This guest post from science educator Veronica Forcina looks at the role Careers in Ideas can play in inspiring school students to consider a future in IP.

Veronica is a PhD chemist and educator who loves turning complex ideas into stories people want to listen to. She tells us she’s spent years transforming dense chemistry into clear, compelling insight and that she’s passionate about making innovation understandable for everyone. Here she draws on those experiences to explain what activities and resources students are most likely to engage with, and the role IP professionals can play in turning that engagement into great career opportunities.

 

Veronica writes:

Teaching science has shown me how students are surrounded by intellectual property (IP) every day, yet almost none of them realises it. Young people use patented technologies in their phones, rely on copyrighted digital content while watching YouTube and encounter trademarks every time they get dressed.

Yet, the connection between these everyday experiences and real professional careers is almost invisible to them. IP careers are rich, varied, and intellectually demanding, but the pathways into them are opaque, especially for students without existing professional networks.

Over several years teaching science, I have seen how this lack of visibility shapes student aspirations.  It is not that students are not capable of pursuing IP careers, many absolutely are. It is that they do not know these careers exist, do not understand what they involve, and do not see people who look like them working in these fields. This is where Careers in Ideas can play a transformative role.

The visibility gap: what students do not know about IP careers

Across secondary science education, careers guidance tends to focus on familiar scientific pathways: medicine, engineering, research, teaching. These are excellent options, but they represent only a fraction of the professional landscape available to scientifically minded students. IP careers, patent attorney, trademark attorney, IP analyst, technology transfer specialist, licensing manager, rarely appear in school career conversations.

Students assume science careers mean working in a laboratory or in a hospital. Even high‑achieving students with strong analytical skills often believe that if they enjoy science, their only options involve experiments, hospitals, or engineering companies. They are not aware that IP careers allow them to use scientific knowledge in a legal, strategic, or commercial context.

The students’ understanding of patents and trademarks is very low. Young people may have heard the words, but they do not grasp the purpose, process, or societal impact. Without this conceptual foundation, the idea of working in IP feels abstract and inaccessible.

Finally, students rarely meet professionals working in IP. Exposure and representation matter. When students meet scientists, doctors, or engineers, those careers become imaginable. When they never meet patent attorneys or IP analysts, those careers remain invisible.

This visibility gap is particularly acute for students from under-represented backgrounds. If their families do not work in professional sectors, they have fewer informal opportunities to learn about careers like patent law or technology transfer. As a result, many capable students simply never encounter IP as a viable pathway.

Students respond to curiosity and clear pathways

During my lessons, I have realised students respond well to curiosity, real-world problems and clear pathways.  Indeed, when I introduced IP concepts in science lessons, for example, discussing how patents protect pharmaceutical innovation, students were immediately engaged. They asked sharp, thoughtful questions:

“How do you prove an invention is new?”

“Why do companies fight over logos?”

These questions revealed something important: students are naturally curious about IP when it is presented in a concrete, relatable way.

Along with curiosity, students also need a clear and realistic pathway. It is vital for them to have clear explanations of job roles, such as what a patent attorney actually does day‑to‑day, and accessible entry routes, including apprenticeships, training programmes, and graduate pathways. Also important is seeing examples of people like them succeeding, as representation matters deeply, and access to opportunities to try IP‑related tasks, analysing inventions, reviewing claims, or exploring case studies.

Once these elements are in place, students begin to see IP careers not as mysterious legal professions but as intellectually stimulating roles that value scientific thinking, communication, and problem‑solving.

The role of Careers in Ideas in improving students’ engagement

Careers in Ideas is already a strong initiative, but from a teacher’s perspective, there are several specific ways it can increase engagement and accessibility for young people.

Creating curriculum-ready resources for teachers makes IP content easier to deliver

Teachers feel the competition of careers education with curriculum demands. Ready‑to‑use resources, short lesson inserts, case studies, mini‑projects, and slide decks, would make it far easier to integrate IP careers into science teaching.

Careers in Ideas offers a range of resources on its website and collated in this Resources Directory.

• Part 1 of this Directory includes resources for IP professionals to use when visiting school, such as slide decks, resources, a lesson plan and quizzes – but teachers may also find these useful.
• Part 2 is directed at parents, teachers and careers advisors and includes videos, leaflets and slides to help them understand more about careers in IP.
• Part 3 provides a summary of some fantastic resources available on various Intellectual Property Office websites, including many curriculum- and age-focussed resources.

Increasing representation is essential: showcase diverse, real professionals

Students need to see IP professionals from different backgrounds, regions, and educational routes. Short video profiles, interviews, or “day in the life” features would help students imagine themselves in these roles. Highlighting alternative pathways, apprenticeships, non‑traditional routes, career changers, would be particularly powerful for students who do not see university as their only option.

Careers in Ideas aims to showcase the diversity of IP careers and IP professionals on its website – see IP Career Options and People in IP. We also have a series of videos entitled “Meet the IP Crowd”.

The events of our Summer of IP initiatives also aim to showcase the diversity of careers and people who work in IP through our various panellists and speakers. These events have been hosted in various locations across the UK and online, and many are also available as recordings after the event. Many participants have had the opportunity to meet and chat with real IP professionals face to face, either in person or online via these events, and via our “matched” Summer of IP coffee dates.

In terms of alternative routes into IP, our panel events often include speakers who have non-standard career pathways. For students who may not wish to go to university, our IP Careers Options can be filtered by education level and we also hosted a webinar in July 2026 about the new IP Apprenticeship Schemes.

In‑person engagement has the strongest impact

Workshops where students examine inventions, debate novelty, or explore trademark disputes make IP tangible and exciting.

School visits could include diverse activities: patent drafting challenges, mock hearings or debates, real‑world case studies from technology, fashion, gaming, or sustainability.

These experiences help students understand that IP careers are dynamic, creative, and intellectually rich.

Building partnership with schools in under-represented areas can be key to increasing IP engagement. Many schools, especially in disadvantaged communities, lack access to professional networks. Targeted outreach helps ensure students who might never otherwise encounter IP careers get the opportunity.

This could include priority outreach to schools with low university progression rates, mentoring programmes for interested students, virtual sessions for schools unable to host in‑person events.

Careers in Ideas has a Task Force of volunteers who generously donate their time to our various projects – including our website content, our resources, our events and our Mentoring Hub.

Although Careers in Ideas itself doesn’t have the resources to directly engage with individual schools, we focus on providing outreach materials and resources via our website, our Summer of IP initiative (open to anyone interested in a career in IP), and our Mentoring Hub. We also provide resources for IP professionals to make use of in their outreach work, whether that is visiting schools, universities, careers fairs or exhibitions.

We promote our website, resources and events as widely as possible via social media and via our contacts, such as the IPO who kindly promote some of our events and resources in their IP in Education mailshot. We also engage with a number of outreach organisations and charities, many of whom work with young people from under-represented groups to help them achieve their potential.

If you are a teacher or careers advisor and would value a visit from an IP professional, then we would suggest looking up IP firms in your local area and contacting them directly to see if they would be willing to assist. You can search for a patent attorney by location on the CIPA website or the EPO website. You can search for a trade mark attorney on the CITMA website.

Clear summary of entry routes

Finally, clarifying the possible pathways into the profession can be incredibly useful for both students and teachers. A single, accessible “Pathways to IP Careers” guide including entry requirements, training routes, apprenticeship options, timelines, salaries, scientific knowledge needed, can be invaluable.

Careers in Ideas has a chart providing a quick visual summary of different IP-related careers and their typical routes of entry (available in pdf and PowerPoint formats). We are looking to provide an updated version which will be available on our website.

Careers in Ideas is uniquely positioned

IP careers reward exactly the skills that science education develops – analytical thinking clear communication, problem‑solving, curiosity, precision and attention to detail.

Students who enjoy science but do not want lab‑based careers often thrive in IP roles. They get to work with cutting‑edge technologies, collaborate with inventors, and contribute to innovation ecosystems, all without needing to pursue traditional scientific pathways. By making these careers visible, accessible, and engaging, Careers in Ideas can help students discover professional futures they never knew existed.

Science teaching showed me that students are far more capable, ambitious, and intellectually curious than they often realise. They often lack access to information, role models, and opportunities. IP careers are an extraordinary fit for many of them, but only if someone opens the door. Careers in Ideas is uniquely positioned to do exactly that: to shine a light on a professional world built on creativity, innovation, and analytical thinking, and to ensure that students from every background can see themselves as part of it.