Welcome to the next chapter of our strategy towards promoting social mobility and diversity in STEM.
As we embark on our next five-year period, we are excited to unveil our new strategic plan that will guide our efforts towards achieving our mission. Join us as we start on this exciting new journey towards a brighter, more inclusive future for STEM.
Importance of strategy
In today’s rapidly evolving world, the importance of strategy cannot be overstated. It’s not just about having a plan, but about having the right plan; one that is adaptable, flexible, and responsive to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
So, how can we harness the power of strategic thinking to drive our mission forward and empower the next generation of STEM professionals?
Mission and Vision
Our mission and vision are more than just a fancy statement – they are the backbone of everything we do. They give us our own direction, purpose, and a shared goal that unites us all. Our mission is simple: to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
We are working to create a future in which:
The value of diversity in STEM careers is understood and respected
The power of a diverse STEM workforce is harnessed to solve key global problems
Young people can progress to vibrant STEM careers and education regardless of their background
Our programmes*
In2STEM
Empowers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue STEM careers
Who is it for?
- 16-17 year old students studying STEM subjects
- All participants in our programmes come from disadvantaged backgrounds
What is the programme?
- Young people gain hands-on experience through hosted work placements in STEM workplaces
- The placements are underpinned by a series of workshops that build skills and awareness of the breadth of opportunities in STEM careers
How do we stay engaged?
- Regional recruitment through schools and direct to young people through social media
How long is the programme?
- 2 months over the summer
In2research
Empowers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve academic research careers
Who is it for?
- Undergraduate students and graduates
- All participants in our programmes come from disadvantaged backgrounds
What is the programme?
- Participants undertake an 8 week summer work placement with an academic research group
- The placements are underpinned by a year-long programme of workshops, mentoring and training
How do we stay engaged?
- Recruitment through target universities
How long is the programme?
- 12 months
In2careers
Innovative platform bridging the gap between education and employment for participants
Who is it for?
- Young people who are finished or nearly finished with their education
- All participants in our programmes come from disadvantaged backgrounds
What is the programme?
- Young people are offered internship and employment opportunities with STEM employers as well as targeted and modular workshops, skills training and mentoring opportunities
How do we stay engaged?
- Regional recruitment of young people through college and university careers services as well as former participants
How long is the programme?
- Ongoing
*All programme participants are evaluated at key stages of their programme to determine whether the programme has met its goals. Additional data is triangulated to determine the overall impact on progression to next key stages of the participant’s education and career
How we work
Our top priority is social mobility: this mean that we’re incredibly passionate about unlocking the potential of every young person, no matter their background. We believe that everyone deserves the chance to pursue their passions and achieve their dream career in STEM, and we’re committed to making that a reality.
We will achieve our goals by:
- Putting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds at the centre of our work
- Creating a pipeline of support from school to employment
- Equitably supporting access to all STEM subjects
- Letting data drive our approach
- Focusing on inclusivity – especially for young people with protected characteristics
- Taking a continuous learning approach to our programmes and ourselves
- Developing strong underpinning structures that enable growth
Our six strategic challenges
Scaling our work and supporting our community in new ways will allow us to increase our scope and impact. We will support young people in greater numbers and with more innovative, high-quality programmes.
How will we achieve these six strategies?
- Support more eligible young people across STEM subjects
- More than doubling the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds we reach across our programmes
- Scaling the In2science and In2research programmes to reach across the UK in targeted locations
- Reaching a large number of young people and knocking down barriers with a parallel, high quality In2science programme that is delivered entirely online
- Focusing growth on under-served subjects in technology, engineering and mathematic
- Launch young people’s vibrant careers in STEM
- We will create an inclusive alumni community to directly impact the employability of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Identify gaps and reinforce the STEM careers pipeline
- Partner with employers and experts to create bespoke training opportunities for alumni that accelerate their employability and lead to a job
- Support young people in our in2science programme who are seeking alternatives to a university degree
- Roll out employability programmes beyond the alumni community
- Influence workplace culture to be more inclusive
- Harness our expertise & experience to influence UK policy
- We will influence policymakers to put social mobility and STEM diversity high on the agenda to erase the structural barriers to progression for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Research, write and disseminate high quality policy reports and fact sheets that further support our social mobility mission
- Engage with Educational leaders, All Party Parliamentary Groups, members of Parliament, policy think tanks and learned societies to up-skill relevant individuals in social mobility in STEM careers
- Leverage our impact to address global challenges
- We will leverage our strengths as a charity to supporting young people to choose degrees and career paths that contribute to significant global issues.
- We will shape our programmes to create pipelines to STEM careers that can have a real and lasting impact on global issues, such as climate change and cyber security
- Draw the global challenges that we focus on from the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Highlight the link between global challenges such as climate change and technology, engineering and mathematics subjects
- Empower & inspire the future healthcare workforce
- We will create support and opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to be accepted onto and succeed in a competitive healthcare degree (e.g. medicine, dentistry, veterinary science).
- Fill in gaps in access and knowledge that are critical for gaining a place in medical school, building on the In2science programme
- Collaborate with other organisations working on widening participation in medicine and other competitive healthcare degrees
- Change the global discourse on social mobility in STEM
- We will spread our influence and impacts to other countries with social mobility issues and vibrant STEM industries.
- Roll out a version of our programmes internationally to reach young people from disadvantaged backgrounds across the globe
- Develop networks of like-minded organisations to share best practice and build collaborations
- Engage in and influence policy in our countries of operation
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