Education

Engineering Course for Boaters

A beginner-friendly, hands-on workshop that teaches canal boaters how their onboard systems work and how to maintain them safely and confidently.

Engineering for Boaters is a one-day, hands-on workshop created for first-time canal boaters who want to understand and confidently manage the essential engineering systems on board. Designed for beginners, the day breaks down technical topics into clear, practical explanations and demonstrations, h…

Talk: No | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: Public, Boaters

How to be a Boater

A practical and entertaining guide to getting started with canal-boat life, covering buying, navigating, living aboard, and joining the boating community.

How to Be a Boater is a lively and engaging talk for anyone who’s ever looked at a canal boat and wondered what life on the water is really like. If you’ve dreamed of swapping traffic jams for towpaths and morning alarms for misty sunrises over the cut, this session will show you how to turn that id…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: Public

Engineering for Palaeontologists

An accessible introduction to how engineering principles like structural analysis and materials science help scientists reconstruct how extinct animals functioned, moved, and survived.

Engineering for Palaeontologists is an inspiring and accessible talk that explores how engineering thinking can transform the way we study ancient life. Fossils preserve shapes, structures, and traces—but engineering helps us understand how those structures actually functioned. By applying principle…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College, Undergraduate, Graduate, Professional

Notes: Can be run as a 1 hour talk, a 3 hour workshop, or a 6 hour workshop

Fluid Mechanics for Palaeontologists

A hands-on introduction to using fluid-physics principles to analyse fossils and scientifically reconstruct how extinct animals moved, flew, and swam.

Fluid Mechanics for Paleontologists is an engaging talk/workshop that reveals how the physics of fluids can bring extinct creatures back to life—at least scientifically. Fossils tell us what ancient animals looked like, but fluid mechanics helps us understand how they moved, how fast they travelled…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College, Undergraduate, Graduate, Professional

Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics

A lively, accessible overview of how liquids and gases behave, showing how fluid principles shape everyday life, natural phenomena, and engineering, while introducing key concepts and career pathways in the field.

Introduction to Fluid Mechanics is an accessible and engaging talk that opens the door to one of the most important—and surprisingly relevant—fields of engineering and science. Fluid mechanics is the study of how liquids and gases move, and it shapes far more of our world than most people realise. F…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College, Undergraduate, Graduate, Professional

Introduction to Robotics

A beginner-friendly talk that explains how robots sense, think, and move, while showing how you can start exploring and building them yourself.

Introduction to Robotics is an engaging and accessible talk that opens the door to one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving areas of modern technology. Robotics combines engineering, programming, electronics, and design to create machines that can sense, think, and act in the world. From factor…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College

Nature Solved It First

The Hidden Engineering Secrets of the Natural World

This talk covers some of the amazing abilities that animals display, and looks at these from an engineering perspective. For example, how does your cat jump from such a large height, a bird migrate such vast distances, a cheetah run so incredibly fast, or a gecko stick to any surface? These question…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College, Undergraduate, Graduate, Professional

How Not to be a Scientist

How Not to Be a Scientist reveals how you can build a rewarding STEM career as a technician or specialist, contributing to real scientific breakthroughs without becoming an academic researcher.

How Not to Be a Scientist is a refreshing and eye-opening talk that challenges the common assumption that the only way to contribute to science is by becoming an academic researcher. In reality, modern science and engineering depend on a wide range of highly skilled professionals whose expertise kee…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: No | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College

Fundamentals of Engineering

Fundamentals of Engineering is a clear, engaging introduction to the major engineering disciplines that helps students understand their options and choose the path that best matches their interests and strengths.

Fundamentals of Engineering is an engaging and informative talk designed to help students explore the wide world of engineering and decide which path might suit them best. Engineering is not just one subject but a family of disciplines, each focused on solving different kinds of problems—from design…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College

How to think like a Scientist

Thinking Like a Scientist is an interactive talk that reveals how scientific thinking works and shows you how to use its powerful problem-solving methods to make better decisions in everyday life.

Thinking Like a Scientist is an interactive and thought-provoking talk that explores how science uncovers reliable truths about the world. Have you ever wondered how scientists decide what’s true, what’s uncertain, and what still needs testing? This session breaks down the logic behind scientific di…

Talk: Yes | Workshop: Yes | Course: No | Audience: High School, Sixthform, College, Undergraduate, Graduate, Public

Notes: Can be adapted to a 2-3 hour workshop