Forecasting Tipping Points: Future climate innovators programme

Tender description

We are pleased to invite you to take part in this Request for Proposal (RFP). ARIA is an R&D funding agency. We fund teams of scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of what is technologically or scientifically possible. ARIA was established by the UK Government in January 2023 with high levels of autonomy and flexibility. From climate change to AI and bioengineering, society faces enormous challenges and opportunities that can be uniquely addressed by science and technology. ARIA was created to activate the UK's world-class R&D talent in new ways, so that we can meet these head on. We are looking for a partner organisation who can deliver a youth-led competition as part of the Forecasting Tipping Points programme. Our discovery process has highlighted systemic barriers that could impede the long-term impact of our programme. Climate change affects everyone, so it is vital that we include people of all backgrounds and encourage the next generation of climate scientists and technologists to engage with our programme. Lot 1: A youth-led competition to improve equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in Earth and space science. We have been inspired to develop and deliver a youth-led outreach programme, designed to engage the next generation of climate innovators. We're looking to demonstrate that new mode of citizen science. The initiative will capitalise on the ability of space science to captivate the imagination and the enthusiasm of the next generation to take on climate change. We anticipate having a single lead organisation that delivers the future climate innovators programme and liaises with existing national rocketry competition(s) for an annual deployment demonstration. a. The programme would run in secondary schools across the UK, particularly enriched for areas of low participation in higher education. b. The content will be delivered by university students or early career professionals. c. For each cohort, the activity will run over a full academic year and expose school students to the science of climate tipping points and why they are important, alongside the remote sensing technologies that are used to monitor them. d. The activity will culminate in the creation of a sensor system for climate measurement at the end of each academic year. e. We envisage supporting a national (all parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) competition where all participating schools can come together to launch their sensor systems at a common location (coordinated by an operating partner).