Popular festival returns with launch event

The popular festival is returning for the sixth year. Picture: Derek Martin

Crawley STEMfest takes place in schools and colleges, in STEM Clubs and throughout the community during May and June each year, with events for people of all ages.

To celebrate, an evening of science and comedy is taking place at Welland Medical in Hydehurst Lane next Tuesday (April 4) to officially launch the return of the festival.

Special guests include Steve Mould from the Festival of the Spoken Nerd and keynote speaker Antony Yates, head of engineering at Gatwick Airport.

The launch event is expected to attract up to 200 people.

Project manager Jo McKinney-Green said: “Since it was first held in 2012, Crawley STEMfest has continued to grow, both in scale and importance.

“By featuring a leading local engineer and a comedian specialising in science at our launch event, we are hoping to demonstrate not only how important STEM is but that it can also be fun.”

Organised by STEM Sussex, the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) outreach support department at the University of Brighton, in partnership with Crawley Borough Council and Central Sussex College, the festival is expected to attract as many as 20,000 students.

As well as being a lot of fun, the festival meets an important need.

Steve Sawyer, executive director of the Manor Royal BID, said: “Low-level skills have been described as the greatest threat to UK competitiveness with about 40,000 STEM related jobs left vacant each year.

“Crawley STEMfest plays a key role in raising the aspirations of local people by introducing them to the fantastic careers on offer at a host of inspiring local companies.”

For further information, please contact STEM Sussex project manager Jo McKinney-Green on 01273 641874 or email [email protected].

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