This year’s STEMFest, hosted at the National Marine Aquarium, has once again brought science, technology, engineering and maths to life for thousands of young people across the South West and beyond.
Running throughout autumn 2025, this award-winning educational festival invited students to explore how the choices we make at home can impact the Ocean, all through the exciting theme of “Ocean Friendly Homes.” Click here to find out more about our exciting project!
Ocean Friendly Innovation Project
Joined us for STEMFest at the National Marine Aquarium this year?
Keep reading to find out how to participate in the next stage of the project.
If you took part in Virtual STEMFest or couldn’t make it to STEMFest 2025, there are still plenty of ways to get involved, just click the button below.
STEMFest 2025 isn’t just a one-off experience. The “Ocean Home Audit” survey encourages households to explore how their home affects the Ocean, reinforcing Ocean literacy and encouraging environmentally conscious decisions at home.
The audits will lay the groundwork for our follow-on challenge, where students have been tasked with designing their own Ocean Friendly Innovations – practical, sustainable solutions that help protect the Ocean by addressing issues such as waste, carbon emissions, or the use of materials in our homes.
Selected student designs will be pitched to local business partners in early 2026, with the most promising concepts developed and produced for distribution to all STEMFest participants in July 2026. That’s over 1,600 Ocean Friendly Innovations manufactured and delivered to homes across the city of Plymouth!*
Supporting Resources
This years STEMFest is about aspiration and action, and we can’t wait to see the innovations designed by the young people of Plymouth! To support all of our designers, we have put together some resources which can be used in the classroom or at home.
To be considered, entries must be submitted no later than Dec 19th 2025.
Projects can be submitted to us by Freepost- no stamp required! Simply address your envelope to: NMA F.A.O. Education. Alternatively, you can email your project to learning@oceanconservationtrust.org.
Calling Local Manufacturers, Developers and Makers
This year’s Ocean Friendly Innovations challenge offers an exciting opportunity for local manufacturers, engineers, and makers to collaborate with the next generation of STEM leaders.
We’re looking for partners to help bring student designs to life, whether by offering expertise, materials, funding, or production support. By getting involved, you’ll be helping to turn creative student ideas into real-world sustainable solutions that make a difference for our Ocean.
Terms and Conditions*
- To be eligible for your design to be created, you must have attended an in-person STEMFest 2025 day at the National Marine Aquarium. (Virtual or past STEMFests aren’t included.)
- Designs must be received by 19th December 2025. Entries received after this date will not be considered.
- If you are sending your design by post, we recommend keeping a copy (digital or paper) before sending, in case the original is lost in transit.
- The Ocean Conservation Trust will do its best to make and share the winning design with all STEMFest participants. If this isn’t possible, we’ll let everyone know as soon as we can.
- By submitting a design, you agree that the winning design will become the property of the Ocean Conservation Trust. The designer will be credited wherever possible, and the design will be used for educational and promotional purposes linked to STEMFest and Ocean conservation.
- Full OCT terms and conditions must be agreed to by the winner before their innovation is manufactured.
