Improving the impact and inclusivity of engineering outreach

Syrop, Deborah 2024. Improving the impact and inclusivity of engineering outreach. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

If outreach initiatives to encourage more young people to study engineering are successful, why has there been little improvement in the number and diversity of UK engineering students? This thesis examines the narratives and practices within engineering outreach through a lens of critical realism. It takes the findings from recent studies into young people’s career aspirations (such as ASPIRES) and considers how they apply to engineering. A holistic approach was taken, including synthesising the evidence concerning public perceptions of engineers and investigating practitioners’ views of public misconceptions. There is a widespread belief that engineering is based on natural brilliance; a characteristic commonly associated with white middle-class men. Unfortunately, many current outreach practices reinforce the ideas that young people are not talented enough to be engineers, everyone will be competing against them and engineering will be a lonely career choice. Outreach activities are often ‘too little, too late’ and directed towards an audience with high existing interest in engineering. In the media, engineers are frequently conflated with scientists and this feeds into a widespread public uncertainty about the nature of engineering. There are two popular archetypes — the manual worker, Bob, and the genius scientist, Prof. In many circumstances, outreach efforts may simply be replacing one inaccurate view of the engineer with another, equally limiting and more entrenched stereotype. This exploratory study used an iterative development process with volunteer engineers to generate potential solutions focused on positive, practical actions. A framework based on the overlapping themes of Humanity, Diversity and Community was created to reinforce a social justice narrative of ‘Making a Difference’. This was further tested with the wider outreach community. Codifying and creating a shared language to discuss these issues is a helpful first step in disseminating evidence-informed practices to increase the overall impact and inclusivity of engineering outreach activities.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1. Engineering outreach 2. Public perceptions of engineering 3. STEM engagement 4. Stereotypes of engineers 5. ASPIRES 6. Evidence-informed practice
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	31 October 2025
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2025 09:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181695

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