NERCOUTE Reimagining Pathways into Environmental Science through Showcasing Technical Careers

Reimagining Pathways into Environmental Science through Showcasing Technical Careers aims to empower young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds into a technical career in environmental science. It identifies opportunities and barriers for technical environmental science careers within higher education technical workforces and beyond. Our team includes a diverse community of technical professionals and research enabling staff alongside a Project Advisory Group committed to piloting innovative solutions. It showcases how technical roles in environmental science can be an innovative pathway for students with a passion for creating environmental solutions to develop thriving careers. The project articulates the need for diversity in the environmental science workforce, and in collaboration with Further Education colleges seeks to improve social mobility in the North East to improve student outcomes, career prospects and pipelines. For Durham University technical staff, the project creates Technical Champions in environmental science. It raises the visibility, recognition and reward of technicians and highlights the sustainability of the research technical workforce of the future. Through the leadership of our technical staff and research enabling professionals, we seek to showcase the diversity of roles in the environmental science ecosystem and place students alongside “someone like me” with the motivation of enabling the next generation of NERC technicians. The project brings in partnership Durham University with regional Further Education colleges. It enables collaborations with the North East Institute of Technology and the North East Combined Authority and at a national-level the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy, to explore and advance technical training, career pathways and education policy. The project is designed in two stages. Stage 1 will map internal structures and resources within Durham University to enable Technical Champions, outreach activities, and pilot T Level placements related to environmental science. This involves a self-assessment of Durham University’s technical expertise, resources, and current outreach activities in environmental science and capacity for delivering technical T Level placements. This will generate the establishment of a Technical Champions Forum, enhance bespoke outreach to FE colleges to showcase resources and equipment used in environmental research, and pilot T Level Placements showcasing environmental science careers. Our second work package involves an external assessment of FE college T Level curricula, to identify overlaps with NERC disciplines and education. This will detect opportunities for curriculum development in T Level programmes and create visibility for technical career pathways. Surrounding these streams is a process evaluation design and Theory of Change creation. This will analyse the outcomes of the first two work packages, assess the sustainability of the technical workforce, and develop an evaluation framework. Evaluation of the project will assess its impact on widening participation in environmental science, and the effectiveness of partnerships with FE colleges. This will inform the methodology for evaluating the potential outputs from the strategic aims for the 2026 project, focusing on the effectiveness of the technical workforce as champions in environmental science, the impact of outreach activities, and the impact and effectiveness of the T Level placement programme. The project will foster a culture of inclusion across our technical community and will enable a positive research culture where our technical staff are champions environmental science with the desire to enable young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds to gain the skills and career pathways to equip them to respond to the global environmental challenges of the future.