PUPILS got a chance to consider cutting-edge engineering as a career on a visit to a pioneering research centre in Oxfordshire.

More than 80 children from schools around the county and beyond visited the Diamond Light Source, in Harwell, which is used to investigate everything from swine flu to moths, to take part in activities and meet staff for an event called Engineering for the Future.

But instead of the world-renowned researchers and scientists who use the centre, the emphasis was on the team of 50 engineers who make sure its giant X-ray machine works correctly.

Pupils from Didcot Sixth Form; King Alfred’s School, Wantage; and Lord Williams’s School, Thame, had a chance to explore different aspects of engineering.

That included delving into the workings of a model solar-powered car.

They also had to come up with their own solutions to flooding using a model coastline, try out motion control mechanisms and analyse soil samples from deep beneath the sea.

The event was supported by the Institute of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

At Diamond Light Source, the UK’s biggest scientific project for more than 40 years, there are more than 20 professions related to engineering.

Jonathan Pink, a maths teacher at Lord Williams’s School, said: “Students tend to picture roads and bridges when they think of engineering, focusing on civil engineering as it is the most visible.

“This has really opened their eyes to a whole range of other engineering possibilities.