About Im a Scientist

I’m a Scientist is an online, student-led. science engagement activity where school students connect with working scientists.

Students receive support for their Science Capital.Supports seven of the eight Gatsby Good Careers Guidance benchmarks.Scientists report improved communication skills and understanding of the principles of public engagement.Distance matters. Schools just 30 minutes drive from a university are under-served.See how you can take part as a scientist, teacher or funder.

Impact on studentsIm a Scientist engages all students. It supports their Science Capital through showing STEM to be personally relevant to students lives; eliciting and valuing students’ questions and experiences, and providing support for building dimensions of science capital.

IAS can play an important role in helping young people see that science just might be ‘for me’. This, in turn, can contribute to nurturing science aspirations. Read more about student impact

Gatsby Careers BenchmarksSchools are challenged to create an effective careers programme with often limited resources. Careers Advisors are increasingly being measured against the Gatsby Good Careers Guidance Benchmarks.

The Im a programme supports schools on seven of the eight benchmarks.
Read more about benchmarks

Impact on scientistsOnline public engagement helps bridge the divide between institutions and schools– and it’s not only school students who benefit.

I didn’t really know much about public engagement before taking part… I’m a Scientist really inspired me to get involved with more!

– Suzi, PhD researcher

IAS is a low pressure space for researchers to ‘dip their toes’ into public engagement. Seeing students’ enthusiasm for their work gives researchers the confidence and motivation to do more outreach.Those with less previous experience increase their public engagement activities by 130% in the year following IAS. Read more about scientist impact

Why distance matters?Funders of public engagement and outreach activities have made a priority of reaching underserved audiences. Wherever we looked we found anecdotal evidence that while, as a sector we were becoming increasingly effective at reaching schools in deprived parts of our metropolitan areas, rural communities continued to miss out.

But anecdotal data only gets you so far. We wanted to find out just how much the more remote schools were missing out.

We also wanted to know what constitutes a remote school in this context.

Read more about distance

Take partYou can take part; as a scientist in the activity, as a teacher with your school, or as funder.

Im a scientist ❯ Im a funder ❯ Im a teacher ❯