Call for expressions of interest to engage young people with physics careers during National Careers Week (1-5 March)

Designed for pupils aged 12-14 in the UK and Ireland, the objective is to show the range of careers that studying physics can open up and their relevance to society. The programme will consist of panel sessions themed around one of three global challenges:

• Monday 1 March, 14.00: Climate Change
• Wednesday 3 March, 14.00: Robotics and AI
• Friday 5 March, 14.00: Physics in Medicine

Within these broad themes, the Institute of Physics are looking for people from across the physics community to be part of the programme to highlight the vast range of jobs that people in physics do, their career pathways and the diversity of the people doing those roles. Alongside needing to speak confidently and enthusiastically to an audience of young people, expressions of interest from the following are particularly encouraged:

• Current or recent apprentices or trainees
• People who have taken a non-academic route into their careers
• Those who are underrepresented in physics, i.e. Women physicists, BAME physicists, LGBT+ physicists or physicists with a disability
• People early in their careers
• People working in physics-related roles in non-traditional settings

Each panellist will have an opportunity to talk about their route into a physics-related job, what they enjoy about their job and show the relevance of the job to wider society, followed by an opportunity for discussion between the speakers and questions from the audience. They are also hoping to run some smaller Q&A sessions for just one school and a speaker to have a more informal conversation - these sessions might be more suitable for those with more experience with speaking with young people. These will take place at a mutually convenient time for the school and speaker on Tuesday 2 and Thursday 4 March.