Public engagement for student empowerment

The ability to disseminate and communicate densely mathematical and technical material to a non-technical audience and coworkers is a key employability skill for mathematics graduates. While mathematics students are well regarded when it comes to working with highly technical material, they are perhaps less well known for their communication skills. As educators it is important that we consider how to bridge this gap and how we can embed these skills into already tightly packed programmes.

At Middlesex University we have long believed in embedding communication skills in our undergraduate mathematics programmes to empower our students from diverse backgrounds.

Importantly, while these students are with us, we also present them with the opportunity to work as mathematical ambassadors and apply these skills in-situ during outreach and public engagement events. These events include SMASHFest, Big Bang, Thorpe Park, World Skills, Teen Tech, and MDX STEMFest. This increases their confidence and knowledge of mathematical topics further while enhancing their employability and communication skills, and social capital.

In this presentation we will how we implemented this approach, the difficulties, the benefits and the perspective from current students and recent graduates and how this has shaped their attitude towards what mathematics is.