UHI STEM initiative given £900K boost as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces ScotWind funding
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A University of the Highlands and Islands initiative which promotes careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) has received a £900,000 funding boost from the offshore wind industry.
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the expansion of the scheme as she addressed the Offshore Wind Conference taking place at the SEC in Glasgow on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
The conference, led by industry body Scottish Renewables, is focused on exploring the big challenges facing the industry and how it can deliver successful projects with positive impacts for the economy, the environment and local communities.
UHI said that primary school children across the north of Scotland will enjoy enhanced lessons thanks to an expansion of its STEM outreach programme, funded by four offshore wind project developers.
Over the last six years, UHI has delivered a STEM outreach programme to early years settings and primary schools across the Highland Council area.
UHI will now be able to extend its outreach programme to schools in Orkney, the Western Isles, Shetland, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perthshire local authority areas.
The funding package has been led by the West of Orkney Windfarm, a joint venture comprising Corio Generation, TotalEnergies and RIDG, alongside Floating Energy Allyance and their Buchan Offshore Wind project, Thistle Wind Partners and Ossian, a joint venture project led by SSER, Marubeni and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
The expansion will be supported through the employment of eight part-time and two full-time STEM coordinators. The full-time roles will be located across Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney.
Ms Sturgeon said: “The Scottish Government’s draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, published earlier this month, sets out a very clear vision to capitalise on the enormous opportunities that a net-zero energy system offers the industry, our economy and our climate.
“With ambitions to nearly double the renewable electricity generation capacity currently in operation while investing billions of pounds across the Scottish supply chain, ScotWind represents a massive step forward in delivering this vision.
“A programme as transformational as ScotWind has the potential to realise even wider benefits, and I welcome this partnership between UHI and key ScotWind partners to expand STEM education across the north of Scotland, helping the next generation of our energy workforce develop the skills they need to embrace our net-zero future.”
Alison Wilson, director of advancement and alumni engagement at UHI, said: "The ScotWind development provides fantastic possibilities for young people in our region to contribute to the green economy. We want to make sure that every young person, across all of our communities, has the chance to be inspired by these opportunities, to be able to pursue their studies and to develop skills to achieve careers in the sector.
"Industry and academia working together like this can make a difference to the region and the choices available to our young people now and in the future.”
Stephen Kerr, project director at West of Orkney Windfarm, the lead developer in the initiative, said: “It’s vital that we invest in the next generation. Offshore wind offers the prospect of rewarding careers for children in primary school today. By supporting this programme, we hope as many of these jobs as possible are secured by young people who live in the communities in which we operate.
“We’re particularly delighted to be funding directly the two full-time positions in Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney as part of our overall contribution. Our sponsorship is an important first step in a wider multimillion-pound project-level investment initiative which the West of Orkney Windfarm has committed to support skills development and the offshore wind supply chain.”
