TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT The Big Bang
IHEEM’S KEY ROLE IN IMPACTFUL EVENT THAT SAW YOUNG ENGINEERING TALENT ON SHOW
From 17-19 June, IHEEM was honoured to take part in The Big Bang Fair 2025 and support The Big Bang Competition, delivered by EngineeringUK at the NEC Birmingham. The three- day engineering showcase saw the Institute present The IHEEM Innovation in Wellbeing and Healthcare Engineering Special Award, while the Institute stand proved a major draw for visitors.
The annual Big Bang Fair invites young people and teachers from across the UK to learn more about STEM subjects, with The Fair inspiring and informing visitors about the breadth of related careers on offer – demonstrated through engaging, interactive exhibits across advanced engineering, environmental sciences, health careers, and much more. The IHEEM exhibit at The Fair was immensely popular, with students lining up throughout all three days to learn about and experience first-hand a broad range of healthcare engineering solutions supported by the Institute’s exhibiting partners. The chance to gain insight into the design, application, and real-world impact of virtual reality, endoscopy, lighting, robotics, and 3D printing in
a healthcare context, proved highly engaging to the thousands of young attendees, with many recounting personal experience relating to healthcare.
Chance for direct
interaction This opportunity for direct interaction was crucial in supporting the connection made by students between an area perhaps a little less familiar in engineering and technology, and something universally understood – the job that clinicians, nursing staff, and other medical personnel do daily looking after others, providing optimal patient care, and helping to change, and even save, lives.
Sincere thanks are extended to Brian Kirk, the Carbon & Energy Fund, Getech Education, Hoare Lea, Institutes of Technology, PPL Training, Stephen George + Partners, and Tarkett, for their significant and valuable contributions to delivering a highly successful event. Moira Shaftoe, Head of Professional Institutions and Partnerships for EngineeringUK, offers some key data insight on The Fair and its reach below. Over the course of the three days at
the NEC, The Fair welcomed 20,379 young people from 402 schools, along with 2,103 of their teachers. This represents a 14% increase in the number of schools attending The Big Bang Fair 2025 compared with last year, with 63.7% of schools meeting EngineeringUK’s equity, diversity and inclusion criteria. A breakdown of the proportion of young people who attended by year group is as follows:
• Year 6 (or equivalent) – 11%. • Year 7 (or equivalent) – 41%. • Year 8 (or equivalent) – 48%.
The Collaborative Robot is put through its paces at the IHEEM stand. 10 Health Estate Journal August 2025
Based on the data available, 50% of students attending The Fair were female. Pupils from schools from across the country – from the North-West to the Isle of Wight – came to The Fair, with those from the Midlands accounting for around 65% of visitors.
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