A ‘New Inventions’ poetry workshop, the reverse-engineering of toys and a behind-the-scenes peek at a world-leading rail research institute were some of the activities that local children took part in during the University of Huddersfield’s Engineering Open House at the end of July.

The day was part of a nation-wide Institution of Engineering and Technology initiative — called Engineer a Better World — to encourage more young people to choose engineering as a career.

The Huddersfield event, in its third year, was organised by Carolyn Bishop from the School of Computing and Engineering and saw a three-fold increase in visitor numbers over 2016.

It included an engineering tour with Professor Ian Glover and a tour of the university’s Institute of Railway Research, where children were given the rare opportunity to wear a hard hat and explore HAROLD — the Huddersfield Adhesion & Rolling Contact Laboratory Dynamics test rig.

There were also workshops covering subjects ranging from diagnostic engineering, railway technology and CNC to virtual reality, high-performance computing, 3-D sound and electron microscopy.

Running alongside the event was a ‘drop in’ activity trail, offering hands-on engineering activities for all the family to take part in.