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The fifth iteration of the Confronting Inequality in Education (CIE) programme took place last month supporting over 70 students from sixth form students in London schools.

Partnered with the Ark Academy in Wembley and Ark Pioneer in Barnet, the CIE programme provides support to Year 12 students studying STEM subjects. The initiative aims to foster a nurturing environment for scientific exploration, and to equip students with a diverse set of skills to strengthen university applications.

Students (mentees) taking part in the programme receive 1:1 mentoring sessions from researchers at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, expert guidance on creating a scientific poster and dedicated support for university applications.

The programme has been running for five years, growing from around 20 mentees in 2021/22 to 73 in 2025/26. Initially created using seed funding from the UK DRI in the Department of Brain Sciences, it is now a cross-Faculty collaboration with organisers from all across ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ.

Anastasia Ilina (Research Assistant and PhD student in brain sciences), Emma Mattin (Education and EDI Coordinator, FoNS) and People's Choice Award winner Awais)

Andreas Aristotelous, a teacher at Ark Pioneer whose students took part in this year’s programme, said: “This programme has been such a benefit to our students. It's helped them both scientifically and also organisationally. They've got so much out of this. They have gained research skills. They've widened their horizons in terms of the specialties that they could go into at university level.

“It has really opened their eyes to exploring different degree programs and different laboratories. I think they've also gained some really good skills in terms of how to form professional relationships in the future in the workplace.”

2026 prize winners

Each year, the programme culminates with a poster exhibition, where mentees present the posters they worked on with their mentor's support, and the best posters are awarded a prize. During this year's exhibition, judges were impressed with the overall outstanding quality of posters, with visitors to ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's Open Days thinking they were produced by current ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ students.

The prize winners at this year’s competition were:

• Jeleyna, Ark Pioneer, Winner of Best Poster: Judges Choice
• Tom, Ark Pioneer, Runner Up for Best Poster: Judges Choice
• Emmanuel, Ark Pioneer, Runner Up for Best Poster: Judges Choice
• Poppy, Ark Pioneer, Runner Up for Best Poster: Judges Choice
• James, Ark Pioneer, Runner Up for Best Poster: Judges Choice
• Awais, Ark Wembley, Winner of People’s Choice Award

Bareen, a student at Ark Academy, who took part said of the programme: “I thought that this was a good experience because you get to know what it's like to be a real scientist. You conduct actual scientific evidence, you reference things alongside your mentor, but also get to explore a topic that you're actually interested in in further detail.”

Emma Mattin (Education and EDI Coordinator, FoNS), Anastasia Ilina (Research Assistant and PhD student in brain sciences),  and Judge's Choice Award winner Jeleyna)

Another student from Ark Academy, Leena, said: “I found the mentoring really helpful because whenever I was struggling on something, my mentor gave really detailed feedback”, adding that she “also really enjoyed this project because it allowed me to explore beyond my specification”.

Based on feedback from mentees taking part in this year’s programme, 83% of those who took part said that it helped them develop an interest in STEM, while 81% said the programme helped them feel more confident in pursuing STEM in the future beyond their school curriculum.

The programme will return next year with a new cohort of Y12 students, looking to expand to a third school. If you are interested in participating in this programme, please do not hesitate to contact CIE organisers at e.mattin@imperial.ac.uk or find out more on the CIE webpage .