Junior Genius (12-16)

Junior Geniuses are talented students aged 12-16 from a diverse background who have a passion and instinct for science and technology.

They are trained at the highest level in research, lecturing and mentoring and eventually go on to talk to their peers, their schools and communities about their experience. In practice, they take on a role of Science disciples. Junior Genius’ aims are underpinned by an over arching objective to provide a pipeline for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to access Higher Education.

How is this achieved?

• We provide Summer schools of which at least a week is residential
• We partner with Universities and institutions
• We work with schools, both Primary and Secondary.
• We establish a meaningful and long lasting relationship with parents and the students

We train children in a wide range of disciplines: Science e.g. Chemistry and Physics, Engineering e.g. Robotics Technology, Web design and bio-medical engineering, Medicine i.e. Malaria and Diabetes.

We are also concerned about the emotional intelligence of young people. We use a host of games and strategies to develop conflict management and negotiation skills.

Another aspect is leadership training. Young people are trained to project manage, to deal with problem–solving and have an awareness of different styles of leadership. They are also trained in communication, debate and presentation skills.

Outcomes and Impact

The principal outputs relate to children currently in school. The programme is over a period of five years and benefits young people over the time frame resulting in them acquiring skills needed in a future job context (skills such as leadership, team working, building confidence, presentation, interviewing technique, etc).

The programme has been designed so that young people on the Junior Genius programme become role models. This seeding of exemplars of science, technology, engineering and medicine has a multiplier effect across the whole community and schooling system and in the long term leads directly to more children pursuing science, technology, engineering and medicine as a career.

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