{"id":8674,"date":"2025-07-17T16:25:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T15:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/?p=8674"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:54:04","slug":"broadening-the-engagement-of-young-people-in-environmental-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/?p=8674","title":{"rendered":"Broadening the engagement of young people in environmental science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Funded by the UK\u2019s Natural Environment Research Council<\/a>, the BEYOND project is connecting young people living in \u2018cold spots\u2019, places with limited access to green spaces and higher education, with their school, natural environment, and local university. The project aims to create \u2018stepping stones\u2019 for young people to connect with nature with a view to further engagement, e.g. through positive behaviour change, volunteering options, educational opportunities, or professional careers. <\/p>\n

\"The

The core BEYOND Project Team: l-r, Steve McNay and Tash Darling (Woughton Community Council), and Richard Holliman, Yoseph Araya and Shonil Bhagwat (Open University).<\/p><\/div>\n

The project is based in Woughton Parish in Milton Keynes, involving Woughton Community Council<\/a>, The Parks Trust<\/a>, environmental scientists from The Open University<\/a>, communicators<\/a>, and an inclusive artist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why is BEYOND important?<\/strong>
\nThe lack of diversity in UK higher education in the environmental sciences, and professions in the environment sector, is a well-recognised challenge. For example, ethnic minorities make <5% of the labour force in environmental professions (compared to 19.3% of the UK population).<\/br><\/p>\n

\"Advancing

Advancing equity, diversity and inclusivity in the environmental sciences<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Similarly, those representing low socio-economic backgrounds, as well as those who identify as disabled, are underrepresented in the sector. Furthermore, as secondary school pupils progress towards higher education in STEM subjects there is a steady decline of underrepresented members of the community, in what is referred to as the \u2018leaky pipeline\u2019. <\/br><\/p>\n

Various reasons have been suggested for the low representation in environmental science subjects, a salient one being lack of early exposure to, and connection with, the natural world. <\/br><\/p>\n

Across the UK, areas of multiple deprivation are known to be the least connected to nature, as well as being \u2018cold spots\u2019, areas of low inclusion in higher education. These structural inequalities, combined with a system that supports existing privilege, feed into low diversity in environmental sciences in universities and environmental professions.<\/br><\/p>\n

What will BEYOND do and with whom?<\/strong>
\nBEYOND will provide young people with opportunities at the Woughton Community Council to gather, eat, tell stories, and build connections with nature. We will provide career advice and mentoring support on pathways to support positive behaviour change, identify opportunities to volunteer, highlight options for further and higher education, and illustrate a range of careers in the environmental sector.<\/br><\/p>\n

We will organise five interventions (at the Community Council and The Open University campus) engaging approximately 30 young people (at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5). <\/br><\/p>\n

To register your interest in this project, please contact: Yoseph.Araya@open.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Funded by the UK\u2019s Natural Environment Research Council, the BEYOND project is connecting young people living in \u2018cold spots\u2019, places with limited access to green spaces and higher education, with their school, natural environment, and local university. The project aims … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,216,7,35,8],"tags":[277,41,162,130,278,63,218],"class_list":["post-8674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-professionalisation","category-projects","category-resources","category-training","tag-beyond","tag-engaging-with-school-students","tag-equity","tag-nerc","tag-opening-up-the-environment","tag-scientific-citizenship","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8674"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8687,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8674\/revisions\/8687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}