Work with STE(A)M sector
CSES has a mission of public engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Working with local government, businesses, academia and the education and health sectors, we connect key stakeholders to reveal and promote awareness of STEM in people's everyday lives and to highlight innovation and industry in the region.
» If you're a school and want to partner with us, find out more here
Read this blog post by CSES President Adam Wood for Ignite Chelmsford (23 Jan 2023)
What is STEAM?
No, not the gaming platform or the gaseous phase of water, but the acronym STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics.
Even though I use this phrase several times daily, I think it's confusing to many people, who, when considering the question, "what is STEAM?" may instead reasonably ask, "what isn't STEAM?" It's just every subject, right?
Whatever you think of it, STEAM is a label – the word we use to represent a concept – and there are plenty of unhelpful but widely-used labels around, so I'm not going to pick that particular fight. The STEAM movement is, in fact, something brilliant, and I'd like to talk a little about what it means and why it's important.
Read the original blog post at Ignite Chelmsford
Read more: Why we should be taking creativity more seriously
TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Yubo, are words that parents may or may not have heard of. As adults when we think about the internet we may think of funny cat videos, shopping online or sharing photos of our dinner on Facebook, but the digital world that our children are left to wander through alone every day can be very different indeed. Recent studies by OFSTED have shown that our young people can be exposed to shocking material online. Students in both primary and secondary schools said that they or someone they know had experienced online sexual abuse or harassment, with nearly 90% of female students saying that they had received unsolicited 'nudes'.
Do you really know what is going on in your child's smartphone?
On Thursday 21 April 2022, Passmores Academy invited the Harlow Community for an evening of quizzes, talks and an exhibition to answer the question: "The Internet – what's really going on?". Following the CSES My Smarter Essex format and jointly delivered by the school, CSES, The STEM Hub and Essex County Council (ECC), this fun, interactive and informative event explored and explained the trust and safety risks and pitfalls, as well as the benefits and opportunities that come from using the Internet, to both primary and secondary students and their parents. An exhibition by local employers from across the STEAM spectrum accompanied the main talks, with catering and childcare provided for all attendees.
On Thursday 31 March 2022, CSES, The STEM Hub and ARU held a fun and successful networking session for STEM Ambassadors, teachers and school students.
Attendees were treated to entertaining tours of ARU's cutting-edge facilities – including the SuperLab, engineering workshops and clinical simulation suites – and a presentation by the Passmores Academy team on their Fresh Air, Fresh Thinking project work. There were careers sessions for the secondary students, hands-on activities for the primary students and a workshop on communicating STEM for the Ambassadors. A networking reception for all participants was well-received after two years of lockdowns and isolation!
STEM networking events are typically held once or twice a year; this was the first one post-Covid and the first of similar events that CSES intends to run, with its partners, in the future.
Our thanks to Peter Sutton (The STEM Hub); Fatima Bibi, Binh Le, Dr Maryam Imani and Prof Laurie Butler (ARU); and Jainna Bhalla and Lily Caskey (Leonardo) for their support and contributions to the event.
Report from CSES Spotlight Event, 15 September 2021
In October 2020, CSES convened a roundtable discussion between a wide variety of local and national stakeholders to share responses to, and lessons learned from, the Covid-19 pandemic. This revealed that in addition to the short-term "must do" activities there was also an emerging appetite for accelerating developments and embracing innovative change.
Following on from this, CSES is holding a series of "spotlight" events with the same group of diverse stakeholders and additional contributors. These events are on the themes of Trust (held on 15 April 2021), Inclusivity (the subject of this report), Resilience & Adaptability, and Sustainability.
This event aimed to answer the following question: "How can we tackle economic, health and education inequality within Essex using science and technology?" Specifically:
- How can science and technology businesses in Essex best create social value in a targeted and strategic manner?
- What applications of science and technology can allow us to deliver integrated and inclusive health and social care – and cater for differing needs and disabilities – efficiently, effectively and compassionately?
- How can we harness technology to deliver an integrated scientific, digital and creative education fit for today’s economy without the downsides of digital inequality?
- How can the different stakeholders work together to collectively tackle these issues?
From the themes raised during discussion of the above questions, a set of recommendations has been made. These include:
- Items for CSES, its partners and similar community groups to take forward, for example through the STEAM Commission.
- Items for Essex County Council and its partners to take forward, including by feeding into ECC's Digital Exclusion Working Group and/or Corporate Strategy team.
The next step is for CSES and Essex County Council to incorporate these recommendations into their planning for 2022 and beyond.
Report from CSES Spotlight Event, 15 April 2021
In April 2021, CSES held a 'spotlight' meeting to discuss the role that trust plays in stimulating and enabling new partnerships between users and providers. Specifically, the event explored the role of trust in the context of emerging trends in the four sectors of focus: healthcare, planning, digital economy and education. This follows directly from the Covid recovery roundtable hosted by CSES and Essex County Council in October 2020.
The event concluded that:
- There is a clear case for multidisciplinary collaboration, and there is appetite among the group to establish a more formal model for this.
- Each sector's issues are connected and cannot be considered in isolation. Any collaborative initiative must adopt a "whole system" approach.
- Diversity and inclusion are not simply "nice to haves"; they are essential to getting things right. Whilst the existing stakeholder group is relatively diverse, the model that we adopt to bring about action must be fully inclusive.
- To achieve the necessary levels of system integration, inclusion, diversity and participation, trust among the parties is essential.
Read more: Optimising the new normal: the central enabler of TRUST
Has the pandemic accelerated key capabilities, and will some of these capabilities signpost the future means of service delivery?
On 22 October 2020, CSES was pleased to co-chair a roundtable discussion involving local and national stakeholders from across industry, the NHS, local authorities and academia.
The purpose was to explore the future of public service delivery post-Covid, and to find areas where the pandemic had in fact been of benefit by accelerating the development of technologies and collaborations by necessity.