Faraday Challenge

The Jack Petchey Foundation has supported The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)’s Faraday Challenge Days since 2015.

IET and the Jack Petchey Foundation work together to deliver Faraday Challenge Days, which are designed to encourage young people to find an interest in engineering and develop vital skills for the workplace. Through the partnership, the IET aims to reach a wide variety of schools in London and Essex who are already successfully running the Foundation’s Achievement Award Scheme.

My introduction to engineering was as a teenager in the Fleet Air Arm. I think it’s such a vital skill for young people and for the future of this country. We need more engineers!

It’s really important to get young people interested in engineering at an early age. This is why we support the IET Faraday Challenge. It teaches young people how to ‘think outside the box’, to work together as a team, bringing all sorts of creative ideas together in order to solve problems!
Sir Jack Petchey CBE

Each Faraday Challenge Day is available to 36 Year 8 students (six teams of six students) and is free of charge. There can be up to six schools involved each day – one host school and up to five other visiting schools, all bringing student teams in to work together and grow a network of contacts for teachers to build on in the future.

Each year the IET Faraday Challenge focuses on a specific project with a high-profile organisation, participants have previously worked with the James Webb Space Telescope, Thorpe Park Resort and the Land Rover BAR teams! During the 2019-20 season, the IET is running 65 Faraday Challenge Days in partnership with the Jack Petchey Foundation and the theme partner this year is Airbus.