There’s no one thing that makes someone an ideal applicant - everyone on the team has different backgrounds, skillsets, interests and levels of previous experience in making a difference through STEM research and innovation!

There’s a few things every member of the Youth STEM Matters Team has in common though…

• Passion for the journal’s mission - to create an accessible and inclusive platform for youth globally to share their STEM research, ideas and innovations that tackle the world’s biggest challenges!

• Enthusiastic to learn and grow - your enthusiasm to get involved is much more important to us than your previous experience or qualifications

• Commitment to getting involved in all aspects of the journal - both for their own development, and the team’s collective progress towards our mission

All youth, based anywhere globally who are aged 14-22 (or thereabouts!) can apply to join the Youth STEM Matters Team. For this opportunity, you’ll need working proficiency in English and regular digital access to be able to participate fully.

No, and several current members of the team didn’t have any background in STEM before joining! There’s a few roles where a STEM background is important, but for most roles, we’re keen to welcome young people with all academic interests!

For most roles, no! If you’re wanting to join as an Operational Lead, you’ll need some specific experience. Generally, we’re not worried about whether you’ve done something like this before if you’re applying to be a Team Member or join the Executive Team.

Yes! Though having at least some of the listed skills will help you have a good foundation for your chosen role, enthusiasm to learn and grow is more important to us than past experience, and you’ll develop many of the skills you need during your time in the team. Remember though, you can tell us about what skills you have through anything you’ve done before or been previously involved in, whether through school, clubs, action in your community, or your personal experiences.

Week to week, each of our roles has different time commitments, with Team Members committing approximately 3-4 hours, Operational Leads volunteering 4-5 hours and Executive Team members committing 5-6 hours per week.

Longer term, as you’re a volunteer, there’s no minimum or maximum length of time you are required to stay on the team. But, as a guide based on previous volunteers’ experiences, we recommend planning to volunteer for around a year or more (many of our volunteers do stay longer!), so you have time to get involved in all aspects of the journal.

The Youth STEM Matters Team works together digitally, using our online workspace Slack, and with regular video calls for meetings, Journal Development Days, social events and check-ins. Don’t worry if you’ve not used Slack before - we’ll cover this in your Team Member Skills Development Programme!

Usually we have 2 main application processes per year. In addition, we occasionally advertise new volunteer roles when they become available in between our main application rounds. We’ll always advertise these on our social media and via our newsletter.

Absolutely - we really encourage reapplications. Some of our current team and alumni weren’t offered a role with their initial application, but worked hard to reapply and made a successful reapplication. If you’re thinking about reapplying, we’d encourage that you spend time working on your application and take on all the feedback from your initial application.

We understand that your personal life, health and your studies will need to take priority, and would never ask a volunteer to prioritise Youth STEM Matters over their health, family life or educational progress. It’s not a problem to take a break from the team - we just ask that you let us know, so that we know you’re alright, and to ensure we respect of your fellow team members’ time.

That said, if you’re finding that you’re needing to be away more than you’re available, this might not be the right opportunity for you right now - we’ve got other opportunities available with a less regular commitment, which we’d encourage you to sign up for!

There’s a few key things to think about when considering which role to apply for…

• Your current skillset, and how that fits with the roles we have available

• How you want to grow

• How much time you have available - each of our roles has different time commitments, with Team Members committing approximately 3-4 hours, Operational Leads volunteering 4-5 hours and Executive Team members committing 5-6 hours per week

While applying for one role only does have the advantage of being able to really tailor your application to that particular role, if you’re really unsure, you can select multiple roles. Additionally, when reviewing applications, our team take an open minded approach towards which role might suit you best, so will consider you for other roles we have available too if we think they’d better fit your skillset.

Yes - members of the Youth STEM Matters Team will be hosting Information Sessions and doing takeovers of our social media channels, so you can find out about their experiences. Feel free to ask them any questions you have!

If you miss these, or you’ve got a question that wasn’t answered, send us an email with your questions (and include whether there’s any specific role you’re interested in) and a member of our team can get back to you to share their experiences.

We’re happy to hear from you! Please email your questions to our Youth STEM Matters Programme Officer, Lizzie Bourn.