The Morson Maker Space, Morson’s digital fabrication and innovation centre at the University of Salford technology hub has developed a new partnership with Muslamic Makers Network MCR. Supported by the Morson STEM Foundation, the aims are to foster a passion for digital skills and to promote diversity and inclusivity in a collaborative environment that enables creativity and the exploration of emerging technologies.
Muslamic Makers is a vibrant online community that connects Muslim professionals across various industries, with a particular focus on technology. Led by Arooj Shah, the MCR chapter stands as a shining example of the community’s dedication to driving positive change and exploring opportunities in the Maker Space. Arooj’s mission is to establish a strong relationship and spearhead the development of maker skills at The University of Salford, where she herself graduated from the civil engineering programme (Class of 2018 under the guidance of Neil Currie).
This collaboration showcases our shared commitment to promoting diversity, empowering individuals, and fostering a vibrant community of makers in the Greater Manchester area. The Muslamic Makers MCR and the Morson Maker Space mission is to connect and enable communities to delve into the realm of digital fabrication and unleash their creativity through this dynamic partnership.
Dr Maria Stukoff, Director at Maker Space said:
“This collaboration allows us to create an inclusive and supportive environment where individuals from all backgrounds can explore their passion for making and develop valuable digital skills.”
The first digital fabrication workshop took place in the Morson Maker Space last month and offered participants a hands-on experience in designing and creating using cutting-edge tools and technologies using laser cutters and partake in collaborative learning experiences while acquiring new skills to help shape future creative ambitions and maker skillsets.
By joining forces with Muslamic Makers Network MCR, the Maker Space aims to build a stronger and more vibrant tech community on campus and across Greater Manchester.
Click here to find out more about how we’re collaborating with businesses to understand their skills needs and aligning them with a strategy for creating career opportunities developing skills, delivering social value, and enabling brighter futures.
We are keeping everything crossed for a talented and determined group of students this weekend as Salford Racing – The University of Salford’s Formula Student Team – gears up to compete in the annual IMechE Formula Student competition at the UK’s home of motorsport, Silverstone.
Taking place on 21st – 23rd July at Silverstone, Formula Student is Europe’s most established educational engineering competition, which sees university teams from all over the world produce a prototype for a single-seat race car. The cars are put through their paces on the Silverstone Circuit and this year more than 130 teams have registered for the competition, which is celebrating its 25th year.
Driving success in our Year of STEM
Morson is proud to support the Salford Racing team, which includes students from a variety of disciplines, who all work together to plan, design, and build the car, using the facilities at the University of Salford’s Maker Space; a state-of-the-art facility funded by the Morson Group. Morson Group has also invested £10K to sponsor the car, and provided additional industry training, supporting the talent and ambition of these young people as they explore opportunities in STEM and collaborate to develop their team-working and knowledge sharing skills.
The Maker Space is part of the Morson Group STEM Foundation, which builds on our extensive efforts to encourage young people into STEM education and careers, in partnership with the University of Salford, Into University and other stakeholders. We are very proud to support young people from across all social demographics, including those from disadvantaged, underrepresented or marginalised backgrounds, to develop the confidence and technical skills they need to build a career in STEM.
2023 is our Year of STEM at Morson Group, as we explore innovative ways of raising the profile of STEM careers for young people, along with career changers and career returners. Salford Racing is just one of the projects we are supporting to encourage young talent to discover the wealth of opportunities available to them in STEM roles and develop their skills, as we focus on inspiring them to achieve, aspire, and further their ambitions.
A Maker Space of Opportunity
Being able to work in the Maker Space provides a competitive edge in the jobs market for the students involved in the Salford Racing project. For example, Corin Williams, a former mechanical engineering student at the University of Salford, who also took part in Formula Student, credits the experience with helping him get a job in the motorsport industry after graduation.
“Not only did I benefit from dedicated support from Morson Projects, but I was able to practice my technical skills using the state-of-the art kit provided at the Morson Maker Space; skills and experience I now use every day.”
Hubert Kasinski who is leading the team this year adds:
“We are excited as a team to represent the University at the competition and with our strongest presentations to date, we aim to achieve higher scores in the static events than in previous years, before the car finally gets on track and scores even more points.”
Dr. Maria Stukoff, Maker Space Director, commented:
“The Maker Space is fantastic for giving students hands-on experience of the types of equipment they can expect to use when they move from education into the workplace.
“The hard work Salford Racing has put into Formula Student this year is a great example. Whatever happens on the track, they will have gained valuable real-world engineering skills that won’t go unnoticed when it comes to building a career.”
Click here to find out more about how we’re collaborating with businesses to understand their skills needs and aligning them with a strategy for creating career opportunities developing skills, delivering social value, and enabling brighter futures.
Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions, has ranked Morson Group as the world’s third-largest engineering staffing firm in its 2023 global market share report.
The ranking reflects a milestone period of growth for Morson which saw the group exceed a £1 billion turnover for the first time, coupled with the acquisition of Australian technical recruitment company, ACRWORLD.
Morson Group CEO Ged Mason OBE, commented:
“It’s an honour to be recognised by SIA and I’m proud that we’ve been able to secure such a strong placement as the third largest engineering staffing firm in the world. Our ranking is a testament to the hard work and loyalty of our colleagues, customers, contractors and candidates, all of whom contribute to our achievements.
Throughout Morson’s nearly 55-year history, we’ve focused on enriching careers and futures across the STEM landscape. Our position in this report reflects our dedication to providing a high-quality service, finding new ways to innovate, and listening dutifully to client and market needs to deliver future-facing talent solutions. It’s a commitment to excellence underpinned by our core values and a promise to place people first.”
With a legacy as an engineering and tech talent solutions specialist, Morson Group supports clients and generates opportunities for candidates in the permanent and contingent markets in sectors as diverse as aerospace, automotive, defence, manufacturing, maritime, nuclear, oil & gas, renewables, rail and transport.
The business also delivers a suite of integrated services, which span talent solutions, consultancy and technology, to help clients access sustainable talent pipelines, build their brands, and optimise key business processes.
The SIA’s report, which provides a “big picture” reading of the global engineering staffing industry landscape, estimates that the global engineering staffing market grew by 5.1% in 2022, and revealed that the top 20 firms – nine of which are headquartered in the UK – generated an estimated $13.2bn in revenue in 2022.
Furthermore, with the global engineering staffing market being relatively consolidated, the top 3 firms accounted for 12.6% of market revenue.
The full report is available for SIA’s Corporate and CWS Council Members.
About Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA)
Founded in 1989, SIA is the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. Their proprietary research covers all categories of employed and non-employed work including temporary staffing, independent contracting and other types of contingent labour.
SIA’s independent and objective analysis provides insights into the services and suppliers operating in the workforce solutions ecosystem including staffing firms, managed service providers, recruitment process outsourcers, payrolling/compliance firms and talent acquisition technology specialists such as vendor management systems, online staffing platforms, crowdsourcing and online work services.
We are thrilled to announce that The Morson Maker Space Engineering Summer School, IGNITION, has been shortlisted for the Inclusion Programme of the Year at the prestigious Engineering Talent Awards 2023.
The IGNITION Summer School is in good company, sharing the shortlist with other high-profile community projects from the likes of University College London, The National Grid and Jacobs. The full shortlist for the Inclusion Programme of the Year 2023 category is as follows:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Module, Imperial College
Everyone Belongs – Culture, Inclusion and Diversity at Wessex Water, Wessex Water
Morson Maker Space, Engineering Summer School, The University of Salford
UCL x BADU “Bridging The Gap” programme, University College London
The purpose of the IGNITION engineering summer school is to bring together Year 12 students from across Greater Manchester to explore digital fabrication, engineering skills, and electronic design, as well as careers in the STEM fields. During the two-night residential programme, the students become part of a race team and construct their remote-controlled cars using digital fabrication equipment, 3D printers, laser cutters, electronic tools and other technology for the design and manufacturing of their cars available in the Morson Maker Space.
The key objective for IGNITION is to ensure attendees get an authentic experience of being Salford students by learning a range of new skills.
Dr Maria Stukoff, Morson Maker Space Director commented:
I’m thrilled that IGNITION has been nominated for Inclusion Programme of the Year. A huge thank you to everyone who made the summer school possible including Morson Projects for their continual support, including Morson Projects engineers Chris Summers and Jon Callahan for providing inspirational industry talks. Salford Racing Society for conducting the race car workshop, and of course Salford University’s Outreach and Morson Maker Space team for bringing everything together.
I am so looking forward to kicking off IGNITION 2023 this July, which is now part of the Morson STEM Foundation’s annual engineering programme of activity.
In addition to the hands-on activities, Morson Projects STEM Ambassadors and Principle Engineers, Chris Summers and Jon Callahan hosted industry sessions for the summer school attendees, speaking about how they got into engineering and the impact of STEM on their careers.
Chris and Jon shared their experiences of supporting the project:
Jon Callahan, Principal Engineer, Morson Projects
“Last year’s IGNITION Summer School 2022 was an amazing experience for all students involved. Over 3 days, engineers of the future were thrown into university life as real engineers taking on numerous design and build exercises.
The feedback from the students was extremely positive and I cannot wait to get back into the classroom this year to encourage more students into STEM careers.”
Chris Summers, Principal Engineer, Morson Projects
“It’s fantastic to hear that the IGNITION Summer School has been nomiated for Inclusion Programme of the Year, recognising its great work getting young people interested in engineering.
We need more programs like this to give young people the opportunity to see how exciting and rewarding engineering careers can be.
It was great to play a small part in IGNITION 2022 and I’m truly looking forward to supporting the programme again this year.”
IGNITION will be back for another year in July 2023 and there are still places available for Year 12 students from across Greater Manchester.2023 IGNITION engineering summer school – programme details:
Date: 26 July – 28 July 2023
Places: 30 available
Location: Peel Park Campus, The University of Salford, 43 Crescent, Salford, M5 4WT
The IGNITION engineering summer school is just part of the annual programme of events, networking, workshops and mentoring activities from The Morson STEM Foundation to support people from all backgrounds to explore and pursue, pathways into engineering-related careers.
To find out more about The Morson STEM Foundation, its initiatives, purpose and objectives, click here.
The Morson Group STEM Foundation is once again supporting the University of Salford’s summer school programme, called “IGNITION.” The STEM Summer School workshop is organised by the Morson Maker Space in collaboration with the University of Salford’s Outreach team, the Salford Racing student society and Morson Projects.
The summer school brought together Year 12 students from across Greater Manchester to explore digital fabrication, engineering skills, and electronic design, as well as careers in the STEM fields.
The STEM summer school allows students to work in teams to design, construct, and race remote-controlled cars in a scaled-down version of the IMechE Formula Student competition. During the two-night residential programme, the students became part of a race team and construct their own remote-controlled cars using digital fabrication equipment, 3D printers, laser cutters, electronic tools and other technology for the design and manufacturing of their cars available in the Morson Maker Space.
The key objective for IGNITION is to ensure attendees get an authentic experience of being Salford students by learning a range of new skills, including:
Team building and confidence
Principles of automotive electrical systems
Analytical thinking skills to understand the different functions of making a remote-controlled car work.
Basic principles of electronics and apply those to a functioning vehicle.
How to iterate, test and improve the car design through test racing the built car.
How to digitally manufacture parts using the Maker Space technical equipment.
Understanding of campus life experience, seeing what it’s like to be a student.
Experience other student society activities outside of and aligned with academic study.
The students competed in various race events to determine the overall results, with the total points from each competition added up to decide the winner.
In addition to the hands-on activities, Morson Projects STEM Ambassadors, Chris Summers and Jon Callahan hosted an inspiring industry session about how they got into engineering and the impact of STEM on their careers. During this talk, students learnt how to translate what they learn during the workshop into future career opportunities.
The IGNITION STEM Summer School is a fun, engaging, and successful skills programme that aims to ignite a passion and interest in engineering and STEM subjects for young people and provides opportunities for students to hear from role models working in those industries.
This programme is an annual event, part of the Morson Group STEM Foundation, supporting local young talent to join the STEM revolution.
“The summer school was fantastic, well thought out and organised, we cannot thank you enough for the experience you put on for the students. The remote-controlled race cars kept the students engaged throughout and taught them different skills such as electronics, design, and teamwork. The final races were extremely exciting and the perfect way to end their three days at The University of Salford.”
Feedback from a parent from IGNITION STEM Summer School, 2023
“We were excited to run Ignition for a second year as part of Morson Group STEM Foundation. It’s a great initiative for young people to be inspired to consider pursuing engineering at higher education and by seeing how real-world engineering skills are applied in everyday life.”
Dr Maria Stukoff, Maker Space Director
The IGNITION STEM Summer School is just part of the annual programme of events, networking, workshops and mentoring activities from The Morson STEM Foundation to support people from all backgrounds to explore, and pursue, pathways into engineering-related careers.
To find out more about The Morson STEM Foundation, its initiatives, purpose and objectives, click here.
