Each year, the Barts Cancer Institute opens its doors to aspiring young scientists from across London, giving them the opportunity to meet researchers, try their hands in the lab and learn more about what it takes to become a scientist. We currently run two programmes: STARS and BURSThrough, which seek to break down perceived barriers to higher education and ignite students’ aspirations to pursue careers in science.
Participants are selected through our collaboration with the Mayor’s Fund for London, a charity that supports young Londoners facing the greatest barriers to opportunity. The Mayor’s Fund’s Accession team works with Widening Participation schools, where students are statistically less likely to progress to higher education.
Importantly, we also focus on the opportunity for our postgraduate students and senior researchers (we call them STARS Facilitators) to engage with the students to reinforce their science communication and teaching skills.
We believe the interaction is beneficial for everyone involved; both inspiring young people to pursue careers in scientific subjects and renewing the enthusiasm of early career and established researchers.
Student feedback has shown that the course also tackles negative stereotypes of scientists and science, showing young people that science can be fun and that scientists are like them; making such a career seem more appealing and achievable.
