Summer of STEM!

As a grant-maker we recognise the expertise our charitable partners have in delivering our shared mission. And we’re proud to share that this summer we’ve seen a flurry of STEM activity from our charitable partners and Spectris plc volunteers.

Apps for Good

Rebecca Levy and Angela Mills sat as judges for the Apps for Good’s Showcase; an annual celebration of innovative app ideas developed by students participating in the Apps for Good program. It’s a platform for students to showcase their work, test their abilities, and gain feedback from industry professionals. Rebecca and Angela sat on a panel with four other industry professionals judged four teams. Their App ideas included; Skillsphere, an apps which helps young people take their first steps into work. Baby Bloom, an app which tackles isolation for new parents. Journey On, an app which helps young people feel safe and secure on public transport. And Childemic, an app which helps children in hospital keep up with school work. All teams had thoroughly thought through their concept, created brilliant prototypes and were creating a solution to a social problem. The judges could only choose one winner, and after much debate awarded Skillsphere as first place!

For Rebecca Levy, Foundation Director, judging Apps for Good’s showcase was a wonderful experience. “The students were proposing legitimate, well-thought-out, pioneering app solutions! These students are our future and they’re going to make our world an amazing place. The judging was difficult, any one of the groups could have won!”

You can learn about the winners and the people’s choice award here. (https://www.appsforgood.org/showcase)

Motivez

Motivez held Sustainable London Multi-Borough Grand Finale on the 7^th July. Angela Noon, Spectris CFO and Foundation Trustee judged the competition in a lively and exciting night of presentations. Sustainable London is an inter-school engineering competition which aims to empower Year 10 students to tackle climate change through the lens of fashion, transport, and life sciences. Eight finalists presented their innovative and ground-breaking solutions, all were captivating, but there could only be one winner! The winning team was Sustainacast from Ark Evelyn Grace Academy, representing Lambeth. Their innovative solution in the Health & Life Sciences category wowed the judges and saw how mushrooms can be used to create a medical cast, to improve the environment and reduce waste.

To top off a fantastic event, The Spectris Foundation was awarded “Visionary Funder of the Year Award” for our support and understanding that multi-year, long-term grant-making enables charities to thrive.

World Association for Girl Guides and Scouts (WAGGGS)

The World Association for Girl Guides have launched Unlocking STEM for

Girls in Asia Pacific to STEM Changemakers! This now a global programme aims to help girls and young women build their confidence to engage with STEM, develop and strengthen their STEM skills, and advocate for more equal representation of girls and young women in STEM spaces.

Since the launch WAGGGS have designed and tested the STEM curriculum, implemented capacity building meetings and hire a programme manager to oversee the programme in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

This exciting programme has been designed so it can be delivered through regular Girl Guiding / Girl Scouting unit meetings with participants supported by their adult leaders.

To develop the programme curriculum we initiated a co-creation process in collaboration with Nepal Scouts and Sri Lanka Girl Guides to ensure the curriculum was culturally relevant, locally impactful, aligned with WAGGGS’ overall STEM framework, and learner-led.

We’re excited to see the progress of the STEM Changemakers program in months to follow!

African Gifted Foundation

The African Science Academy held it’s annual graduation on the 9^th June where their class of 2025 graduated!! An inspiring day for the students who showed brilliance, resilience and the boundless opportunities STEM education can have.

A huge congratulations to everyone who graduated!

We will be releasing more exciting STEM news in the coming months… Watch this space!