West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin last week joined the search for the next generation of ‘brilliant brains’ whilst attending an event to promote science and technology subjects in schools. The week-long event, hosted by QinetiQ, allowed year nine students from across the county to take part in a series of science-based activities. Harriett met with pupils from Pershore High School on Friday (November 14) and saw demonstrations of the tasks that students were asked to perform including building robots and using a Raspberry Pi to write simple computer code. The initiative aims to encourage more students to take up science, engineering, technology and maths courses. Harriett commented: “I fully support any initiative which gets more people studying sciences at GCSE and A level. “The St Andrews Road site has been at the heart of technological innovation for 70 years and I hope that the next generation of brilliant brains have been inspired by this event.” Jeremy Ward, managing director of the C4ISR business based in Malvern said: “A student building a Lego robot today might one day create devices that save lives or push the boundaries of space exploration. “We want to inspire these young people to keep developing the skills they have practiced here today and understand how they can be applied as part of a rewarding career. “For QinetiQ it is important that we look to the future and events such as this help to open the options available. That is why, as a member of The 5 Per Cent Club, we are committed to STEM outreach, in particular in the local community.” Photo: James Bower and Rebecca Hitchings show their project to QinetiQ’s Tara Francis and Harriett Baldwin MP