STEM in action: Trane Technologies and Teen-Turn inspire female engineers in Galway

Five students joined Thermo King Galway for a two-week Teen-Turn STEM placement, exploring science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Creating opportunities for the next generation means giving young people the chance to see where their interests can take them. This August, five female students joined Trane Technologies’ Thermo King manufacturing plant in Galway for a two-week summer work placement, called a Teenturnship, gaining first-hand experience of careers in STEM.

Organised in association with Teen-Turn, an Irish non-profit that brings girls from disadvantaged communities into STEM education and careers, the placement offered students an immersive introduction to engineering, manufacturing and technology in a real-world environment.

Starting on 10 August, the two-week placement continues a partnership between Trane Technologies and Teen-Turn that started in 2021 and focuses on giving more young women opportunities to explore engineering and STEM. The programme is also part of Trane Technologies’ corporate citizenship program, broadening access to STEM learning, increasing awareness of sustainability and green career opportunities, and helping more students build confidence in the pathways open to them.

Learning by doing

Over the two weeks, the students spent time with teams across the facility, including Research & Development, manufacturing, design and Environmental Health and Safety. They met engineers working in different roles and learned how projects move from an initial idea through design, testing and production.

The students built and tested circuits using Arduino components; were shown how augmented reality works in practice; and learnt about equipment that detects gas leaks.

“Seeing it in person made the workplace feel very different from simply learning about STEM in a classroom,” said Janefrances Muoneke, one of the participants.

For their final project, which drew from all aspects of the two weeks of learning, the group was challenged to design a cool box capable of keeping food fresh and frozen for up to two hours. They modelled it in the same 3D software used by the design team, before creating the first prototype from cardboard and other materials from around the factory.

Creating a pathway into engineering

The placement builds on a wider relationship between the two organisations. Since 2022, Trane Technologies has supported STEM Career Pathway Scholarships for female students taking engineering courses at Atlantic Technological University (ATU). The scholarship is delivered in partnership with Teen-Turn, the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) programme — which supports students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds in accessing higher education — and ATU, helping create more equitable pathways into engineering for young women. Students receive a scholarship for the four years of their undergraduate studies. To date, four Teen-Turn alumni have received the scholarship.

Together, these efforts reflect the broader ambition of Sustainable Futures: helping students succeed earlier, opening clearer pathways into STEM and sustainability-related careers, and creating the conditions for more young people to imagine themselves in those roles.

“Programmes like this are so important because they give young people the chance to experience engineering in a real and practical way. By spending time with our teams in Galway, they can see how STEM skills are applied every day, build confidence in their own abilities and begin to imagine the many paths their future could take,” explains Mike Stratford — Operations Leader – Ireland, ISC, Thermo King EMEA.

Starting early

Women account for about a quarter of students enrolled in engineering, manufacturing and construction courses in Ireland. Engineers Ireland estimates that only around 12 per cent of those working in the profession are women. That gap often widens between education and employment. Scholarships help support students at university level, while placements like this one create earlier awareness and confidence, before subject choices and career expectations begin to narrow the field of possibilities. Together, these programmes help strengthen the connection between education and industry and open engineering to young women who may one day help shape its future.

“Every person we met gave us a different perspective on what it’s like to work in STEM and engineering,” Janefrances said. “I’m leaving Thermo King with a lot more knowledge, confidence and curiosity about what the future could hold.”