Big Bang Fair awarded for promoting engineering

The Rooke Medal for the public promotion of engineering is awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, to an individual, small team or organisation who has contributed to the academy’s aims and work through their initiative in promoting engineering to the public. The medal will be awarded at the academy’s annual awards dinner at the Royal Opera House on June 26.

The Big Bang Fair, which is led by EngineeringUK, is an annual fair that aims to inspire the UK’s future scientists and engineers.

EngineeringUK Chief Executive, Paul Jackson, said: “It’s great to be recognised by the Royal Academy for the work we’ve been doing. The team at EngineeringUK has developed new ways to work with a wide collaboration of business and industry, government, education and the wider STEM community. It shows how much can be achieved when we work together to reach out to the next generation of scientists and engineers.

“Since its first pilot event in 2009, the Big Bang Fair has grown attendance from 6,500 - 56,000 – a rate of growth quicker than Glastonbury. The fact that a careers fair can attract attendance larger than most Premiere League crowds is testament to the fair’s ability to capture public imagination with science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the rewarding careers available in these fields.”

Nominating the Big Bang Fair for the award, Robert Kirby-Harris, Secretary General at the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), said: "The Big Bang Fair has fostered strong links between industry, education professionals and the public sector to the extent that it has reached long-term sustainability and has built brand awareness on a national and regional political and media scale. It is also in the process of transforming through its physical, web and media presence in to a full year, pan-UK operation."