Mhairi McCann

(she/her)

United Kingdom

Hi, I’m Mhairi (pronounced “Varry”, and I use she/her pronouns) 👋

My facilitation experience is primarily through Youth STEM 2030, where I create inclusive, fun and empowering spaces for youth changemakers to create STEM-based solutions for a just and sustainable future. Co-design and co-creation approaches feature heavily in my work and I enable groups of young people to use their varied skills, lived experiences and backgrounds to achieve a collective goal which makes real impact.

Over the past 8 years, I have worked to meaningfully embed youth voices in STEM, climate and impact-focussed organisations, and now provide consultancy, facilitation and training to enable intergenerational collaboration which is impactful, safeguarding & rights-based, youth-friendly and truly meaningful.

I have also developed and facilitated engaging learning programmes (both online and offline) for diverse, often global, groups of young changemakers. Examples include our 10 week government-funded Youth STEM Changemakers: Entrepreneurs for Impact programme (supporting marginalised youth social entrepreneurs) where I led a team of 4 facilitators during 2-day in person events, and a series of 10 online learning workshops for volunteers in our youth-led scientific journal to connect deeply, collaborate effectively, and grow their changemaker skills.

Equity, inclusion & belonging is deeply embedded in how I work – both within a team of facilitators, and for participants – taking an approach of inclusion by design to enable diverse groups to thrive, and working in an adaptable, creative and person-centred way to ensure individual access or support needs are met, enabling everyone to participate meaningfully. I particularly have both lived and learned experience in inclusive facilitation in the context of disability and neurodiversity.

Experience

Languages: English

Event Types: Conference, Offline, Online, Panel, Summit, Training, Workshop

Audiences: Marginalised or vulnerable groups, Teens (13–19 y/o), Third or Fourth Sector, Young adults (20–35 y/o)

Certificates: CXC Online Facilitation Training CXC In-Person Facilitation Training

Thematic Areas

Meaningful Youth Inclusion in Decision-Making/ Youth Voice & Participation/ Intergenerational Collaboration
Co-Design/Co-Creation processes
STEM* Changemaking, Research, Education & Innovation (* STEM = science, technology, engineering & maths)
Equity & Inclusion (esp. neurodiversity)
Climate, Sustainability & SDGs
Ocean
Human Rights (esp. children’s rights)
Systemic Impact
Social Entrepreneurship
Action Learning Sets

Testimonials

“I believe that the Youth STEM Changemakers program was one of the best programs I have ever been a part of, I have learned so many skills both on personal and professional levels. It was a journey filled with immense learning, self-reflection, and growth as an entrepreneur and a person. I loved each session and enjoyed interacting with various people, I learned a lot through 1:1 sessions and got very motivated by seeing how everyone is doing great things by solving diverse problems. I feel lucky to be a part of the program, and I will carry the learnings for my whole life.”

— participant from Youth STEM Changemakers: Entrepreneurs for Impact programme

“Mhairi and the team at Youth STEM 2030 are absolutely brilliant to work with and deliver impactful and important training, advice and communications. They are a leading organisation in ensuring meaningful inclusion of the youth STEM voice in policy discussions and decisions making, which is desperately needed to recover and protect our natural world.”

— policy manager at UK marine charity who participated in a training workshop I delivered on meaningful youth inclusion

"Having the chance to work with Youth STEM 2030 was an incredible experience. Through preparing and delivering Youth STEM Changemakers with them I was able to get an insight into an organisation that really thinks about inclusivity and puts the effort in to make sure that all the participants are able to turn up as their best selves. Over the course of the programme I was able to see a group of amazing young people from all sorts of different backgrounds come together and support each other to come up with truly innovative and entrepreneurial ideas aiming to solve some of the world's most pressing issues.”

— external freelance co-facilitator on Youth STEM Changemakers: Entrepreneurs for Impact programme