If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?^® asks pupils from early years, primary schools and secondary schools to identify a problem in the world and design a solution to it. As pupils interview VolkerWessels UK engineering professionals from a range of roles and research engineering, they are encouraged to look at the world around them to find problems an engineered solution could solve. Alongside their annotated drawings, pupils write an accompanying letter to persuade the judges to select their design; some of which will be built by Primary Engineers’ competition university partners.

Lauren Oldfield, Head of Partnerships - Central England at Primary Engineer, said “We are delighted to have VolkerWessels UK join us as a funding partner in this academic year for ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’. The opportunity for schools across the East England region to be involved in the competition is hugely exciting and will offer pupils and teachers access to free resources and online interviews with engineering professionals. The competition enables young people to develop a range of skills and allows them to understand the creativity and ingenuity in engineering by identifying problems in the world and designing solutions to them.  We are already looking forward to seeing the entries - the possibilities are endless.”

Emma Ward; Head of sustainability at VolkerWessels UK, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Primary Engineer on their ‘If You Were an Engineer, What Would You Do’ competition. Engineering is often overlooked as a career by many young people, simply because it is misunderstood. This competition translates engineering into something that everyone can understand, by placing the focus on fixing the real-life challenges young people see and experience during day-to-day life.

“Getting children to let their minds run free can be the start of something very exciting! It offers our engineering professionals the opportunity to share their expertise and passion, and for our other employees, the chance to get involved with judging some incredible and thought-provoking ideas.”