The University of Nottingham has been awarded funding to bring 3D design and printing into hospital education in England, with an initial phase aimed at 25 schools that serve children and young people with complex health needs or long stays in hospital.
The money comes from a Royal Society Science Community Grant and the Julia Rausing Trust. The three-year project is being carried out with the National Association for Hospital Education (NAHE), and engineers and scientists from universities around the country are contributing support by training school staff to run hands-on projects themselves.
Printers, training and a term-long programme
Each of the first 25 schools will receive a 3D printer along with access to a national training programme led by Nottingham with backing from local partner universities. The programme runs across a term through coordinated sessions built around user-centred design and ends in a showcase event. Students are asked to start by looking at their own surroundings and identifying product designs that could work better for them.
Ruth Goodridge, a professor at the University of Nottingham who leads the project, said children and young people who spend extended periods in hospital or attend specialist schools often miss the hands-on STEM experiences their peers take for granted. She said the project is meant to narrow part of that gap by offering 3D design and printing activities that build confidence and practical skills. Hospital school staff report that illness can make a child's world feel small, and that disrupted education, anxiety and low confidence affect engagement with learning; 3D printing, she said, gives students an accessible way to solve problems and create something tangible, and a sense of achievement when many other aspects of their lives feel beyond their control.
Rehabilitation research link
The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Rehabilitation, led by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, is partnering with the project to explore how 3D printing technologies could contribute to children's rehabilitation and recovery following serious illness or injury. Specific devices or applications for that workstream have not been announced.
Stephen Deadman of NAHE said the project would give children who cannot access traditional school valuable hands-on experience with specialist equipment, and that working together within and between schools would add a sense of community and shared achievement.
The funders' rationale
Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, placed the grant in the wider context of practical science in schools, saying practical work lets students experience the scientific process, evaluate evidence, understand uncertainty and appreciate how science helps explain and improve the world. He said embedding more practical science is an important step toward building future generations of scientists and innovators, and toward the scientific literacy needed to be successful citizens.