UKTV's Specialist factual channel Yesterday is airing an eight part series on the buildings that helped fight Hitler. CSES's Chris Neale tells the series about Baddow Tower.

Airing every Monday from April 19th, The Buildings that Fought Hitler is an eight part series exploring the range of buildings, structures and engineering that would help defend Britain in the case of Nazi invasion.

Chris Neale, CSES's Programme Manager, helps present a segment describing the role that Baddow Tower, one of the original Chain Home Radar Towers, played in the defence of the country.

You can see Chris in episode 4, broadcast on Monday 10 May at 8pm. Catch up on UKTV Play.

Read more: The Buildings that Fought Hitler - Featuring Baddow Tower

CSES to host Ask Me Anything (AMA) event on 15 March 2021

In an exciting new development for CSES, we will be hosting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) event on Reddit.

If you are not familiar with the AMA format, it is where notable groups and individuals invite the community to ask them any question, which they will do their best to answer in near real-time.

LIVE link to Reddit: https://redd.it/m5i6g5

Click here to find out more.

The STEM Ambassador Programme, in partnership with Brightside charity, is launching a national online mentoring scheme to support young people who are interested in STEM.

Available from end of February to May 2021, the scheme pairs each young person with a STEM Ambassador volunteer who is ready to support them with exploring STEM career options, helping them to feel more confident about their future. The mentoring will take place flexibly, through a moderated messaging system and all STEM Ambassadors are DBS or PVG checked as standard. Register by 7 March.

Read more: STEM Ambassador Programme Launches Online Mentoring Scheme

A CSES Imagine! STEAM Competition

We are pleased to announce another online competition, hot on the heels of our CSES Imagine! Environmental Challenge and CSES Imagine! Plastic – Friend or Foe?

Vaccination is the only way that we are going to beat COVID-19 and get back to normal. But this only works if over 80% of people are vaccinated.

It is vital that the Covid-19 vaccination message is understood by your family and people who are worried, unsure, resist or reject being vaccinated.

Help us de-bunk myths, lies and fake news about the vaccine! If you are a primary, secondary or home-schooled pupil or student in Essex, CSES is challenging YOU to help beat Covid-19 and make Essex Covid-safe.

Imagine! how you would persuade people to get vaccinated. Design a poster or make your "call to action" Video and get your own message across. You could win a prize! And your video or poster will be published.

The deadline for entry is Friday 4 June 2021. Open to children and school students of all ages.

Read on to find out more about the competition and click here to register.

Read more: Trust Science: Help Make Essex Covid-Safe

Featuring winning entries to our Centenary Photographic Competition

As you may know, last year we ran a photographic competition for students, which received some amazing entries.

We are delighted to announce that Konica Minolta very kindly agreed to sponsor a calendar with the shortlisted photographs.

The print version was unfortunately delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we are nonetheless very pleased to offer the calendars for sale now (cost covers postage and packaging).

Download a free PDF copy of the calendar here.

Click here to get your CSES Centenary Calendar for just £2.50 (minimum donation).

Imagine! the Future by exploring plastic in our lives!

Many people believe that environmentalism begins and ends at the recycling bin. Simply throwing something away into a large recycling bin is enough to make us feel like we've done our bit.

But the recycling process is much more problematic and recycling plastics is much less straight forward than many of us think. Apart from complying with local rules and regulations, recycling is a business and as such must be profitable. If there is no demand for reprocessed materials, nobody will recycle them and if the recycled product is not good quality, nobody will buy it. Consequently, we consumers play a much more important role than we might imagine!

It is vital that we all play our part to ensure our beauty spots are not destroyed by pollution and our town centres are not clogged up with litter.

This particular challenge is concerned with PLASTIC pollution. Enter the challenge to encourage your friends and family to RECYCLE, increase their involvement with their environment and become part of the CIRCULAR ECONOMY.

Please register here if you would like to enter this competition.

Read more: CSES Imagine! Plastic – Friend or Foe?

Today, modern society suffers many forms of pollution, litter in our streets, fumes in our towns and plastic waste in the oceans.

CSES hopes to encourage the young people of Essex to become aware of the (mainly human) activities which result in this pollution and IMAGINE! ways in which the pollution can be reduced or eliminated, or circumventions can be put in place to reduce the risk to the environment or human health.

This first of several challenges invites pupils currently in Years 6 or 7, individually or in teams of up to four (please check Covid tier rules for your area before planning a team venture) to investigate the risks posed to people just by walking to school or through a particular area of their Town Centre.

Please register here if you would like to enter this competition.

Read more: CSES Imagine! Environmental Challenge

A visual celebration of Science and Engineering in Essex

Thank you to everyone who entered our inaugural Photographic Competition, and congratulations to our winners, listed below.

Visit our web gallery to see all the photos entered.

We have produced a special CSES Centenary Calendar containing the winning and a selection of shortlisted photos, which is available to purchase through the website (see link).

Read more: Centenary Photo Competition winners announced