Orbyts Impact Report

Orbyts is a multi-award-winning movement, led and supported by colleagues from the CPS (amongst many others!), that partners scientists with schools to empower school students to undertake world-leading research, while providing them with relatable science role models who dispel harmful stereotypes about who can be a scientist. To ensure that these opportunities go to those who need them most, schools that join Orbyts must ensure that at least 50% of students on an Orbyts project are girls and minority genders and at least 50% are pupil premium and SEND students.

Over the past six years the Orbyts programme has enabled a transformational impact on young people, researchers and teachers alike, an impact which the Orbyts team have recently shared via their first impact report.

To date, Orbyts has created over 100 research partnerships between researchers and schools, empowering 1500+ school students by helping them to see that there is a place for them in science and that they are beyond capable of working on world-class research. The project has increased inclusivity in post-16 STEM uptake, with student groups that Orbyts have engaged being 50+% girls, 50+% pupil premium, and with students identified from 48+ ethnicities. They have grown with new Hubs in North East England and Leicester, alongside expansion of their London Hub.

The Orbyts team send the following message:

We’d like to extend our thanks to all those who have and continue to support Orbyts, without whom this work would not be possible. In particular we would like to thank all the researchers and teachers for all their time and hard work. We also gratefully acknowledge support from all of our funders, including the UCL Access and Widening Participation Office, the Ogden Trust, UK Space Agency, European Research Council, EPSRC, and STFC.  

Orbyts currently sits precariously positioned with no financial support beyond our upcoming 2024 programme. If you think that Orbyts might be something you would like to support, then we would love to hear from you at info@orbyts.org.

Read the report for all the statistics on Orbyts, spotlights on the ground-breaking research being led by students, and all the exciting plans for Orbyts in 2024!

 

 

Links

• Orbyts Impact Report (2017-2023): orbyts.org/impact
• Orbyts website