s mission is to ‘use the power of football and Manchester United to help young people make positive choices in their lives’. Their schools programme partners with 34 of the most underserved secondary schools in Greater Manchester, placing MUF staff members within the schools to support pupils’ access to extra-curricular and enrichment activities.

So far the Faculty has hosted five events for MUF school groups, with more planned this academic year. These are mostly targeted at groups of up to 60 12-to-15-year-olds and aim to give the pupils engaging, hands-on campus visits where they can find out about university and experience science and engineering beyond what’s possible in school – including unravelling mathematical tricks and puzzles, competing in team engineering challenges, and programming Sphero droids with our student Robotics society.

Some of the projects are even directly linked to football; two sessions of the KIT:BAG project saw school groups come into the Engineering Building’s sewing labs to turn old football kits donated by the Manchester United team into reusable bags.

Social Responsibility Officer Kathryn Downey said: “The partnership has created a fantastic opportunity to engage young people with the issues around clothing and textile waste and explore the circular economy through deconstructing and reimagining football garments”. You can see highlights of the event on YouTube. 

• Find out more about the work of the Foundation and follow the manchesterunitedfoundation on Instagram and Facebook.
• Schools interested in connecting with FSE events and activities can register here.
• If you’re a University of Manchester member of staff or student who wants to get involved in our schools and public events, you can join the Outreach and Public Engagement Network, Take a look at the information pages, or get in touch with the team at fse-outreach@manchester.ac.uk.