STEMnet Ambasssador-Teacher networking evening

Was pleased to be invited to talk about some of the Food Security-related school activities that I've

co-developed with schools last night at the John Innes Centre in Norwich.
Hopefully, showed how much the Institute of Food Research was addressing the Food Security agenda.

Chuffed that I kept to time and got a lot of networking done with both Ambassadors and Teachers afterwards. Hopefully, this will generate future collaborations.

Well impressed with pupils presentations of their STEM Club activities and Mersey STEMclub had information on various activities for clubs that looked very interesting.

Schools - gear up for British Science week (Mar 2016) - grants available

Thinking about doing a science activity for British Science week but have funding concerns?

Each year, the British Science Association makes grants available to schools and organisations to help them put on events or activities for British Science Week.

Grants may be used to fund a range of activities - from inviting a speaker to providing resources or organising a trip.  In 2016, we will have a number of grant schemes available, providing small pots of funding from £200 to £700.

The grant scheme for British Science Week 2016 is now open, and will close on Monday 23 November 2015.  To apply, please register your event or activity via our online form and continue through to the grant application section. Successful applicants will be notified by mid-December 2015.  See our website for further details: www.britishscienceweek.org>

Grants available:

Grants for schools

*          Kick Start Grants for schools in challenging circumstances to organise their own events as part of British Science Week.

o          Kick Start grant: up to £300 for your school to run an activity during BSW; or

o          Kick Start More grant: up to £700 for your school to host a science event or activity which involves your students and the local community

*          Scottish and Welsh Grants: £200

Grants for organisations

*          Community grants of £500 aimed to engage audiences who are traditionally under-represented and currently not engaged in science activity

*          Scottish and Welsh grants designed to help organisations in Scotland and Wales run events as part of British Science Week.

Grants for BSA branches

Grants are available for British Science Association branches to run events for BSW.

More information: www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/grants/>

Register an event: http://www.britishscienceweek.org/register-an-event/

Stuck for ideas?

Have a browse of the British Science Week resources, which contain lots of ideas for activities that different age groups might enjoy(www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/activity-packs/>).

You could also explore our selection of case studies of organisations and schools who have run successful events and activities for British Science Week in previous years (www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/case-studies/>)

Please contact bsw@britishscienceassociation.org> if you have any queries.

Applications are open for UK Secondary Schools to apply for **free** LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3’s

Secondary Schools - Free Lego Mindstorms #TomorrowsEngineers - need I say more? 

*Applications are open for UK Secondary Schools to apply for free LEGO

MINDSTORMS Education EV3’s

<https://education.lego.com/en-gb/lesi/middle-school/mindstorms-education-ev3/instant-success-with-ev3>

and a Space Challenge <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFGw16G6ESs>

Resources.*

*For more information and to apply before Thursday 5 November click here

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/EEP-Robotics-Challenge/>. We’re

also looking for STEM Ambassadors/Volunteers/Supporters. Please get in

touch.*

*_Tomorrow’s Engineers Week_**__*

*Are you running any type of STEM event in a school between 2-6 November

– or would you like to?*

Your event could be:

• A hands-on activity

• An interactive discussion

• A live online Q&A

• Or something different!

We have lots of tools, templates and ready-made activities

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek/toolkit/> to help you!

There’s also an interactive map

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweektoolkit/Activity_map/>,

where you can add your engineering activity and benefit from our

*#TEWeek15 *campaign promotion.

*Find out more about how to get involved:

**www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek*

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek>**

*_Tomorrow’s Engineers Careers in Engineering_*

*Tomorrow’s Engineers is more than a one stop shop for information and

resources about the amazing careers available in engineering. *

We work with The Institution of Engineering and Technology, The

Institution of Mechanical Engineers, The Institution of Civil

Engineers and The Institute of Physics to develop a programme of careers

resources that provide clear, consistent guidance for young people aged

between 9 - 16 and their teachers.

Resources are designed to enthuse and encourage young people and

teachers to seek out additional information about engineering from the

Tomorrow’s Engineers website. Materials are adaptable to suit both

younger and older students, cover regional variations and promote both

traditional and non-traditional routes. Over 730,000 young people and

19,000 teachers used Tomorrow's Engineers careers resources in 2014.

*Get your free careers

materials:*www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/Careers_resources/

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/Careers_resources/>

Grants for running maths activities at high schools, colleges & Universities

Education Grant Scheme

Individuals in secondary schools, Colleges of Further Education (FE) and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in the United Kingdom can apply for a grant to help with the costs of running or attending an educational activity relating to mathematics.

A budget of £6k has been earmarked for this scheme and will be split equally between schools/Further Education and Higher Education. Grants will be made up to a value of £600.

The Institute is aware that educational establishments may have to find alternative funding to help with the cost of running or attending an educational activity relating to mathematics. The Institute is pleased that the Education Grants will help financially support such activities, which will help increase the popularity of mathematics with learners and encourage the take up of mathematics post-16.

More details here at IOM web-site

Public lecture - The Complexity of the International Food Trade Network - Norwich 13:00 Friday 18th September

Professor Jozsef Baranyi

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Jozsef Baranyi will give a public lecture entitled The Complexity of the International Food Trade Network on Friday 18th September
Time: 13:00
Venue: United Nations Association, Friends Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane, Norwich NR2 1EW

Abstract:
With demand for food to increase by 50% by 2030, the current global food distribution system compromises food tracebility, which has an impact on its chemical and microbiological safety.
During a food poisoning outbreak, the first and most important task is to identify the origin of the contamination. Delays in this task can have severe consequences for the health of the population and incur social, political and economical damages with international repercussions. However, the International agro-Food Trade Network (IFTN) is less and less suitable to track the origin of food products.  A case in point was the consequences of the three weeks delay in identifying the origin of the E. coli contamination in Germany in June 2011.
An interdisciplinary approach is needed to better understand the IFTN.  Such an approach is entirely within the means of science and technology, if supported by detailed and systematic data to monitor and control food flows.  The issue no longer affecting just single countries, but the global livelihood of the human population. International organisations, such as the United Nations and the European Union, are essential to the efforts to collect and monitor data on the food trade networks.

This years RI Christmas Lectures are on human health in space!

More information here.

The 2015 CHRISTMAS LECTURES How to survive in space

We are excited to announce that this year’s Christmas Lecturer is Dr Kevin Fong, an emergency doctor and expert in space medicine, who will present the three part CHRISTMAS LECTURES series 'How to survive in space' on BBC Four this festive season. In celebration of British astronaut Tim Peake's upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS), this year's Lectures will shine a spotlight on international achievements in space science and engineering. Kevin and the ISS astronauts will open a window onto today’s most exciting space missions, explore the future of space travel and offer a unique insight into the challenges of protecting human life in the hostile environment of space.

Free online statistics courses for journalists

I do hope that this gets good uptake - it'll address one of my pet peeves about science stories in the mainstream media.

We have just launched two free online courses for journalists on science and statistics http://www.statslife.org.uk/resources/for-journalists 

The journalism e-learning modules, funded by the Department of Business and Innovation (BIS), takes journalists through a range of real-life scenarios related to statistics, surveys, scientific research and uncertainty. They highlight questions to ask, pitfalls to look out for, and how to communicate clearly to an audience.

The courses are targeted at all journalists and journalism students, particularly those without scientific or statistical training. Both modules are available free of charge on the RSS website at http://www.statslife.org.uk/resources/for-journalists 

Science for journalists provides an overview of where scientific and health stories start - how science works and is communicated, key questions to ask, and how to find suitable experts.

Statistics for journalists helps journalists to question and report on basic statistics that are central to many everyday stories - including surveys and polls, percentages and uncertainty.

Each course takes around 20 - 30 minutes to complete at the user's own pace, and are self-guided.

The courses are based on presentations developed through the RSS Science Journalism Programme, developed and delivered by volunteers to journalists and journalism students across the UK from 2010-2015.

For full details on the programme, including example syllabuses, presentations and resources, and the network of tutors who volunteer to deliver presentations on science and statistics in newsrooms and at universities, see http://www.statslife.org.uk/resources/for-journalists 

Scott Keir

Head of Education and Statistical Literacy

The Royal Statistical Society

12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX

Direct dial: (44) 020 7614 3929

www.rss.org.uk

The RSS is a registered charity No. 306096

Galaxy Community Conference 2015 - Norwich (4-8 July)

The 2015 Galaxy Community Conference (GCC2015, http://gcc2015.tsl.ac.uk/)
is being held at the Sainsbury Lab in Norwich, United Kingdom, 4-8 July.
GCC2015 is an opportunity to meet with 200+ others working at the forefront
data-intensive biomedical research. The 2015 edition of GCC includes more
than ever before (http://gcc2015.tsl.ac.uk/programme/):
 
- Coding and Data Wrangling Hackathons (and a colocated BioJS Hackathon
too)
- Two days of training offering 18 sessions on 15 topics in up to 5
parallel tracks, covering topics ranging from analysis to administration to
tool development.
- A two day meeting featuring accepted talks, poster presentations,
keynote talks, vendor exhibits, lightning talks, birds-of-a-feather
meetups, and plenty of networking.
 
Early registration is now open (but closes Friday, 22 May, *which is this
Friday)*. Registering early saves you 40%. Registering now ensures you'll
get a spot in the hackathon and training sessions of your choice.
 
Galaxy is a data integration and analysis platform for the life sciences.
It is an open source project and is available for free on the web, for
local, and installs, and on cloud infrastructures. It is deployed around
the world, and used for research across the tree of life. See
http://galaxyproject.org/ for more.
 
Finally, there are also many other events going on before and after
GCC2015, and GCC itself ends right before ISMB / ECCB starts in Dublin.
See https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/News/NearGCC2015 for a complete list.
 
Hope to see you in Norwich!
 
Dave Clements, on behalf of the GCC2015 Organising Committee
 

CANSat competition

ESA wishes to foster and support a broad range of CanSat activities across its Member States, in order to give European students their first experience of a real space-related project. 

ESERO-UK organises an annual UK CanSat Competition, the winner of which goes on to compete in the European CanSat Competition.

A CanSat is a simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can. The challenge for the students is to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, such as power, sensors and a communication system, into this minimal volume. The CanSat is then launched to an altitude of a few hundred metres by a rocket or dropped from a platform or captive balloon and its mission begins: to carry out a scientific experiment and achieve a safe landing.

CanSats offer a unique opportunity for students to have a first practical experience of a real space project. They are responsible for all aspects: selecting the mission objectives, designing the CanSat, integrating the components, testing, preparing for launch and then analysing the data.

Competition overview

The UK CanSat Competition consists of four phases:

1. Call for proposals and team selection
2. Teachers’ introductory workshop
3. CanSat construction and test activities
4. Competition launch campaign

More here

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS INVITED TO APPLY TO TAKE PART IN THE SMALL WORLD INITIATIVE

The Society for General Microbiology is looking for universities* and schools to join our exciting new venture into the world of drug discovery. The Small World Initiative will give the general public, students and educators in the UK and Ireland the opportunity to work with scientists as part of a global initiative to discover new antibiotics from soil bacteria.

We are looking for 10 universities and five school and university partnerships who are passionate about practical microbiology to join us in this Initiative, during which groups of students will undertake authentic research, hoping to find the next new antibiotic. What we want from the universities and schools is enthusiasm for the subject. The Society will provide the rest!

Institutions in the UK and Ireland are eligible to apply. The closing date for applications is 30 April 2015.

You can find further details and application forms for the undergraduate scheme and the school and university partnership scheme, on our website. If you have any questions, please contact the Education and Outreach Team at smallworld@sgm.ac.uk, or on 0207 685 2682.

* Research Institutions are also welcome to apply.

Find out more about the Small World Initiative.

Science competition for all UK Secondary education students and their schools:

Curious About Copper Poster Competition

Calling the UK’s young scientists! Design an A3 poster exploring the properties of copper to win a first prize of £100 (and £500 for your school) or a runner up prize of £50 (and £250 for your school).

The competition is open to all UK students (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales).

1. Choose a category to explore:

Buildings and Design
Copper and its alloys have been a material of choice for architects and designers for centuries. Why? What are the properties of copper that make it such a versatile and attractive material?

Electronics and CommunicationCopper has played a key role in the development of electrical applications and is used everywhere from smart phones to space exploration. What are the properties that make it so useful?

Health and MedicineWe need copper in our diets to stay healthy, and its inherent germ-killing ability makes it the ultimate hygienic material. Why is it essential to our health?  How can it contribute to safer hospitals?

2. Design a poster:

•  Make it appealing and educational for secondary school children. 
• Give examples of copper’s use in your chosen category and explore the properties that see it so widely used.
• Answer the questions, and make sure it's A3-sized!

3. Submit your poster:

• Write in an email, or on the back of your poster: Your name and email address.Your age category: 11–14 (Years 7–9) or 14–16 (Years 10–11).Your teacher’s name and email address.Your school’s address.

• Email your poster as a PDF to bryony.samuel@copperalliance.org.uk, or post a hard copy to:
  Copper Development Association, 5 Grovelands Business Centre, Boundary Way, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 7TE
• All entries must be received on or before May 29 2015!

Judges will be looking for factual accuracy and a clear demonstration that you understand the properties of copper. Creativity, attractiveness, originality and clarity of layout will also be assessed.

Judging will take place in June and winners will be notified by email. Prizes will be sent to the school. If a school has more than one student winner, it will receive the largest prize only.

Information and Inspiration

To get started, you can browse our Education Resources, Copper: Key to a Sustainable and Healthy World and theCurious About Copper brochure.

London event
Pop-Up Screens <http://www.popupscreens.co.uk/> is a mobile cinema that
does a lot of open-air cinema screenings in Summer and other events in
indoor locations at less warm times of the year. They are doing a series
of five films in May which lend themselves to a bit of science
commentary. All take place at Chelsea Town Hall on Fri, Sat or Sun 15-17 May,
1pm or 6.30pm, details below.

  * Alien with science commentary
    <http://www.popupscreens.co.uk/movies/alien-with-science-commentary/> -
    6.30pm, 15 May
  * Apollo 13 with science commentary
    <http://www.popupscreens.co.uk/movies/apollo-13-science-commentary/>
    - 1pm, 16 May
  * Back to the Future 2 with science commentary
    <http://www.popupscreens.co.uk/movies/back-to-the-future-2/> -
    6.30pm, 16 May
  * Shaun of the Dead with science commentary
    <http://www.popupscreens.co.uk/movies/shaun-dead-science-commentary/> -
    1pm, 17 May
  * Good Will Hunting with science commentary
    <http://www.popupscreens.co.uk/movies/good-will-hunting-maths-commentary/>
    - 6.30pm, 17 May

Of interest to Primary & Secondary Schools:

16th March 2015, 17:07 Astro-Pi in the maths classroom by Steve Lyon

In partnership with the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada, Europe is sharing in the greatest international project of all time - the International Space Station. The ISS has enough room for its crew of six persons and a vast array of scientific experiments. It’s a lab and a home… in space!
Tim Peake is due to go to the International Space Station in November 2015 and spend six months there carrying out scientific experiments. He will be the first British ESA astronaut to visit the Space Station.
A team of leading UK Space companies, Raspberry Pi and the UK Space Agency have joined forces with Tim to offer young people the chance to devise their own app or experiment. The best of these will be taken to the ISS as part of Tim's mission and run on the Raspberry Pi computers he’s taking with him.
So – what would YOU do with a tiny computer on-board the space-station, equipped with lots of sensors, inputs and outputs? Your ideas can win great prizes for your school, no programming necessary! And to help you get started, we’ve provided lots of ideas and background learning materials.
Secondary school students can win more prizes by coding their solution in Python. Lots of help is available, so don’t worry if you’ve never written any code!
To find out more, go to astro-pi.org but hurry – Tim’s training is almost complete and your idea must be ready to fly too!

The astro-pi competition is a great opportunity to bring the excitement of space travel to your subject. Teachers of science, maths, computing and more will find resources and ideas for the classroom, helping you enrich learning for all students and prepare teams for the competition.

For info to schools for British Science Week :

Dear all,

Just a reminder - Please feel free to promote this to schools and teachers – with the opportunity for teachers to win prizes! You may also like to have a look at the wide range of resources on the site including the new Demo Insightsdownload, Demo: The Movie and a whole range of great online video resources at ww.getsetdemo.org Thanks to the various science communicators that have contributed hints, tips and ideas!

Pledge to take part in this year’s Demo Day on Thursday 19 March 2015 for British Science Week and potentially win prizes!

We are asking teachers and technicians across the UK to pledge to take part in Demo Day and to put their school on the map. By pledging to take part, you will be entered into a free prize draw with prizes kindly donated by Timstar, including a wifi microscope!

Demo Day is an annual campaign supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to inspire secondary school teachers and technicians to explore new concepts, provoke discussions and generate excitement through running science demonstrations. The campaign also provides inspiration, with a variety of resources, including the new Demo Insights resource – ‘Demo: The Movie’and a whole range of great online video resources at www.getsetdemo.org

Please pledge today and help the British Science Week team make this year’s Demo Day even bigger and better than ever! www.getsetdemo.org

From Adrian

Adrian Fenton

Head of Education
British Science Association
Wellcome Wolfson Building
165 Queen's Gate
London
SW7 5HD
T: +44 (0)20 7019 4942 
E: adrian.fenton@britishscienceassociation.org

Twitter: twitter.com/CREST Awards

Facebook: CREST facebook
Website: www.britishscienceassociation.org

British Science Association is the operating name and registered trademark of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

Registered charity: 212479 and SC039236 

Hubble 25th Anniversary

Just sharing this as it may be of interest:

Dear All,

As part of Hubble's 25th anniversary celebrations we have two initiatives

that might interest list members.

1) We are offering high-quality large-format (around 3x3m) prints of

Hubble’s anniversary image for display at European-based science centres,

museums, planetariums, nature centres and other informal education venues

interested in doing an event or unveiling on the 23 April 2015 in

celebration of the anniversary.

More information and application form here:

https://www.spacetelescope.org/Hubble25/imageunveilings/

2) If you are interested in making short films and in winning a piece of

Hubble's actual solar array - which spent 3 years in Space - then we also

have a short film competition "Ode to Hubble".

The competition is for videos of three minutes or less and as long as they

are Hubble-inspired in some way can take any form you like.

More information and application details here:

http://www.spacetelescope.org/Hubble25/odetohubble/

Let me know if you would like any further details and please share and send

to anyone you think might be interested.

Many thanks,

Georgia

--

Georgia Bladon

+44 (0)7816291261

gr.bladon@gmail.com

Public Outreach Officer - ESA/Hubble (

georgia@partner.eso.org)

Editor-in-Chief - International Astronomy Union CAPjournal

(georgia@partner.eso.org)

This may be of interest to schools looking to enrich their STEM activities:

 

The Royal Institution would be really grateful if you could spread the word about the below Grant Scheme to organisations and individuals who have contact with schools, or those who might be interested in registering on the STEM Directories as a provider of STEM enrichment activities.

For those of you who don't know, the STEM Directories are a free resource for teachers to search for external providers to help supplement their classroom activities. The Directories are managed by the Royal Institution.

If you are a provider of a STEM activity then we encourage you to register on the Directories<http://www.stemdirectories.org.uk/providers/> so that schools can search for you.

Grant scheme for enriching STEM teaching in schools now open The Ri and the Causeway Foundation are offering UK schools grants of up to £500 to host a show, talk, workshop, debate, challenge or other STEM activity to supplement their students' classroom activities.

Grants of up to £500 are being offered to eligible state-funded schools, academies and FE colleges in the UK to take part in an Enrichment and Enhancement (E&E) STEM activity from the STEM Directories before July 2015. This is an exciting opportunity for students to take part in a mathematics activity and help integrate mathematics enrichment in school practice.

The Scheme is now open and the deadline for applications is 9th February 2015 at 5pm. For more information and to apply, visit the STEM Directories website. Priority will be given to schools meeting certain criteria; please see the grant terms for more details.

If you have any questions relating to the grant scheme or the STEM Directories, please contact info@stemdirectories.org.uk>