ICE calls on members to support students in award-winning engineering competition

The ICE is calling on its members to step forward as mentors for its flagship STEM outreach programme, the ICE CityZen Award.

The competition celebrates the creative and problem-solving abilities of young people aged 16-18 by encouraging them to tackle real-world challenges in a computer game and project pitch.

Now in its fifth year, the award has demonstrated its impact, with survey results showing that UK students are significantly more likely to consider a career in the field after participating.

The support of STEM Ambassadors as mentors is a key element of its success.

The ICE encourages all UK-based members to volunteer – from students to Fellows. Demand for mentors will be extremely high in 2025, building on the success of past years.

Since the 2023 edition, the ICE CityZen game has received three accolades:

• 2023 Learning Technologies Gold Award in the Best Learning Game category
• 2024 Bett Award in the Secondary Free Digital Content App or Open Educational Resource category
• 2024 Memcom Excellence Awards in the Best Education Initiative category

The ICE also launched a smaller version of the competition for 14-to-16-year-olds, the ICE CityZen Pollution Control Challenge, which is now in its second year.

Registration for both awards is now open.

Why volunteer as a STEM Ambassador on CityZen

Contact with a STEM Ambassador has been shown to be an effective way to engage students with STEM.

The experience of ICE members provides deeper insight into the complex decisions involved in planning infrastructure, which are recreated in the CityZen game.

This gives students an insight into what a career or further study in this sector looks like.

Plus, by engaging with young individuals from underrepresented groups, mentors can help pave the way for a more diverse and inclusive civil engineering industry.

STEM ambassador activities also count as initial professional development (IPD) or continued professional development (CPD).

Divannia McMaster, who mentored one of the winning teams within the 2024-2025 competition, said the experience reminded her of why she became a civil engineer.

“Being a mentor with ICE CityZen for the second time has been a truly rewarding experience,” she said.

“It sharpened my communication and leadership skills and reinforced the importance of promoting this profession to young people.”

What do ICE CityZen Award mentors need to do?

Mentors will be asked to commit to supporting students for approximately four hours at mutually agreed times with their chosen school.

Mentoring is most likely to be held online but can be face-to-face if the mentor’s chosen school or college is local.

The ICE provides an ICE CityZen Mentor Guide and ongoing support to make the process straightforward and enjoyable.

The ICE is also asking members and STEM Ambassadors to reach out to schools and teachers to let them know about the ICE CityZen Pollution Control Challenge for 14–16-year-olds.

Ambassadors could also support participating schools by giving a careers talk or running an outreach activity.

How to register as an ICE STEM ambassador

For safeguarding reasons, ICE members must be registered as current ambassadors through STEM Learning, which is free to do.

Existing ICE STEM Ambassadors can register their interest in mentoring today by completing the form below.

Register your interest to become a mentor

Impact of the ICE CityZen competitions

Over 3,800 16- to 18-year-olds have taken part in the CityZen Award since its start in 2021.

Almost 300 14- to 16-year-olds took part in the first CityZen Pollution Control Challenge.

The competition is helping to address the UK’s shortage of engineers.

Research by UCAS in 2024 has found that CityZen participants are “both significantly more likely to apply and be accepted onto engineering and related courses, especially civil engineering courses”.

Applications to the ICE QUEST Undergraduate Scholarship now regularly reference taking part in the ICE CityZen Award.

The 2024-2025 winners, the Deltas from Bearsden Academy in Scotland, agreed that taking part in CityZen has encouraged them to “chase more new exciting opportunities”.

“The CityZen competition has been an experience we will never forget,” they said.

Peter Strain, their design and technology teacher, highlighted how the competition brought out the potential of participating teams.

In particular, he noted that the Deltas “went above and beyond, independently contacting and interviewing a relevant civil engineer, which provided invaluable real-world insight into their design”.

As Strain explains, the input of STEM ambassadors is essential to help bring students’ visions to life.