We will run 10 zones of I'm a Scientist (IAS) featuring STFC related scientists. IAS is an online, student-led STEM enrichment and engagement activity where school students connect with scientists. They are competitions between groups of scientists, called 'zones', where students ask the questions and decide who wins. Taking part is exciting for students. They can challenge adults on their views, see the huge diversity of UK science and technology research, and connect on a personal level with scientists they would likely never meet in person. It works on a deeper level too. Student-led live chat conversations and ASK questions ensure the engagement around science and technology is relevant to their own views and opinions. By relating to science on a personal level they see it as something 'for them'. Knowing adults in scientific jobs is a key factor determining a student's Science Capital and their aspirations. Schools recognise this and organise ways for their students to meet scientists. However, many schools are underserved by these visits - our research shows schools just 30 minutes drive from a major research university receive half the number of visits as those 15 minutes away. This STFC Legacy Award will get 60 scientists involved in STFC research areas meeting these young people online as part of the larger IAS project, with a focus on students under-served by other STEM engagement opportunities and at Widening Participation (WP) schools. Through direct engagement in 10 zones across two years, they will help thousands of UK school students, regardless of location and background, see that science and technology are for them. Through the interaction, students: see that the scientists are normal people doing jobs they could do themselves see the relevance of STFC-related science and technology to their own lives become enthused about the possibilities in the science and technology sector The scientists: develop communication skills renew their enthusiasm for their work are motivated to do more engagement The IAS STFC zones will showcase the diversity of STFC science and technology. In comparison to an in-person visit from a single scientist, each zone gives students access to 6 people and the wide range of expertises and experiences that exist within topics relates to STFC science. A zone can showcase people behind headline research, such as CERN and space telescopes, alongside smaller projects which get less exposure. The zones will also improve the reach of STFC scientists and engineers to more diverse audiences. Students too far from regular visits, primary students, quiet students, loud students... online engagement works for the people that traditional face-to-face STEM engagement struggles with. And the benefits go both ways. By taking part, scientists discover that young people are interested in their work; they learn the phrases that work to explain what they do, and in the year after participants tend to do lots more public engagement than before. They talk with their colleagues about the benefits they've gained, growing both the IAS events and championing a culture of STEM engagement in their organisations.

In the UK, as in virtually every developed country, it is widely accepted that we need more people studying and working at all levels in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). STEM industries are vital elements of the global economy with jobs in science, technology and engineering predicted to grow at double the rate relative to other careers. Yet there is a widespread consensus that there is a substantial - and growing - STEM skills gap, with insufficient numbers of suitably STEM-qualified workers to meet demand. It has also been argued that STEM skills are beneficial for a wide range of careers and can promote social mobility. Relatedly, there are serious concerns about the lack of STEM-qualified graduates entering teaching and the potential impact of this shortfall not just on schools currently, but also for the future STEM skills gap. Alongside the need to increase STEM participation, important arguments have been made for the imperative to widen participation in STEM and ensure high levels of scientific, mathematical, technical and digital literacy across the population. Specifically, there is a need to broaden the gender, ethnic and social class profile of those who study STEM post-16, particularly in the physical sciences and engineering, where women, some minority ethnic and working-class communities are starkly under-represented. Yet initiatives aimed at increasing and/or widening the profile of STEM graduates appear to have had little lasting impact on the higher education participation rates. Understanding the factors shaping STEM participation is, therefore, a key priority area for governments and a wide range of stakeholders both nationally and internationally. The proposed three year study seeks to understand the processes through which young people develop their science and career choices and trajectories from age 20-23. Specifically, the proposed study will extend the unique dataset developed by the first and second longitudinal ASPIRES and ASPIRES2 studies, which tracked the development of young people's science and career aspirations from age 10-19 (surveying over 39,000 young people at five time points between the ages of 10 and 18 and longitudinal, repeat interviews with 61 young people and their parents over the same age period). ASPIRES3 will continue tracking this cohort via a representative national survey with c.7-10,000 young people at age 20/21, sampled from those who have previously conducted ASPIRES/ASPIRES2 surveys and boosted via online (social media) recruitment, as a media that is particularly successful for recruiting this age group. The project will also conduct interviews with c.60 students who have been longitudinally tracked from age 10 and their c.60 parents. The project will also undertake secondary analysis of previous ASPIRES & ASPIRES2 survey data from over 16,000 students, matched to large national data bases to examine whether/which attitudinal and social factors at age 10/11 relate to later attainment and life outcomes at age 20/21. The knowledge generated by the research will inform inter/national STEM education policy and practice, particularly how to better increase and widen post-compulsory participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The project will become the only longitudinal project to track young people's aspirations (in and out of science) from primary school, through compulsory, post-compulsory and higher education into work. In line with our commitment to achieving impactful research, the study will involve three impact collaborations with the Royal Society of Chemistry, Engineering UK and the Institute of Physics. Findings and recommendations will be disseminated via a wide range of academic journal articles and bespoke summaries, publications, events and social media for stakeholders.

Molecular modelling has established itself as a powerful predictive tool for a large range of materials and phenomena whose intrinsic multiscale nature requires modelling tools able to capture their chemical, morphological and structural complexity. In the UK, the molecular modelling community, supported by the software, training and networking activities coordinated by the CCP5, has become, over the past 40 years, international-leading in this field. Building upon these successes, the new CCP5++ network will revolutionise the field of materials molecular modelling creating a new integrated community of modellers, experimentalists and data scientists that together will identify the new frontiers of the field and will transform the way these disciplines work together. To achieve its mission, the CCP5++ will coordinate and support an ambitious plan of meetings, sandpits, coding workshops, secondments and visitor schemes to cater for the large community of modellers, experimentalists and data scientists working on advanced materials. This support has proved to be vital to enable the UK condensed matter community to attain and maintain an international position at the forefront of such an intensely competitive field and will enable the UK researchers to identify and tackle major world challenges in-silico materials discovery. From the start the network memberships include key representatives of the experimental and data science communities, international software and modelling institutes, industrial collaborators and national HPC consortia and CCPs, that working together will shape the future of materials molecular modelling.