UG-truck 'Your Future Energy' to keep going

Gasunie and UG Schools’ Academy new partners

The ‘Your Future Energy’ truck – otherwise known as the Discovery Truck – is currently in its 13^th season. Along with GasTerra, a partner for six years, Gasunie and the UG Schools’ Academy have joined the Truck consortium. Thanks to the new partners the future of the Truck is guaranteed for the next two years.

The University is delighted with the new partners. Gasunie wants to play an important role in energy transition, just like GasTerra. New ways to generate, transport and store energy are displayed in the Truck for school pupils and the general public. Interested school pupils are challenged to contribute to solving energy and climate-related issues by choosing a natural science or technology-related degree programme. In short, the Truck is a herald of our future.

For the Schools’ Academy, the Truck is a useful addition to its already wide range of web classes, lectures and symposia for prospective students, whether their interests are in the arts, sciences or social sciences. This dovetails neatly with the challenge to safeguard the future energy supply. This is not only a problem for physicists or chemists – specialists from many different disciplines are needed. In addition, the participation of the Schools’ Academy underlines the role of the Truck as the visiting card of the University.

For GasTerra, continuation of their participation never came into question – it’s essential to keep propagating knowledge about energy and the Truck generates a huge amount of ‘positive energy’ at schools! It would be a real shame if our six-year investment ‘evaporated’, according to communication advisor Areke van de Sluis of GasTerra.

1,200 first-year students
The Faculty of Science and Engineering has been running the Truck for twelve years and on average visits 120 schools and events a year. One of its objectives, to increase the intake of students, has been reached: the number of first-year students at the Faculty has risen from 350 to over 1,200 a year. ‘The Truck is a valuable link in the chain helping school pupils to choose which degree they want to do. The first link is the Truck at school, then there is a visit to Science LinX, and finally all the other contact opportunities at the University. The Truck is also a wonderful ambassador for the Faculty and the University’, says Dean Jasper Knoester. The energy Truck also dovetails with the energy ambitions of the Northern Netherlands in general and Groningen in particular.