STEM Insight Days
Our STEM Insight Days aim to inspire Year 10 and 11 students to pursue further education and STEM careers by showing them what it’s really like to work in STEM. Each set of days (2-3 days) involves a busy schedule of:
- Visits to and from local STEM employers and facilities
- Interactive skills-based workshops
- Meeting experts and hearing first-hand about working in STEM
- Discovering diverse roles and career pathways.
To keep up-to-date with all of the activities we offer for secondary schools, please sign up to our newsletter here.
For more information, contact us at [email protected]
Upcoming events
October half-term 2026: Inspiring careers in STEM
Gain insight into careers spanning Global Health, Digital, Engineering and Climate!
For Years 10 and 11
Dates: 26th to 28th October 2026 (students must attend all three days)
Times: 9:30am to 4:00pm daily
Venue: Science Oxford Centre, with trips to external businesses in Oxfordshire
Free to attend | Places are limited
Applications close on 4th October 2026
Would you like to find out what it’s really like to work in STEM?
Over three action-packed days, you’ll:
- Go behind the scenes at leading STEM companies in Oxfordshire, including:
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- Oxford Instruments at their High Wycombe site, learning about materials analysis and nanoanalysis technologies, and touring their manufacturing workshop.
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Abingdon (Milton Park), unlocking the secrets of crime-scene DNA via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis
- Diamond Light Source at Harwell, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, learning how a particle accelerator works and how synchrotron techniques are used in real-world research such as medicine, archaeology, and environmental science
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- Hear first-hand from experts from STEM businesses and research institutions. Ask them anything! Discover diverse roles and interesting career journeys.
- Take part in hands-on workshops, develop skills and experience real research. Learn how to make AI work for you. Find out how engineering technologies can save cities from environmental catastrophe.
- Meet other students, like you, who are interested in science and tech.
Who is it for?
Whether you’ve found your passion and have ideas of what you’d like to do in the future, or you’re still looking, this event is for you. We’re looking for students who are:
- Passionate about STEM subjects.
- Considering STEM for further study or a career
- Looking for more insight into local STEM industries
- Motivated, committed and ready to dive in!
Who should apply?
- You must be in Year 10 or 11, or of equivalent age if home educated
- You must either live or attend school in Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire
- You must be studying three STEM subjects at GCSE level (Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Design and Technology)
- You must be able to attend both days in full
What happens next?
Applications will be reviewed by Science Oxford’s STEM Careers team. The Science Oxford STEM Careers Programme is committed to improving diversity and inclusion in STEM and actively encourages applications from individuals who are underserved or underrepresented in the STEM sector. We particularly welcome applications from these groups and will take this context into account as part of our review process.
All attendees are expected to follow the Oxford Trust Behaviour Policy.
You’ll hear whether you have a place on Friday 9th October by email.
For any questions relating to the Science Oxford STEM Insight Days please contact [email protected]
At the STEM Careers Carousel, I found out valuable information on real life organisations as well as advice on my present situation with a range of professionals
Student, on STEM Insight Days
