Your Life campaign

The Royal Institution has signed up to the government's Your Life campaign launched today to encourage more girls and young women to be inspired by science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

Student exploring science in a hands-on workshop at the L'Oréal Young Scientist Centre.
Karen Hatch

News

The Royal Institution's mission is to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to think more deeply about the wonders of science, technology, mathematics and engineering. We exist to open up the world of science, not just by providing a platform for the public to gain access to credible information, but also by genuinely involving them in discovery, innovation and discussions about the future. 

From our very beginning in 1799 women have been able to participate in our mission and we will continue our legacy of championing women in science as a signatory to the Your Life campaign launched today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP.

Here are our 2014 Your Life pledges which will contribute to the campaign's aim of supporting and encouraging more girls and women to engage with and be inspired by science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

  • We are celebrating the achievements of women in science in 2014 by presenting our first ever all women line-up of speakers for Friday Evening Discourses, which we will open up to an international audience via our video platform the Ri Channel;
  • We will build on our successful educational partnership with L'Oreal via our hands-on experimental laboratory for children and young people, the L'Oreal Young Scientist Centre (LYSC), and maintain the existing gender balance of participants attending LYSC workshops;
  • We will also design and introduce a new workshop to the L'Oreal Young Scientist Centre programme in 2014 that focuses on physics and engineering;
  • We will expand the reach of our national network of problem-solving Masterclasses in mathematics, computer science and engineering which currently take place at over 1,000 locations UK-wide stretching from Aberdeen to Jersey. Through these we can provide local volunteering opportunities to employees of other businesses and organisations who wish to connect with and inspire the next generation of scientists and mathematicians; and
  • We will continue to use the Ri Channel, our critically acclaimed video platform where we tell our own stories of cutting-edge science and share the best of the web, as a public platform to showcase the fantastic research that women are doing in the UK and beyond. 

Find out more at yourlife.org.uk.