There’s just over two weeks remaining to grab the opportunity of a lifetime, and apply for the 2023 Millennium Point Trust Scholarship and help is at hand for any students in need of support to complete their application.
Submissions close on March 23rd for the chance to win a fully paid-for degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). The programme, now in its ninth year, offers one lucky undergraduate complete funding for their degree, from a choice of over 20 courses at the faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment at Birmingham City University (BCU). The scholarship is the flagship initiative from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust and is fully funded by the charity.
A shortlist of candidates will be invited to present to a panel of judges at an Assessment Day, with the winner announced a few weeks later.
The Millennium Point Trust team is on hand to help any students looking to apply – simply email [email protected].
We asked our previous winners for tips
We have also enlisted the assistance of former scholarship winners, who have been through the process and know a few ‘tricks of the trade’.
Ryan Dowell, who won the scholarship in 2018, graduated with a first-class honours degree in Civil Engineering, in 2021. He is currently working in Dublin, on the graduate programme at Ireland’s leading builder and contractor John Sisk and Son. Ryan has already worked on the landmark Fibonacci Square project for Meta, and is now working on 4 Park Place, in the heart of the Irish capital.
Ryan commented: “The scholarship was a key point in my development – before this point I had not delivered a presentation to a large group. I can confidently say that the experience helped build my confidence when speaking to people who I do not know. The location and people I have met have also made the choice to attend BCU one of the best I made.”
Ryan’s top tips for applicants:
- Make sure you are open and honest when you are writing your application. Show who you truly are and what this opportunity will mean to you.
- When choosing your topic – first and foremost – elect for a topic that you find interesting. Having a specific topic, you are passionate about will motivate you to find those little bits of information that will elevate your presentation.
- Keep your presentation simple, adding in some key terms and jargon is all well and good but you will be relying on remembering your words. Having a streamlined and simple presentation will help you in remembering and delivering a cohesive and collected presentation.
- Practise several times until you can remember your key overarching points well.
Asima Adnan from Dudley, the 2021 Scholarship winner, is currently in her second year of studying for a degree in Planning at BCU. She commented: “Winning the scholarship was a wonderful surprise. It allowed me as a single mom to concentrate on building myself as a strong academic individual rather than to worry about how to financially pay back for what I have achieved. Millennium Point has given me the financial and emotional support I need to continue progressing into achieving my degree.”
Applications are only being accepted from students in the West Midlands region, who cannot already be studying for an undergraduate degree. Submissions are particularly being encouraged from traditionally marginalised groups in the field of STEM.
All of the commercial activity that takes place in the Millennium Point building feeds back into the Millennium Point Charitable Trust, enabling the charity to donate, invest and facilitate more than £3.25m to STEM related organisations, projects and initiatives in the West Midlands, during 2022.
For more information, visit www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship
We were excited to welcome 250 school children from Hodge Hill for the launch of Generation Earthshot in February.
Led by Liam Byrne MP, Generation Earthshot is an East Birmingham version of Prince William’s ‘Earthshot Prize’ to raise awareness of the climate change challenge and encourage young people’s creativity in providing solutions. Hodge Hill schools will pick one of the below five climate challenges and develop a practical solution that can be implemented locally.
- Protect and Restore Nature
- Clean Our Air
- Revive Our Water
- Build a Waste-Free World
- Fix Our Climate
“Our young people are amazing. And right now, we need their passion, creativity and their brainpower to help us save the planet. I don’t think there’s anywhere better to unlock this genius than here in Birmingham. Centuries ago, we were the home of the industrial revolution. Now we must become the home of the green revolution.”
Liam Byrne MP Birmingham Hodge Hill
To help inspire their imagination, the children were joined by Liam, Millennium Point CEO Abbie Vlahakis, and industry leaders and experts from companies such as Wildlife Trust Birmingham & Black Country, Severn Trent Water, and Tyseley Energy.
‘I’m thrilled that Millennium Point is supporting Generation Earthshot and it’s mission to empower young people to create a greener future. The team at Millennium Point is constantly investigating ways to be more sustainable and so I’m excited to hear the students’ ideas for protecting our planet.’
Abbie Vlahakis CEO Millennium Point
The school children are now developing their solutions to present in the final at Millennium Point this summer. Thousands of pounds in prizes will be awarded to the schools whose teams produce the best projects so that their proposals can be turned into reality. We can’t wait to hear their ideas!
Why Millennium Point get involved
As a multi-award-winning charity in the heart of Birmingham who champion STEM education, it is vital we play our part in supporting initiatives like Generation Earthshot.
This is just one of the ways we support STEM and schools in the West Midlands. Discover more on how we support education in the West Midlands in our brochure.
Hall Green School is a secondary school located in Birmingham, with a track record of high standards and inclusivity for pupils of all backgrounds and abilities.
The challenge
The school’s budget had become stretched with increasingly less money available for significant investment in equipment. They realised that, even with a money-saving plan, only basic equipment could be purchased which risked leaving their pupils uninspired.
Hall Green wanted to use the Millennium Point Trust Grant to fund their STEM week. Their aim was to inspire young people to learn about STEM careers such as engineering, science and other jobs that they may have never thought were accessible to them.
What impact has it made?
The Grant paid for workshops throughout the week including hiring a planetarium so students could travel through the stars in an immersive environment.
Hall Green School also launched a stargazing club for interested students who could learn about space, physics, and other astronomy topics.
Tying in with STEM week the school ran a competition to create a project on space with STEM prizes on offer. Talented students created posters, dioramas, and essays all around space and technology. The winner created a model of an astronaut walking on the moon and wrote a story about an alien visiting Earth for the first time. Four talented runners up also won prizes including a telescope, museum tickets and a light-up model of the moon.
Why did they receive a Grant?
When visiting Hall Green it was instantly reaffirmed why they deserved the Grant. The teachers who were strong ambassadors of STEM wanted to promote why knowing about space was important in the curriculum. They spoke about how in the future there is a possibility that people will visit the Moon again, as well as potentially voyage to Mars. This generation of students will most likely be the people working on these projects in their careers, heightening the importance of teaching it as a career option and school topic now.
Discover more about Millennium Point Trust
Our multi-award-winning charitable trust invests more than £3m each year towards furthering STEM education within the West Midlands.
Over the years we have provided funding to Scholarships, Grants and projects that benefit the region. Find out more about our Trust in our brand new brochure here.
It’s already widely known that females are massively underrepresented in STEM education, but what is being done to change this? Currently females make up 28% of the science, engineering, technology and maths workforce, highlighting that males outnumber females in the STEM industry.
What is STEM Education?
STEM education is all about teaching students science, technology, engineering and maths.
Rather than teaching these subjects separately, STEM uses a combined applied approach to encourage and better equip students to consider careers within STEM.
Why is there a lack of females in STEM Education?
There is a noticeable difference between the amount of females and males in STEM education that decreases continually after GCSE level education. After GCSEs, only 35% of females choose to study STEM subjects, with this decreasing to 25% of females choosing to study them at university.
Students, and people more generally, are often misled into thinking that STEM subjects are ‘meant for boys’ which can therefore be off-putting for girls to apply for or sit in classes where they may be one of a few girls or even the only girl in the class.
How can we change this and encourage more girls to apply for STEM subjects and consider a career in the industry?
Improve job satisfaction
Research shows that 1 in 10 girls want a job that makes a contribution to society. Due to this, more should be done to highlight that studying STEM subjects can lead to a career where girls can meet their ambitions to make a contribution to society. This will help close the gender gap by encouraging more girls to study STEM subjects relating to their aspirations.
Showcase more role models in STEM industries
Showcasing more female role models in STEM industries will help encourage girls to consider STEM subjects and careers as they can be inspired by someone more like them. This could be done by including more female role models in school career days.
Furthermore, universities could have more female lecturers, helping encourage girls to pursue university degrees, by providing a female role model that understands the career path they want to pursue.
What problems do females face in STEM industries?
Over half of females in a male dominated STEM workplace have felt some kind of discrimination while at work.
Furthermore, 1 in 5 women stated that, before the Me Too movement, they felt being female had held them back from succeeding at work and gaining promotions.
Women also face problems such as:
- Not receiving promotions – 40% of women have missed out on a promotion that was given to a less qualified male. As a result, women have considered changing employers to attain a promotion.
- Not receiving a good work life balance – Women understand that keeping a work life balance is hard, but they would like more opportunities to balance working and spending time with their family.
- Not receiving equal pay – Men and women tend not to receive equal pay in tech. If they were paid equally, STEM education and careers may attract more women.
What can education and not for profit leaders do to close the gender gap?
Education and not for profit leaders can make small changes to the way schools deliver STEM education to females to help close the gender gap.
For example education and not for profit leaders could:
Generate excitement
Generating excitement around the creative opportunities STEM education can give to females could help encourage them to further study science, technology, engineering and maths.
Excitement can be generated by:
- Decorating classrooms with posters and displays that show how creativity can be utilised within STEM.
- Experiment with ways to debunk myths about STEM and highlight the relevance it has to the real world.
- Share any interesting news, classes, competitions or case studies relating to STEM with students.
Provide hands-on experience
With 47% of women saying they learn best with hands-on experience, it’s important to mix theory with hands-on learning. This allows all types of learners to access teaching in the way that best suits them, helping them thrive in STEM education and making them more likely to study these subjects in further education.
Hands on experience can be provided by:
- Introducing STEM and computer science at an early age.
- Offering STEM clubs and activities during and after school, such as coding and science clubs.
- Offering school trips to STEM related centres and museums.
Encourage a growth mindset
Encouraging a growth mindset among both students and teachers will help to open doors into the STEM industry and encourage teachers to do more to support students going into STEM related subjects.
Encouraging a growth mindset could be done by:
- Encouraging teachers to support students through all areas of the learning process, including asking questions and failures.
- Exploring different ways to implement STEM subjects into learning models, for example including computer science in the learning curriculum.
- Including ‘learn by doing’ apps into classes and homework tasks.
- Reaching out to other schools that are leading the way in STEM education to ask for advice or collaborate on teaching and holding after school STEM related clubs.
How have female positions in STEM education changed since 2015?
In physical sciences and engineering and tech, the percentage of female graduates has increased since 2015, however there has only been a tiny improvement. Similarly, female graduates in mathematical sciences decreased by 1% in 2018/2019 compared to 2015/16. However, female graduates in computer science dropped between 2016 and 2017, but increased to 16% of graduates in 2018/2019.
While it’s great that we’re seeing an increase in female graduates in STEM related subjects, it’s clear that there’s a lot more educators and not for profit organisations can be doing to help encourage more females to enter STEM related subjects.
How can Millennium Point help close the gender gap in STEM education?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust has created the STEM roundtable to help bring together STEM industries, primary and secondary education, further education and not-for-profits in STEM sectors.
What’s the purpose of the working group?
- To provide a platform for support and communication to facilitate the sharing of ideas and cross-collaboration for the development of STEM projects.
- To shape the future of STEM learning, starting in the West Midlands by making affirmative action that creates positive change in STEM education and industry.
- To reverse current negative STEM trends by bridging the skills gap and ensuring every child has an opportunity to develop a career in STEM.
- To increase home grown STEM talent by creating a legacy that will nurture local and national talent that will allow the UK to be a major competitor on the global stage.
Millennium Point’s 2024 Scholarship application is now open. For more information on how to apply or get involved in the Scholarship program please visit www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship.
Background
The Dorothy Parkes Centre is an award-winning community centre based in Smethwick, an area in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands. They provide a safe place of welcome and opportunity for the local and wider community.
There is a variety of groups, classes, and activities that are available at the centre which all aim to help tackle local issues.
Aim of the project
The Centre had the aim to deliver eight science shows, during the school holidays over a twelve-month period and engage an audience who would not normally participate in learning in environments like this. The three-hour long sessions were themed around seasonal times of the year. They were led by science communicators from award-winning STEM organisation Femtinos.
Continuing, the aim with the project was to also raise the profile of STEM skills and careers. Dorothy Parkes thought that the members of the local community did not know the value of STEM and how it was linked to a diverse range of careers.
What impact has it made?
A £20,000 grant was awarded to Dorothy Parkes Centre. The project was popular in the area with a range of events happening throughout the year. Halloween, Easter & Commonwealth were all fun and interesting themes to engage the young community. Each session welcomed 50 young people and 50 parents to take part.
To build on the grants legacy, sessions were filmed and then uploaded to YouTube for wider audiences to view and the accessibility to do it from home.
‘We are delighted to have had the opportunity to run this project for the last twelve months. The quality of the shows and the feedback received was fantastic and it will be missed. A lot of families commented on what a great offer it was during the school holidays and the fact it was educational helped the children and even some of the parents.’
Why did they receive the grant?
The centre wanted the local community to view the centre as a one stop hub for the community. STEM was completely missing from the schedule and they hope they can continue the sessions for the wider community.
The project application was all about the advancement of STEM and education for the public benefit within the Smethwick area of Sandwell. The Dorothy Parkes Centre wanted to address the STEM skills gap through education and re-education of STEM skills for children and parents.
Here at Millennium Point we offer grant funding to help support companies and charities improve engagement within STEM related subjects.
Below are a few examples of Schools Millennium Point has helped through grants and funding.
Longwill School for the Deaf – Sensory STEM
Longwill is based in Northfield, Birmingham and is a specialist school for deaf children aged between 2 and 11. The school is underpinned by a sign-bilingual philosophy that encourages the fullest possible development through early communication.
What challenge did Longwill face?
The school came to us wanting help to create ways for pupils to develop an interest and understanding in science through using speech and sign language. The small grant is being used to purchase 10 visualises and compound microscopes which are high impact learning tools. These can be used in STEM lessons to magnify flowers, leaves, skeletons or fossils onto screens to help children develop a scientific understanding.
What impact has this made?
This has given 50 children between 3 and 11 the opportunity to engage in scientific activities in ways they previously hadn’t been able to.
The school received a small grant as they presented an outside-of-the-box approach to inspiring children with disabilities to engage with STEM subjects.
To read more about the Longwill School for Deaf, click here.
Aston Villa Foundation – ‘STEM Stars’
The Aston Villa Foundation is a registered charity in charge of the community and social responsibility work of Aston Villa Football Club. Their mission is ‘working together to enrich lives’. They work with a variety of backgrounds in Birmingham and support Aston Villa’s wider family as well.
What did the foundation need help with?
STEM Stars introduced a new STEM programme in six schools within a 3 mile radius of Villa Park, where funding will be used to buy a Sphero robot package to help teach young people coding through using football.
The programme aims to encourage young people to better engage with STEM education and raise aspirational levels, as the areas around Villa Park are both educationally and income deprived.
What impact has this made?
The STEM programme has allowed young people to engage with computer science in ways they wouldn’t previously be able to access.
The programme gained a small grant as they identified key problems in the area while providing imaginative solutions to STEM related issues.
To read more about the Aston Villa foundation, click here.
Ahead Partnership – STEMfestWM
Ahead Partnership is a leading social enterprise aiming to connect children with employers to promote education and employability while raising awareness of STEM careers.
The project
The project involves a week-long festival with employers and 250 students chosen from secondary schools and FE sixth forms/colleges across the West Midlands. The festival aims to enthuse young people in STEM and build a stronger talent pipeline.
What impact has this made?
The project impacted 250 pupils, 16 schools and 2 further education colleges. Students have also developed confidence through participating in events and have developed an understanding of how their learning links to different careers.
The partnership gained a small grant due to its extensive portfolio of successes in engaging young people in education and equipping them with the skills and links needed for the industry.
To learn more about the Ahead Partnership, click here.
Trinity School – STEM Room
Trinity High School is a co-educational academy school for 13-18 year olds located in central Redditch.
The challenge
Students at the school are highly interested in STEM, however the school was previously unable to provide them the resources they needed. The solution to this was to transform an old art room into a new STEM room, fitted with computers and CAD/CAM machinery to provide learning within ICT, Maths and Science.
What impact has this made?
The project has enhanced teaching of the STEM curriculum and has allowed the school to expand their after school STEM activities. The room is also being used as a STEM learning hub for other schools, helping to expand STEM skills across the area.
The school gained a small grant due to them demonstrating how the project would impact both the school and the wider community.
To learn more about Trinity high school’s STEM project, click here.
King Solomon International Business School: Breaking the barriers to STEM
King Solomon International Business School is Birmingham’s first Christian free school with 1,200 students aged 4-19.
The school aims to close the diversity gap through a fully realised STEM programme of extracurricular activities, helping encourage students to consider a STEM career path.
How did we help to fund this programme?
Millennium Point has helped fund multiple extracurricular activities, including:
- Code club – an after school club helping children get involved in coding; teaching HTML, Java, CCS and more.
- Eco-friendly wildlife sensory garden – helps students explore wildlife in a practical way. The code club will also create QR codes that students can scan next to plants to learn more about them.
- Equipment – provided for maths and science experiments.
- Excursions – helped provide funding for a range of STEM related trips. Trips have included ThinkTank, Jaguar Land Rover Wolverhampton and the Birmingham Botanical gardens.
What impact did this have?
The projects aim to engage everyone in the school in STEM related activities, having a positive impact on 1,200 students between 4 and 19 years old.
The school gained a small grant as King Solomon School demonstrated a clear passion for STEM and provided a clear objective for increasing diversity in STEM.
To learn more about the King Solomon project click here.
To learn more about how Millennium Point’s grants can help you impact STEM education, get in touch with us today.
One school in the West Midlands is using their Millennium Point Grant to give back to the community. Turves Green Boys School applied for a grant for their project called ‘helping the elderly’.
Their plan was ‘to assist in making the daily lives of the elderly better and easier’ while learning STEM in the process.
Aim of the project
There are a number of retirement homes in the school’s area. The project was for students to meet with residents to find out what they needed and what the students could make for them. This would include carrying out research and designing and making the items.
Turves Green Boys School started off on simple projects such as door stops and has since moved on to more complex items such as coffee tables and seating. But ultimately, they will make whatever the residents need.
The application had asked for £1,000 to buy materials for the project. The school already owns two laser cutting machines and will also involve CAD/CAM design to complete the project.
Year 7 & Year 8 students were chosen for the project with the aim that they will go on to pick Design and Technology in their options and continue their STEM education.
Outcome of the project
Students from the school visited Millennium Point recently. They produced and delivered a presentation to the Millennium Point Trust team, explaining the process and showcasing the finished products.
Students are now doing projects in STEM that will cover Maths, Technology & Engineering, while building the name and reputation of the school in the local area. The project has also benefited the residents of the community.
Apply for a Millennium Point Grant today and watch STEM happen
Originally set to close on Friday 2nd December 2022, the STEM Grants application is now officially extended to Friday 16th December 2022 to give everyone a chance to apply this year. Over the last five years, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust has awarded over £2 million to charities, not-for-profits, community groups and schools to further STEM education.
Millennium Point STEM Grants are available from £1,000 to £20,000 to individual applicants to support science, technology, engineering & maths (STEM) education in Birmingham and the wider region.
You can apply here.
Originally set to close on Friday 2nd December 2022, the STEM Grants application is now officially extended to Friday 16th December 2022 to give everyone a chance to apply this year. Over the last five years, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust has awarded over £2 million to charities, not-for-profits, community groups and schools to further STEM education.
Millennium Point STEM Grants are available from £1,000 to £20,000 to individual applicants to support science, technology, engineering & maths (STEM) education in Birmingham and the wider region.
You can apply here.
Building the future with STEM
Over the past five years, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust has awarded over £2 million to charities, not-for-profit community groups and schools to further STEM education. Millennium Point Charitable Trust has previously seen the rewarding outcome of past projects such as ‘Breaking the Barriers to STEM’ with a fantastic STEM garden. Ahead Partnership engaged students at their Digitech Festival with inspiring guest speeches and activities from STEM industries. Ark Tindall Primary transformed an outside space into a Science Area to enhance their STEM curriculum.
Discover more about past fantastic projects here.
Available to help you, every step of the way
We want everyone applying to have the best chances of success. That’s why our fantastic Trust Team have put together some useful information on our website. If you have any questions have a look at our frequently asked questions page, you can always contact our team with any other queries. You will also find out STEM Grant Application Guidance there too. The guidance intended to assist organisations in applying for funding from the Millennium Point Trust’s STEM grants programme.
Anyone applying can also look at our latest blog with tips on applying for the Millennium Point STEM Grants.
Discover more about Millennium Point Trust
Our multi-award-winning charitable trust invests more than £4.8m each year towards furthering STEM education within the West Midlands.
Over the years we have provided funding to Scholarships, Grants and projects that benefit the region. Find out more about our Trust in our brand new brochure here.
By booking with Millennium Point you’re helping support STEM growth
Everything Millennium Point Charitable Trust achieves is made possible by the commercial activity that takes place in our landmark building. It all feeds back into the Charitable Trust, enabling it to donate and invest in STEM-related organisations, projects, and initiatives.
When booking events with Millennium Point you are widening your CSR and supporting the local region. Find our how and more about our 11 unique event spaces here.
Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.
STEM education has a much bigger impact on our everyday lives than you may realise. STEM isn’t just about teaching maths and science, it helps to develop a skill set that changes the way we think, act and feel.
Providing STEM education helps to shape the world we live in, through the creation and development of new technologies that help improve and simplify our everyday lives.
Championing innovation
It has often been pointed out that innovation and diversity have a strong correlation. Due to this, STEM education gives underrepresented groups the opportunity to access inspiring role models. According to STEMWomen, this makes underrepresented groups more likely to feel as though they belong to something.
Furthermore, The Royal Society published an article where it states that only 18.7% of academic staff in STEM are from ethnic minority groups, with only 1.7% being black. Improving STEM education to underrepresented groups will help increase diversity and encourage a more welcoming environment for these groups. This will also help to encourage future talent as they will see what people have achieved before them.
Providing opportunities in STEM for everyone will help to create a wider talent pool, helping to increase the chances of innovation.
STEM and its impact on the world
STEM students and professionals tend to be motivated about the impact their projects have on the world. STEM is also inclusive of people with disabilities and gives students and professionals the opportunity to be innovative and passionate about the work they produce.
However, there is still an aim to increase the opportunities STEM gives to those with disabilities. For example AccessSTEM wants to increase the number of people with disabilities completing post secondary STEM degrees and entering the STEM workforce. AccessComputing has similar goals, but is narrowed down to just the computing industry.
Why is STEM education important?
STEM education is extremely important as it helps to shape the way we think and act. Providing STEM education also increases the ambitions of young people. For example, a report by STEM learning found that before ambassadors visited a school, 80% of students wanted to be YouTuber’s, Vets, Footballers or Gamers. However, after ambassadors showed the students bigger, global projects they found that students wanted to explore more opportunities within STEM.
Furthermore, STEM are working on providing better education to help reduce the gender gap in STEM education. According to WISE, only 24% of the STEM workforce are female, meaning there is a large talent pool that is being overlooked. However, further investment in STEM education will help to close the gender gap.
For example, Girls Who Code is a non-profit organisation that’s aiming to reduce the gender gap within technology globally. The course teaches girls computer science, bravery and sisterhood. Research shows that if they carry on the way they are, they should be able to close the gender gap by 2030.
This shows that STEM education is important as it teaches students new skills, while developing how they think, feel and act, as well as working on important issues such as closing the gender gap within STEM industries.
What skills can children learn from STEM
STEM subjects can be easily adapted to the age group, size group, ability and interests of the group you’re working with. A great thing about STEM subjects is that they’re very practical and some activities can appear like games for children, making them more enjoyable.
Due to this, STEM education teaches skills such as:
- Critical thinking
- Independent learning
- Great communication and collaboration
- Digital literacy
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
- Self-reflection
Millennium Point’s impact on STEM Education
Millennium Point annually provides funding to not-for-profit organisations, schools and colleges across the West Midlands Combined Authority area.
Millennium Point also offers STEM grant, where applicants can apply for up to £20,000 for their STEM related project, depending on whether they meet eligibility criteria, as well as being able to demonstrate a measurable impact in their STEM education or career choice.
STEM grant applications are now open. Click here to apply.
Furthermore, over the past five years the Millennium Point Charitable Trust has awarded charities, not-for-profit organisations, schools and community groups over £2,100,706 to further STEM education.
Where does the money come from?
Profits from our commercial activity, goes straight into our charitable trust, allowing us to donate and invest in STEM related organisations, projects and initiatives.
To discover more about what Millennium Point has to offer, click here.
Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.
We’re excited to say applications for the next round of funding for projects is now open!
A project to build a fully operational light aircraft, STEM training toolkits for schools and a car engineering workshop for girls are just some of the exciting projects amongst the successful applicants in The Millennium Point Charitable Trust’s Small Grants Programme.
Grants up to £20,000 can be applied for here, you have until the 2nd December to apply, good luck!
Endless possibilities with STEM
Over the past five years, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust has awarded over £2 million to charities, not-for-profits, community groups and schools to further STEM education. Millennium Point Charitable Trust has previously seen the rewarding outcome of past projects such as ‘Breaking the Barriers to STEM’ with a fantastic STEM garden. Ahead Partnership engaged students at their Digitech Festival with inspiring guest speeches and activities from STEM industries. Ark Tindall Primary transformed an outside space into a Science Area to enhance their STEM curriculum.
Last year Millennium Point Trust saw 100 applications from schools and not-for-profit organisations all aiming to recieve a share of the grant money to better STEM education in the region.
Vanessa Currie, Head of People, Learning and Development at Millennium Point comments:
“We are pleased to announce the latest round of grant funding from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust.
The West Midlands is the largest hub for science and innovation outside of London, with the youngest population in Europe and one of the highest percentiles of STEM graduates in the UK.
With many schools being forced to cut costs and resources to deliver their curriculums, we risk seeing the skills gap widen as less children are engaged in STEM, which is why this initiative is crucial now, more than ever.”
Award-winning charity in the heart of Birmingham
All funding given by Millennium Point Charitable Trust is made possible by the commercial activity that takes place in the landmark Millennium Point building. It all feeds back into the charitable trust, enabling to be donated and invested in STEM-related organisations, projects, and initiatives.
When booking events with Millennium Point you are widening your CSR and supporting the local region. Find out how and more about our unique event spaces here.
Apply for a grant today and support the future of STEM
At Millennium Point we believe that STEM is important for the future of the region, so we are excited to see what this year’s applications bring.
The next round of applications for the 2023 grant are now open and close at 5pm on 2nd December 2022.
Since its launch in 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has provided almost £400k to more than 100 projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities, and museums.
You can apply for a grant on our website here, if you need any help look at our frequently asked questions page or speak to one of our friendly Trust team.
