Teacher Alisa Owen with Lewis Wright and Dominic Fisher from St Martin's School, attending the Wildlife lecture.

More than 800 budding scientists from across Essex took part in the Big Bang fair at the University's Colchester Campus.

The fair, organised in partnership with Engineering UK, showcased the exciting opportunities offered by science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects to Year 9 students from 23 schools in Essex.

Now in its fourth year, the Big Bang fair also offered the chance for businesses to engage students in interactive workshops and activities, challenging them to think differently about STEM subjects and explain what companies and organisations in the sector do.

Among the 45 companies taking part were Google Expeditions, Anglian Water, Environment Agency, Stansted Airport, Royal Air Force, technology company Leonardo and MBDA, a world leader in missile systems.

Alongside the businesses were academics from several departments at the University showcasing their top research including a demonstration of cow-tracking technology which showed how maths can help improve dairy cow welfare.

Luke French, Education Outreach Officer at the University of Essex, said: “The Big Bang fair is an excellent opportunity to showcase the wealth of career opportunities open to young people in science, technology, engineering and maths. We’re delighted that as part of our outreach programme, we have been able to deliver this for the fourth year running.”

Big Bang is the UK’s largest celebration of STEM subjects for young people in the UK.