Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Nealon, Ally Caldecote and Dr Farzana Meru for being announced as the winners of the Warwick Institute of Engagement Team Award, for the 'Coding with Sophie' programme.

‘Coding with Sophie’ was developed by Rebecca, Ally and Farzana in 2022 with the aim to improve coding literacy and to inspire children to consider coding (and more broadly STEM) in their future, as well as empowering teachers and parents to support children in their coding journey.

Since the launch of the programme in April 2023, 203 students have already completed the six week programme across 9 schools, and will total 257 students by the end of July. Coding with Sophie was developed to cover the National Curriculum and to work with teachers in improving coding literacy. As it is designed by an astrophysicist, kids also get to learn about space and in their final lesson learn about black hole physics and throw their character into the black hole to see them be spaghettified. The program also measures how the skills of the students improve throughout the course of the program and their enthusiasm with coding.

The Coding with Sophie team were nominated because of the strong impact in the community they have evidenced over the last year: their team of volunteers has expanded the reach of the program greatly and they are crucial to the program’s success. Their team is made of Masters students, PhD students, early career researchers and permanent staff spanning chemistry, astrophysics and engineering – each of whom use coding as an integral part of their research and inspire students to consider coding as part of their future.

The Warwick Awards for Public and Community Engagement seek to recognise the vital contributions Warwick staff and students make in engaging the public. The team were presented with their award at the University celebration event on Tuesday 25th June.

If you would like to find out more about the programme or to sign your school up, please contact Rebecca Nealon.

Pictured are some of the Coding with Sophie team: (left to right) Ally Caldecote, Taf Zivave, Yoshi Eschen, Mairi O'Brien, Gareth Jones, Farzana Meru, Rebecca Nealon and Amena Faruqi. Those also part of the team but absent in the photo are Geraldine Anis, David O'Neill, Omar Adesida, Kendall Ackley, Marina Lafarga Magro and Rebecca Meadowcroft.