The Inspiration Programme Evaluation

Research to understand the impact of the Inspiration Programme on young people, formal and informal education providers, and industry.

About the study

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) have commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to carry out research as part of the Inspiration Programme Evaluation. The programme aims to: 

  • Inspire and support young people from all backgrounds and stages of education to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), using space as a context.
  • Address and improve diversity in STEM and the space sector. 
  • Support greater awareness and positivity for the importance, benefits and relevance of space.
  • Demonstrate and promote the diverse and rewarding careers in the space sector, including those that do not require a STEM background, and provide coherent careers support. 
  • Build and strengthen a diverse and skilled workforce to support sector resilience and growth. 

NatCen will be carrying out surveys, interviews and group discussions with children and young people, parents/carers, teachers, and strategic and operational staff. Data collection will aim to understand the impact of the programme and its activities.  

Who is carrying out the research?

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is responsible for carrying out this research with various groups. NatCen is Britain’s largest social research organisation. We have delivered research for many government, regulatory and public bodies, and have expertise in research that involves consulting the public to inform strategic decision-making in policy and practice. We are a non-profit organisation, independent of government departments and political parties.

What will taking part involve? 

We will be conducting surveys, group discussions, and interviews with delivery staff and recipients of a number of Inspiration Programme projects and activities. Taking part might involve multiple research activities. For example, you may be invited to participate in a survey as well as a group discussion. You do not have to take part in any research activities if you do not want to. 

Survey 

The survey will be disseminated to children and young people, teachers, and families. 

Participants who regularly attend Inspiration Programme initiatives, and teachers using Inspiration Programme resources, will be contacted by delivery organisations about taking part in research. Participants involved in one-day activities at science discovery centers will be asked to fill out a survey via a QR code/link which will be visible on leaflets as well as displayed on posters around the venue. 

Group discussions

Teachers, children and young people, volunteers, industry professionals, academics, and staff will be invited to group discussions. Participants will be contacted by delivery organisations about taking part. We are unable to invite everyone taking part in projects to a group discussion due to time constraints.

Interviews

Interviews will take place with strategic and operational staff from delivery organisations at the beginning and/or end of each project’s delivery period. We will also invite some current and previous recipients of Inspiration Programme activities to take part in an interview about their experiences. The timings of delivery will differ across the Inspiration Programme. The timings of interviews will therefore differ across the Inspiration Programme.

What will happen to any information I give?

We will treat all information confidentially and all data will be transferred and stored securely in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We will securely delete any data we hold once the project is complete, by April 2026 at the latest.

The information that we collect will be used for research purposes only. Participant name and contact details will not be passed to UKSA or any other organisation. Participant data and any information given as part of the survey, group discussion or interview will be pseudonymised before reporting. This means that any information that might identify an individual will be replaced with codes or numbers, making it harder to identify individuals without additional information.

Individuals will not be identifiable from information provided in surveys, interviews, and group discussions. For interviews with staff, it is possible that they may be identifiable to other project staff due to the small number of delivery organisations within the Inspiration Programme. Quotations or supplementary information about specific projects may be included within the final report, but we will not share names or personal information that can identify individuals with UKSA.

When gathering consent, we will explain how participants’ interviews will be used and explains the caveats to confidentiality detailed above. We will also give participants the option to ask for their data (i.e., particular things said in the interviews) to be deleted and not used in preparing our final report. They will be able to contact the research team within a month of the interview to ask for anything to be deleted and not used. They will also be given the immediate opportunity to retract something at the end of the interview.

Please note that responses cannot be withdrawn after completion of the survey or group discussion. In surveys, we will not ask for names or other identifying information which means that we cannot trace and remove an individual’s responses. Similarly, responses cannot be withdrawn after the completion of a group discussion because we will not be able to identify individuals from the recordings.

Privacy notice

You can read the privacy notice for the study here. This document outlines the purpose of data collection as well as how personal data will be used and who has access to it.

Contact us:

If you have any queries about the research NatCen is conducting as part of the Inspiration Programme Evaluation, please contact the research team via email at InspirationEvaluation@natcen.ac.uk.