“Gosh, I wish I had something like that when I was the same age.” Speaking at the wrap event in celebration of our 60 Scholars programme, our current female leaders in STEM said that they were proud to provide the type of opportunity they’d have loved when growing up.

As part of the scheme, the 60 aspiring female leaders were invited to the McLaren Technology Centre for a series of talks from current female leaders in STEM and a presentation to celebrate the completion of the programme. The day also included a tour of the factory, simulator driving in our Shadow Studio, and a pit-stop challenge with a real Formula 1 car.

“This sort of environment, where you bring together aspiring females who are like-minded and want the same things, is a really fantastic opportunity,” said Kim Wilson, Director of Sustainability. “I really hope that everyone has learned a lot from it.”

The 60 Scholars programme was created to encourage and support the next generation of female leaders in STEM, with 60 successful applicants taken on board as a nod to McLaren Racing’s 60th birthday.

Formed in partnership with Google, Cisco and Cadence, the programme was open to UK-based STEM female students aged 18 to 23. Our official partners helped elevate the initiative, working alongside us to deliver content that expands outside of the motorsport sphere whilst vastly increasing the network of contacts the aspiring female leaders had access to.

“Our partners bring so much value to all of our various initiatives, including this one, which creates opportunities for young women in STEM,” said CEO Zak Brown. “Google, Cadence and Cisco are some of the best technology brands in the world, and they not only help us with our experience inside McLaren but also with their broad global reach.

“This has been a fantastic opportunity for us to work together to create great opportunities around STEM. I believe that, together, we have found some of the brightest talent for the future in STEM. I want to thank our partners for their commitment and time, and I hope that together we can continue to drive change when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Kate O’Hara-Hatchley, Head of Diversity, Early Careers & Development, added: “We have a lot of shared values and visions but also shared challenges. Coming together with Google, Cisco, and Cadence, we all recognised that we wanted to bring more women into our workspaces, and we wanted to champion them.

“Championing women in the workplace and bringing more women into STEM was a core focus for all of us, so collaborating and creating this unique programme created something even more impactful than doing it on our own. We do a lot of different activations with our partners in many different spaces, but particularly around supporting women in STEM roles, and 60 Scholars is a flagship piece for us.”

The programme sits within the DE&I (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) pillar of our Sustainability Strategy. It’s about giving opportunities to people who wouldn’t otherwise have gotten them and increasing the diversity of our staff, resulting in a more creative, well-rounded team, who are better at problem-solving and more collaborative.

It started with a virtual welcome event introducing the successful applicants to the course and each other. All 60 scholars gained access to an exclusive series of masterclasses from seasoned experts at Google, Cisco, Cadence, and McLaren Racing. These sessions delved into an array of topics, which included fundamental engineering principles, but also enhancing one's professional brand, sharing valuable insights through "Things I Wish I Knew," and exploring continuous improvement, among more. The aim was to further their knowledge and teach them unique skills.

The STEM ambassadors work in a wide range of roles, from Aerodynamicists and Senior Specialist Project Managers to Accelerator Project Managers, and Performance Engineers. These team members shared their unique career journeys during the Power Hours, offering scholars the invaluable opportunity to ask about their experiences and gain expert advice. These sessions were highly engaging and interactive, and the scholars participated enthusiastically.

“The 60 Scholars programme is a great way for young women to feel supported,” said Leena Gade, Senior Principal, Race Engineer, Extreme E. “They now have a background of people around them that they know they can turn to if they need advice. And people that they can speak to if they want to be able to progress their careers further. That’s a great asset because it didn’t exist quite a few years ago. A lot of people come into motorsport and have to find their own way.

“Because this network now exists, if you are a part of it, you get a very luxurious opportunity to use it to your advantage, make contacts, learn, and progress. I think they're vitally important, especially if you're going into something that your peer group may not understand or doesn't necessarily support. You can use this to prove there is a place for you there.”

It wasn’t solely targeted towards those interested in engineering, either, with a much more comprehensive array of potential STEM roles, including data analysis, project management, computer science, or software engineering featured.

By creating a supportive community and a vast network of contacts for our scholars, the programme hopes to empower the women within it, opening their eyes to a future in motorsport, but also a much more diverse range of job roles outside of racing. It is hoped by those who lead the programme that we can play our part in shaping the careers of these young women.

“I think if everyone could just think about the network they've built,” Kim continued. “If they keep in touch with just one or two of their cohort and their fellow colleagues, they will provide each other with support throughout their careers and journeys.

“I think that will probably be one of the most valuable takeaways. Our 60 scholars programme at McLaren Racing is a really important part of our STEM and female careers programme.”