We are pleased to advise that our Centenary Photographic Competition 2023, this year on the theme of Electronic Communication, is now open until Friday 23 June 2023 to allow for further entries.

We want you to take photographs (up to 3 entries) that express what electronic communication means to you, or how it impacts health and environment (for better or worse).

The competition is open to primary or secondary aged students living or educated in Essex. We will be looking for photos that are creative in their approach, with an innovative angle on the subject or a creative interpretation of the themes.

There are two categories of entry: one for primary school students and one for those at secondary level. Cash prizes are available!

You can read the full details here or click below to submit an entry.

Click here to submit your entry »

Happy snapping!

Taking place at locations across Chelmsford on 17-18 June 2023

Do & Discover – A weekend of fun experimental activities for all the family!

We are looking for volunteers who could help us with Do & Discover weekend on 17/18 June, which is part of the Chelmsford Festival.

This will be a weekend of fun experimental activities for all the family, taking place across the city of Chelmsford. To give you an idea, take a look at last year's programme.

Do you have an activity you would like to run in a public place? Or could you spare a few hours on Saturday or Sunday to run an existing activity? Either way, we'd love to hear from you!

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you're interested.

CSES Schools' TEXPO: Fri 30 June 2023, ARU Chelmsford

For Y5-13 | Show your project to scientists and engineers | Cash prizes | Free lunch!

Are you in a STEM club at primary or secondary school? Have you made or investigated something fantastic in technology or science lessons? Have you been doing interesting technical projects at home?

Are you a teacher who'd like to showcase your pupils' / students' work? Or are you a parent, guardian or tutor whose child has been working on an exciting project?

If your answer to any of these questions is YES, then exhibit at the annual CSES TEXPO. There is prize money to be won and we even provide lunch!

We welcome projects from all STE(A)M disciplines. You don't need to do any additional work: bring your project(s) as they are. This could be something you've made, software, experiments, reports, posters, videos, presentations etc.

Your project does not need to be unique to TEXPO – in fact we would encourage reuse! We welcome coursework and projects originally from other competitions and schemes.

Click here to find out more | Click here to enter your project(s)

Read more: TEXPO 2023 – enter now

Vic Leverett OBE, Past President

Vic Leverett, who has died aged 78, was a former President, recent trustee and active committee member of CSES. From 2009 until his death, Vic was instrumental in modernising the society, raising its profile and building partnerships across Essex to bring science and technology to everyone. His work has had a lasting impact, felt by a lot of people in both the public and private sectors.

After sponsored studies, Vic enjoyed a long and illustrious career at the English Electric Valve company (EEV), now Teledyne e2v, from where he became involved with CSES.

Roger Pittock, a colleague of Vic's at EEV and latterly a good friend and fellow CSES trustee, reflects on their time together, in a celebration of Vic's life.

Read more: Obituary: Vic Leverett (1944-2023)

Two flagship competitions – enter both if you can!

Big Bang Competition: enter online by 30 March 2023

Get your students thinking about issues they're passionate about or coming up with solutions to challenges they've come across in their own lives by doing a project for The Big Bang Competition.

Taking part in the UK's top STEM competition for young people is a brilliant way to inspire your students to think big and show their passion.

Enter your science or engineering project online by 30 March 2023 at 5pm.

If you don't know where to start, or are looking for project ideas, check out some useful resources, tips and guides.

Or you can build a STEM project in easy step-by-steps with The Big Bang Challenge or browse the Big Bang Project Gallery.

CSES Schools' TEXPO: Fri 30 June 2023, ARU Chelmsford

For Y5-13 | Show your project to scientists and engineers | Cash prizes | Free lunch!

Are you in a STEM club at primary or secondary school? Have you made or investigated something fantastic in technology or science lessons? Have you been doing interesting technical projects at home?

Are you a teacher who'd like to showcase your pupils' / students' work? Or are you a parent, guardian or tutor whose child has been working on an exciting project?

If your answer to any of these questions is YES, then exhibit at the annual CSES TEXPO. There is prize money to be won and we even provide lunch!

We welcome projects from all STE(A)M disciplines. You don't need to do any additional work: bring your project(s) as they are. This could be something you've made, software, experiments, reports, posters, videos, presentations etc. You can enter the same project to TEXPO and Big Bang, including projects originally from other competitions.

Click here to find out more | Click here to enter your project(s)

Read more: Now open: Big Bang and TEXPO 2023

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

TEXPO Schools' Competition: Fri 30 June 2023, Anglia Ruskin University

We are pleased to confirm the date for the 2023 CSES Schools' Technology Exhibition (TEXPO).

The dates will be as follows:

• The TEXPO will take place on Friday 30 June 2023.
• The awards evening will take place on one evening of Tuesday 18 July 2023.

Find out more about the competition, and how to enter, here.

We will announce when the TEXPO is open for entries in the coming weeks, and look forward to seeing you in June!

Taking a camera or your phone and shooting a picture is an easy. But how about, when composing your image, you think about how your picture might be used to discover some aspect of science and engineering?

From a flower to a rainbow, from a bubble to a radio mast, from smoke to light, from microscopy to astronomy, everywhere in our modern world we face science and engineering wonders that make our lives easier, more fun and more interesting. This is the fourth year of our competition and we have had some outstanding winners in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Art meets Science – Our annual photographic competition this year aims at creating an opportunity for you to creatively express, in pictures, what you observe within science. We hope that this will get you exploring the visual aspects of STEAM through the art and science of photography, and capturing images that demonstrate and communicate STEAM concepts and phenomena.

This year, with our Giving Voice schools' project, the focus is on the many facets of:

Electronic Communication

(Including everything old and new, from radio to TV to computers and mobile phones, records, CDs, microwaves, IR sensors, Wi-Fi and more!)

We want you to take photographs (up to 3 entries) that express what electronic communication means to you, or how it impacts health and environment (for better or worse). Each photograph should be accompanied with a short plain-language explanation (not more than 50 words) of the science and thoughts behind it.

Read more: Centenary Photographic Competition 2023: Electronic Communication