The Making Materials Matter Outreach Project
The Making Materials Matter Programme
MMM Student Conference 2018
Making Materials Matter is an outreach programme which aims to inspire the next generation of materials scientists and engineers through early and sustained engagement from Y8-Y10. The core programme focuses on Year 8 students and is centred on independent research projects completed over a period of several months with guidance and support from materials ambassadors from Oxford Materials and our university partners.
Making Materials Matter was launched in 2017 as a joint venture between Oxford Materials and Cambridge Materials, with much appreciated support from The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. It continued to grow annually until the 2018/19 academic year, welcoming additional university partners (Imperial College Materials and Sheffield Materials) and expanding from the core Y8 research projects to include hands-on follow up events for Y9 & Y10 students and a teacher's conference.
Following a pause, we are delighted to say we have relaunched the programme in 2025 and are hoping to expand again for the 2025/26 academic year.
Explore the tabs below to find out more about the programme:
The Project
The project engages with Year 8 students and teachers of science from ten UK state schools with the aims of enriching the science curriculum, increasing awareness of Materials Science, and supporting teachers in raising aspirations and inspiring their students to pursue further study of the physical sciences. Follow up events are offered to all students involved throughout their secondary education.
Making Materials Matter is centred on a Student Extended Investigation which culminates in both a Student Conference and a separate Science Teachers’ Conference.
MMM Student Conference 2018
The student investigations are designed and supported jointly by student ambassadors from the project partner universities to draw links between the school curriculum and cutting-edge materials science. Students work in small groups of 10 to carry out their investigation over a period of several months with remote support offered by our university student ambassadors. This concludes with findings from their projects being presented at a student conference in Oxford. The student conference is held in June/July and previous conferences have been generously hosted by Mansfield College, Oxford, St John’s College, Oxford and The Ashmolean Museum with further support from St Anne’s and St Catherine’s Colleges.
Find out what the students, teachers and ambassadors thought about the first year of the project by watching the video clip below:
The Making Materials Matter Webinars
In 2021 we ran a series of 3 Making Materials Matter webinars aimed at students in KS3 (Y7-9) and showcasing areas of cutting-edge research in Materials Science. Each webinar was given by a researcher at the University of Oxford and focussed on a topic within Materials Science and it's current applications, providing insight into what Materials Scientists really do whilst linking back to what students are learning in school and how this is being used to solve real world problems.
You can find recordings of these webinars on our YouTube channel, or using the individual links below:
Bradley Young: "Materials Challenges for Nuclear Power"
Emma Hedley: "Why do phone batteries fail?"
The Science Teacher's Conference
The Making Materials Matter Science Teacher's Conference is a day long event for secondary school science teachers providing opportunities to network with colleagues and learn more about the subject of materials science, where it fits into the current curricular, and the importance of science enrichment opportunities. The day will also include the chance to try out practical activities developed and/or delivered on the project.
The Science Teachers’ Conference usually takes place in June/July after the culmination of the Year 8 student research projects and is informed by the outcomes of the student investigations and makes available all resources developed. You can find some of these resources in the 'Resources' tab above.
The Science Teachers Conference is generously hosted by the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers at Ironmongers’ Hall in London. For an example of the day's activities, the programme from the 2019 Teacher Conference is below. Programmes and details from previous conferences can be viewed under past events on our Teacher Events page.
Resources
We aim to share as many resources developed on the project as possible with Teachers and provide the opportunity to try out some practical activities at our annual Science Teachers Conference. Here are some resource sheets outlining some practical investigations of materials:
