Name: Mohammed Rahman
Pronouns: he/him/his
Affiliation: Rochdale Science Intitative C.I.C

High school science was scary- why I didn’t get a grade, and my relationship with science ended there. It wasn’t until I became a father and wanting to fulfill my responsibilities that I discovered my son has a real passion for science. To feed his curiosity and try to answer his deep questions we began spending time reading STEAM books, going on a lot of trips to local museums and science festivals. He enjoyed it- and I suddenly found that I did too! After a few visits to museums and science festivals we realised we were often the only south Asian people there, and my son asked if we could do something similar in our home town for people of our culture. The first Rochdale Science Extravaganza event took place in March 2017. Around 500 people came to the first event; it was an introduction to science, it wasn’t structured, we just wanted to share our love of science with children. Now it’s still volunteer-led but it’s run by a community interest company; Rochdale Science Intitative C.I.C.- we have a vision and a mission to make science accessible for the under-represented communities of Rochdale. We want parents and the children to enjoy science together. My son has really inspired me. I’ve been on this journey with him and I’ve loved it – it’s really made me realised how amazing science is.