Case Study: Unilever R and D Colworth

Unilever R & D: Colworth Open Laboratory DaysOne of Unilever's key aims is to contribute to a well-educated, enterprising and healthy society. Unilever R and D Colworth actively works towards this aim by holding regular open days for schools in the local community to visit its laboratories and find out more about science first-hand.

The open days involve 80 staff from throughout the R and D centre including food scientists, physicists, nutritionists and chemists, as well as its Managing Director, Tony Crouch and Chief Scientist, Ian Norton. The dedicated days are open to 300 Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils from local schools, and include a variety of tours, hands-on experiments and interactive demonstrations covering many aspects of science, technology, maths and food science.

The laboratory open days have been running for 10 years and Unilever R and D Colworth has established links with 40 schools and colleges within a 30 mile radius of the site. The programme continues to be extremely popular and is over-subscribed each year.

Silver Award Winner of 2004 Community Partnership Awards: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) Category

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FDF has published a booklet called Working in the Community: the food industry in action (pdf, 1.2Mb) . This publication features a range of company case studies and Community Partnership Award winners demonstrating how our members are forging links with their local communities and consumers.


Last reviewed: 16 May 2008