Following research that showed teachers wanted businesses to do more to help students understand the real-life application of science, technology, education and maths (STEM) subjects, Life Sciences company Bayer opened a free science laboratory for UK schools aiming to do just that. Nearly three years on and the lab has gone from strength to strength seeing over 7,000 students and 250 teachers through its doors.

Helping to Inspire the next generation of scientists, they aspire to help strengthen the UK STEM talent pool through a variety of interactive workshops in Bayer's Baylab.

Based in Green Park just outside Reading, the Baylab is part of an £11m investment, and aims to inspire young people to pursue opportunities in life science. Supported by the Royal Institution, its workshops have been developed to support teachers with delivering the national curriculum and fill the ‘hands-on’ science gap that many teachers experience due to time and cost constraints.

Workshops cover key stages 2-5, and range from giving children the chance to extract their own DNA, understand the complexities of the heart, uses of enzymes in biotechnology and even trying their hand as a formulation scientist.

Not only that but since opening they have also offered a number of successful careers events from 'Careers with Animals' days to 'Careers within Medicine' workshops, using the expertise of their diverse range of employees with backgrounds from the veterinary and healthcare sector to inspire and inform students on the opportunities available to them. 

Baylab’s manager, Emma Schierbaum, a science teacher and biochemist said:
“Over the past three years we are proud to have given so many young people the opportunity to experience what life as a scientist is like, helping them to apply their knowledge and giving them the opportunity to explore careers paths that they may not have previously considered. We hope in years to come we can continue to expand our offering and look forward to welcoming even more students through our doors”

So what can you expect from them in 2020?

• Free science workshops – the Baylab will continue to host some of their favourite workshops as well as adding three new workshops to their offering, these include; Heart Mechanics, Food detectives and DNA profiling;
• Careers events – on 21 Feb and 9 April the Baylab will be holding two days all about careers with animals;
• Science shows – Join them at Reading College on 17 April alongside the Royal Institution to find out about the wonderful world of exploding foods;
• Competitions – fancy winning a set of lab coats or science/sports equipment for your school? Why not enter one of their annual competitions to be in with a chance of winning.

Find out more

For more information on the Baylab and the opportunities above please visit www.bayer.co.uk/en/baylab or contact the team on [email protected] with your enquiry.