Back in 2016, All About STEM supported Unilever in developing a year-long programme of activities that would facilitate the company’s social mission agenda, harness and develop the skills of Unilever employees and provide positive, inspirational and informative experiences for teachers and students, with the aim of raising aspiration and engagement in STEM careers.

The original Bright Future Programme aimed to inspire Y8 & 9 students through an exciting, hands-on, real-life STEM challenge. The project consists of a teacher twilight event, an on-site student workshop day, and a celebration and assessment day. Thirty-six school teams now engage on an annual basis with students achieving CREST Award accreditation for their involvement.

The initial project showed just what was possible and created a real energy within the company for working with schools and young people to showcase STEM careers. By partnering with All About STEM, Unilever has since engaged with a range of inspirational outreach projects, including the national STEM Ambassador Programme and the North West Big Bang Fair.

The next step on the journey is to bring the Bright Future Programme to a much wider audience and to enable older students, not just to create great project work, but to also develop their careers awareness. We’ve worked together to develop this new digital version of the Bright Future Programme and we hope it will enable students to aspire to job roles within a company like Unilever and to recognise that STEM is very much for people just like them

Frequently Asked Questions

How can my school take part in the Aspire digital programme?

We are accepting 30 schools across Merseyside and Cheshire for the first cohort of the programme, that runs throughout the 2020-2021 academic year. If you are interested in taking part, please submit your details via the “Register Today” tab at the top of the page.

What is the recommended group size for completing the programme?

Students will need to work through the programme in teams of 2-6.

What is the recommended timeframe to run the full programme?

There are four modules to complete focusing on different parts of product development, supporting materials for which will be downloadable at every stage. The final task is to pull the product proposal into a pitch that can be submitted to a real Unilever judging panel. The time needed to complete each module can be left up to the facilitator of the session, however, we recommend a minimum of an hour per module. Submissions can be made via your login and will be accepted any time throughout the year, the last day for submission is the 30th of June 2021.

How do I make a project submission and what are the requirements?

On successful registration, introductory materials provide further information. However, submissions can be made in whatever format preferred by the school/students. For example, this could be a video pitch of the product, a powerpoint presentation or a word document – the more creative the better! Some criteria that the judging panel will be looking for can be found in the relevant downloadable teacher guides.

One submission will be accepted per school, however, there are no rules as to how this can be facilitated – it could be one team that completes the programme or a winning team selected from a whole year group who have taken part.