Paul Whapham, Hockey Wales CEO and Chris Pockett, head of communications at Renishaw

To continue its support of the communities in which it is based, global engineering technologies company Renishaw plc is now a sponsor of Hockey Wales, the country’s national governing body. The partnership will support Hockey Wales in its mission to inspire young students and promote gender equality in sports, and complements Renishaw’s extensive science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) outreach programmes.

Hockey Wales engages with local schools and communities to provide access to and become value-led leaders in sport. Hockey is considered the most gender-equal sport in the UK and Hockey Wales is driven to promote gender inclusivity in all sports. This closely aligns with Renishaw’s mission of encouraging more young girls to consider a STEM career and reduce the gender gap in STEM occupations, including engineering. The European under 18s tournaments at Swansea University, which took place in July, was the first time Hockey Wales hosted tournaments for both genders at the same time, helping promote equal opportunities in sport to the next generation.

Chris Pockett, head of communications at Renishaw, said: “We currently employ 700 people at our Miskin site in South Wales and Hockey Wales is a great organisation to be working with on community engagement. We are excited to partner with another group that aims to motivate and inspire young people to fulfil their personal potential. There is a significant gender gap in STEM careers, with only 28% of the STEM workforce made up by women. We are passionate about reducing this gap wherever possible, and partnering with organisations like Hockey Wales that share similar missions will help us increase our reach into local communities where we have significant operations.”

Hockey Wales CEO Paul Whapham, added: “We are delighted to partner with such a global company with strong Welsh roots. Both Hockey Wales and Renishaw share a passion for providing inclusive opportunities for young people and we look forward to working closely with Renishaw to raise the profile of STEM opportunities through the hockey community.”

Established in 1896, Hockey Wales has 12,000 members and a global audience of over two billion. The partnership reinforces the work of Renishaw’s STEM Outreach programme, which it runs to inspire young people in South Wales, as well as Gloucestershire and the Bristol region, to consider engineering as a possible future career option. As part of this, Renishaw works with a large number of schools, and runs workshops, activities and events in-house at its dedicated STEM centres at its Miskin site in South Wales and headquarters site in Gloucestershire.

To find out more about Renishaw’s STEM education programmes, visit the website here.