A campaign to make science more attractive to young people will seek to challenge the image of scientists as lonely "geeks".

The Schools Minister Jacqui Smith announced that a year of profile-raising for science would begin in September 2001, with the aim of encouraging more schoolchildren to study science subjects.

The year would help to remove the image of scientists as "a solitary geek in a deserted lab", said Ms Smith.

The achievements of the human genome project, announced this week, should help to capture the imagination of young people, the minister said.

Shortage of teachers

"It is a brilliant week to be announcing something like this because the completion of the human genome project really has given children concrete evidence of what an effect a science project like this has on their own lives.

"It is vital that children see the central role that science has to play in all of our lives and that they are encouraged to engage in the subject and that the best stay on in research and higher study," she said.

The government wants leading scientists to become involved in the year of science, setting up links between higher-level research and pupils studying science at school.

The long-term aim is to encourage a greater participation in science, with a need for more applicants for science subjects in university and an ongoing shortage of science teachers.

The year of science, which follows in the wake of previous years promoting maths and English, will coincide with the launch of a new science curriculum, also beginning in September 2001.