Pioneer Group was honoured to host our sixth Ada Lovelace Day event in partnership with educational charity Ignite!.

Our goal was simple – to inspire the next generation of women science, and all the human & planetary health discoveries they may uncover. To amplify women’s presence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through inspiration and guidance for future generations of STEM professionals.

Over two days, almost 400 school children participated in our interactive workshops held at eight Pioneer Group locations around the UK, including BioCity Nottingham, Wilton Centre, Kent Science Park, Hexagon Tower, BioCity Glasgow, Edinburgh Technopole, Colworth Science Park, and MediCity Nottingham.

Day One: BioCity Nottingham

Three local primary schools visited BioCity Nottingham, by walking from their schools or taking the tram, to enjoy six science workshops during day one of our Ada Lovelace Day 2023 celebrations. 150 year 6 pupils took part in the following activities:

• Selecting the best fungi for making blue cheese with Myconeos 
• Designing inventions with HGF
• Dissolving different types of sugars with Sygnature Discovery
• Identifying river pollutants & waste decomposing times with Environment Agency 
• Optical Illusions with Exonate
• Chromatography with Reach Separations

The different sessions aimed to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM and connect potential future scientists with real scientists from within the Pioneer Group community.

Day Two: Events at multiple Pioneer Group sites

On Tuesday 10th October, We welcomed 25 schools to seven more of our locations across the UK.

The year 8 and 9 girls met scientists from 32 companies across the Pioneer Group community, and all got stuck in with hands-on workshops, learning about careers in STEM and the practical applications of several fields of science.

The workshops were expertly facilitated by companies from the Pioneer Group community, who generously volunteered their expertise.

Our tenants came out in full force with a host of fascinating workshops led by:

Dr Lisa Thomas, Venture Development Partner at Pioneer Group, said: “It has been a privilege to be involved with this event, which is inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. My passion for science started when I was a schoolgirl, so I’m very pleased Pioneer Group and ignite! are hosting such a great programme for these young scientists at the beginning of their journey. This year, we were delighted to extend the event across seven of our Pioneer locations, connecting more schools across the UK with our fantastic community of STEM companies.”

Megan Shore, Communications Executive at Ignite! “We are so pleased to see this event go from strength to strength each year, and to enable more pupils to see behind the scenes and find out about the most innovative and ground-breaking science, following the legacy of Ada Lovelace. It’s been fantastic to see the ambition of the project grow, with sites right across the UK taking part.”

Who was Ada Lovelace?

Born in 1815, Ada Lovelace collaborated with inventor Charles Babbage on his general-purpose computing machine, the Analytical Engine. In 1843, she published what we would now call a computer program to generate Bernoulli Numbers.

Lovelace was the first person to foresee the creative potential of the Engine. Her vision of computing’s possibilities was unmatched by any of her peers and went unrecognised for a century.

Ada Lovelace Day was founded by Suw Charman-Anderson in 2009 as a celebration aimed at highlighting the achievements of women in STEM fields and fostering the creation of new role models who can inspire young individuals to pursue STEM careers. Pioneer Group, in partnership with Ignite!, have been hosting events in celebration of this occasion since 2018.

Find out more about Ada Lovelace Day here.