Leonardo Edinburgh apprentices fly flag of DE&I

Author: EIS Release Date: Nov 17, 2022

Apprentices working at Leonardo, as part of a new project to bring together students from different backgrounds, have created a course providing an introductory experience to the world of work.

 

The week-long programme was intended to act as a ‘fast track’ to gain experience of mixing Edinburgh students with peers and professionals from very different backgrounds, and the the aerospace engineering company hopes the initiative will help inspire the students to consider a career in a STEM-related industry.

 

The original team of apprentices consisted of Mathew Wood, Sarah Devlin, Daniella Marrocco and Ruairi Potter.

 

“If we can provide a platform where students can learn about different people and different mind-sets during their education, they are more likely to feel comfortable and confident when they encounter differences later on in their professional lives,” said Leonardo’s Head of Engineering Capability, Doug Swanson.

 

“This project gave the students the chance to interact with other students from diverse social groups and I could see over the course of the week that they felt much more confident about those interactions, underpinning our belief that diversity is one of the keys to innovation.”

 

The idea was that as well as giving the students the chance to communicate with people from different backgrounds, there was an emphasis on the diverse nature of engineering itself.

 

“Something very dynamic happened this time that was quite unlike previous courses we’ve hosted,” said Leonardo’s Jackie Ritchie, who managed the course. “The students only had a few days to come up with a solution to protect the supplies and safety of a fictional country. To do that they had to take on identities defined by their roles within the project team, not their background.”