Student participants in the Big Science Challenge at Rolls-Royce’s facilities in Derby, UK
Three prize winners representing Qatar in the Big Science Challenge, run by the British Council and Rolls-Royce, from Zainab Independent Preparatory School for Girls took part in a visit to Rolls-Royce facilities at Derby, UK. The Derby facilities are the group’s largest in the UK and over 11,000 are employed by Rolls-Royce in the city. 
The students from Qatar, Alaa Ehab Said Abdelmatin Abdalla, Mariam Moustafa Gadallah Aarf Hassan and Kheloud Khaled Ibrahim Mohamed Abdelhady, were part of a group of over 70 students and teachers from winning teams from the UK, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. During the day, they learned about Rolls-Royce activities at the Rolls-Royce flagship Learning and Development Centre. The students also took part in a practical lesson to better understand how a jet engine works, toured Rolls-Royce’s Customer Training Workshop, and met some of the apprentices who have been through the highly acclaimed programme offered by Rolls-Royce. 
The visit was part of a week of cultural and educational activities for the winning teams from ‘The Big Science Challenge’.  It followed the prize giving ceremony at the Royal Institution in London on March 20, attended by the winning teams, dignitaries from across the Middle East and UK, and officials from Rolls-Royce and the British Council.
The competition aimed to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers and invited schools in the UK and the Middle East to research and design an original, innovative solution to a problem concerning water, either locally, nationally or globally. It gave young people involved an opportunity to learn about science and engineering by tackling a real world challenge which affects communities around the world.
Rob Watson, Regional Director, Rolls-Royce Middle East, said: “Rolls-Royce has long championed science and engineering around the world and I hope that this visit to our world class facilities in Derby has given the students a better perspective on what we do and some ideas about the exciting career opportunities available in science and engineering. We are pleased that our partnership with the British Council has given these students the opportunity to develop essential skills by working on real-life global problems. I hope that their example will inspire other young people to seek out similar challenges.”