Morson Maker Space hosts the Unimaker 2025 Conference
Morson has been proud to support the Marker Space at the University of Salford for almost a decade as part of our wide-reaching STEM Foundation.
This week, we had the opportunity to share why the Morson Maker Space is so important to us at the Unimaker conference, hosted at the University of Salford and bringing together delegates from across the UK who operate, attend or aspire to create Maker Spaces of their own.
After an introduction and welcome from Dr Maria Stukoff, Director of the Maker Space at the University of Salford, delegates heard from Neil Currie, Professor of Structural Engineering Practice, who was instrumental in developing Salford’s unique accessible maker space model. Neil stressed the importance of providing an environment where students are empowered to be curious, and the topics of inclusivity, wellbeing and providing a comfortable space for all were recurring themes throughout the day.
We heard how the maker space ‘movement’ has grown from its origins in the USA to become a global phenomenon, with maker spaces being developed around the world and many of those established in the UK, including Sheffield, Exeter, Kings College London, Plymouth, and Swansea, represented amongst the speakers and delegates at the conference.
We also discovered that, while engagement and ED&I is a challenge for the maker space community, rising to that challenge is proving a catalyst for creativity and problem solving. At the Morson Maker Space, the University of Salford has committed to the facility being open at all at all times, with, as Dr Stukoff put it ‘no barrier to entry’. She explained that this creates an environment where students have the freedom to try different solutions for their projects, apply their academic learning in a practical context, and have the opportunity to fail in safe place so that they can develop a better solution.
Dr Stukoff also outlined the vital role that Morson plays in developing engagement at the Maker Space, through the wider initiatives of our STEM Foundation, such as Salford Racing. With experienced engineers from Morson Projects supporting students from a wide range of disciplines, the Morson Maker Space connects people, purpose, and equipment in a single place, driving collaboration and helping students develop the SMART skills they will need in the workplace, as well as enabling student-led learning and engineering experience.
Head of Engineering Delivery at Morson Projects, Chris Summers, picked up on some of those themes in his presentation, reminding delegates just how much maker spaces boost learning, technical skills, and SMART skills. Chris took us back in time to 20 years ago, sharing his university experience, when learning for engineering students was largely theoretical and solitary, compared to the hands-on experience and team working supported by maker space facilities.
He went on to discuss how learning environments offered by facilities such as the Morson Maker Space in Salford are great today and essential for tomorrow we adapt to new skill requirements of the future digital economy. Engineers need to be adaptable for changing tech and solving the big challenges, such as global warming, he explained, and maker spaces have a huge role to play in nurturing emotional intelligence, communication and leadership, developing engineers that can lead, adapt, and connect, not just compute.
Chris emphasised that our support for the Morson Maker Space is more than a name on the door; we are embedded in the facility’s mission and purpose, engaging with students as we do across all Morson STEM Foundation initiatives.
“Engineering will always evolve,” said Chris, “and as we look towards the future economy and the growing influence of AI, we need engineers that can steer into problem solving more than ever.
Through our support for the Morson Maker Space, and advocacy for maker spaces more generally, we’re not only helping to nurture future talent pipelines; we’re part of an evolution in engineering that aligns technical knowledge, hands on experience, and the SMART skills future talent needs to respond effectively to change and work collaboratively across disciplines.
The Morson Maker Space is a high-tech digital fabrication hub at the heart of the University, equipped with the latest industry-standard manufacturing technologies. It provides students with hands-on experience in real-world engineering skills, including design for manufacture, assembly, and inspection.
