ASDC are thrilled to announce the launch of ‘Next Gen Earth,’ a new UK-wide programme championing youth leadership in environmental science, supported by NERC.
This programme will support the co-creation of inclusive, youth-led programmes that connect young people with environmental science, inspiring action and ownership. Leveraging the place-based network of science and discovery centres and museums, the project aims to amplify diverse regional perspectives and to improve understanding of the barriers that prevent young people from accessing and engaging with NERC science, research and innovation.
From August 2025 to February 2026, nine science and discovery centres and museums will deliver youth-led programmes across the UK. Each will explore the unique characteristics of their local region to inform relevant and meaningful engagement with environmental science. Delivery partners have been awarded grants to support in-depth involvement and engagement with young people from diverse backgrounds.
The nine delivery partners are:
- Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT)
- Dynamic Earth
- Exeter Science Centre
- National Space Centre
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History
- Royal Botanical Gardens Kew
- Techniquest
- The Eden Project
- Xplore! Science Discovery Centre
This national programme will amplify the voices of young people, supporting a sense of belonging, building agency and developing skills for the future environmental science workforce.
Activities include the creation of youth councils, which will give young people a direct voice in shaping content, exhibitions, and decision-making. Other projects will work with local youth groups to co-design community gardens, host their own Model COPs, and inspire action in their communities.
Young people are being tasked with solving the greatest challenges of our time and have strong beliefs that climate change will greatly impact their lives in the future. Despite this, they feel disconnected from science and do not feel that scientists genuinely represent their views or values.
Together through Next Gen Earth, we aim to ensure that participants – regardless of gender, background, ability, or location – feel able to connect with, contribute to and benefit from regionally relevant NERC science and research.
The programme’s main goal is to enable diverse perspectives to shape a national project, while equally nurturing individual’s confidence, skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm, necessary to build capacity for a future workforce that reflects the diversity of the UK.
We are delighted to be partnering with The Association of Science and Discovery Centres by supporting centres and museums to deliver mutually beneficial youth-led programmes. The Next Gen Earth project plays a key part of NERC's wider ambition to understand the barriers that prevent young people from considering and perusing a career in environmental science. We hope these diverse projects will provide meaningful insight into how we can facilitate more inclusive pathways into environmental solutions workforce.
Hannah Lacey, Senior Programme Manager, Community Diversity, Natural Environment Research Council
Next Gen Earth exemplifies ASDC’s commitment to championing our members and their communities – enabling young people to shape and share science in ways that are meaningful to them and building collective insight into more inclusive practices across the sector. We can’t wait to see how each region brings its own ideas, energy, and lived experience to shape their own programme.
Cait Campell, Project Manager, ASDC
