The future careers of post-pandemic have shifted to be more innovation-driven. Critical sectors such as healthcare, technology and engineering, business and finance, or even arts essentially require innovations to thrive in the post-pandemic era. However, there are gaps in the needs and supply of ready professionals and workers to nurture innovations in these sectors. The situations during the COVID-19 pandemic have widened and worsened this gap especially related to the Asia Pacific region’s existing educations inequity. To challenge this issue, UNESCO, in collaboration with Thai Young Scientist Academy, PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited, and the National Science Museum Thailand (NSM), conducted a series of online workshops for youth on “Careers for post-Millennials: Driving the Future with Science, Engineering, and Innovation”. These workshops aimed to inspire and encourage youth in the region to pursue careers as professionals in innovation-driven sectors.
The training materials were prepared specifically for high school students and university students, comprised of three focused career groups: 1) automation and robotic engineers, 2) creative and arts digitisation designers and engineers, and 3) health and related environmental professionals. In addition to that, a virtual job exhibition was organised to give participants an experience of job hunting. Organised between May and July 2021, 51 female and 46 male students in Thailand participated in each workshop broadcasted live on Facebook with more than 2000 total views. Two documentary videos on Healthcare Professionals and Design Engineering were also produced as learning materials for the training session.
Participants expressed their delight in participating in the workshops. They identified the workshops as a platform to sharpen the skill sets of innovators and enrich the know-how in science, engineering, and innovation. The main lesson taken as the organiser is the challenges of delivering the knowledge through an online platform or hybrid event modality. The complex combination of online learning and live discussion through an e-learning platform would be ideal for providing the knowledge, encouraging discussion, and supporting more creative and critical thinking, which is required for the future workforce.
This activity reinforced the attainment of the 2030 Agenda, especially on Sustainable Development Goals 4, 9 and 17. For further information, please contact Dr Ai Sugiura (a.sugiura@uneso.org).
The recorded Online Sessions can be seen at UNESCO Jakarta E-Platform. Further info about NSM’s Job World virtual exhibition and NSM’s Futurium project.