Friday 11 February 2022

One of the major aims of our society is to raise awareness about both the achievements and challenges of science, engineering, and all things technological. As we continue to develop our educational activities, we would we like to ensure that – as far as possible – we link what we do into both the national and global picture.

There are many national and international celebrations, some of which are dedicated to areas of science and engineering; these are occasions designed to educate the public on issues of concern, and to help mobilise political will and resources to address national and global problems.

As we continue to develop our activities, we will try to co-ordinate some of our activities around selected STEM celebrations, either by simply providing information or by organising specific activities to use these as a springboard for raising awareness.

Please think about volunteering to help CSES contribute to or organise an event next year to celebrate:

International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11 February

Please contact us if you're interested.

Read more: International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022

Free STEM Ambassador Networking Event for Primary and Secondary Schools: Thu 31 March 2022

Come along to a FREE visit to Anglia Ruskin University on Thursday 31 March 2022 for an afternoon of STEM and Environment activities for primary and secondary students. The afternoon will include a tour of the University's cutting-edge Medical School lab facilities, STEM activities, refreshments, and a chance to hear from schools participating in CSES' Fresh Air Fresh Thinking project.

Fresh Air Fresh Thinking is a major new science, technology and computing project for primary and secondary schools. Using a Raspberry Pi, air quality sensors and meteorological equipment, participating students are conducting investigations into air quality and climate across Essex. This is a great opportunity to find out more, potentially get involved yourself next year, and to discuss the climate crisis more widely as a key driver for bringing science and technology to all.

If you are already involved, this will give you an opportunity to see the activities that others have carried out, discuss any new ideas and also present your students' work to an audience.

Free parking is available on campus.

To book your FREE place, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stem-networking-science-and-technology-for-all-tickets-266967706597

Read more: STEM Networking: Science and Technology for All

Schools' TEXPO: Fri 17 June 2022, Anglia Ruskin University

We are pleased to announce the return of our refreshed annual schools' competition: the CSES Schools' Technology Exhibition (TEXPO).

The dates will be as follows:

• The TEXPO will take place on Friday 17 June 2022
• The awards evening will take place on an evening of 5-7 July (TBC).

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!

Our second annual photographic competition in 2021 received a wealth of entries, with a wide range of interpretations of around the theme of Fresh Air Fresh Thinking, and we were particularly impressed with the large number submitted by primary school students.

We are pleased to again invite entries for 2022. Exploring the key link between the creative arts and STEM, the competition is, as usual, to encourage primary and secondary school students to use their imagination and creative skills. On this basis, it is open to anyone in full time or part time education in Essex. However, this year we will also have an adult category open to any Essex resident or worker.

Climate change and global warming should be on everybody's agenda. From simple things like walking to school/work and planting trees to technological solutions like green power and carbon capture, we can begin to reduce greenhouse gases and our carbon footprint. Changes in lifestyles, technology, food, farming etc all provide a wealth of inspiration as to how we can help ensure a better world for future generations, so continuing last year’s environmental theme, this year's competition is:

Controlling the Climate Crisis

We want you to take photographs that express what you think are the ways in which we are starting to mitigate the climate crisis. Each photograph should be accompanied with a short explanation (not more than 50 words) of the story or thoughts behind it.

Read more: Centenary Photographic Competition 2022: Controlling the Climate Crisis

Images on the theme of Fresh Air, Fresh Thinking

We were absolutely delighted to receive such incredibly high-quality – and clever! – entries to our second Photographic Competition, this year on the theme of Fresh Air, Fresh Thinking to accompany our Affiliate Schools Project. As you will see below, these convey some very powerful messages, and should give us all pause for thought.

You can see all of the photographs at our web gallery here.

Congratulations to our winners, whose entries are shown below. They have received Amazon vouchers to the value of £60 (first prize), £30 (second prize) and £20 (third prize). We look forward to running another competition this year.

Read more: Photographic Competition 2021 winners announced

November 2021 — we were delighted to be informed that Sarah Mirkin (Year 2/3), one of the winners of our Imagine! STEAM online competitions earlier in the year, was recently invited to Downing Street for an audience with the Prime Minister ahead of his attendance at COP26.

There is more information here:

https://twitter.com/borisjohnson/status/1453708293671636997?s=21

She was also lucky enough to be interviewed for Sky News, along with other children:

https://schools.firstnews.co.uk/fn-education-tv/fyi/fyi-episode-146/#fvp_FYI-TX146_FIRST-NEWS

Our congratulations and thanks to Sarah and her mother, who very kindly told us that "initiatives such as yours ... help the children feel part of something important and feel heard contribute in many surprising ways".

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.

Read more: Inclusivity: Closing The Gap

Following a careers talk from CSES, Solomon Malih (Year 12/13) completed a successful Nuffield Research Placement over the 2021 summer holidays. He has kindly told us his story here...

Over the summer, I had the privilege of completing a Nuffield Research Placement. The Nuffield Research Placements are an excellent opportunity to spend two weeks with a subject specialist or industry expert working on a live research topic. As for what you do on this two-week placement, that can vary. I know one placement which was centred around artificial intelligence, whilst another was more practical and involved designing a solution to a real-world engineering problem. Some will be more research-based than others, but they will all likely involve reading academic literature, collecting primary and secondary data, and working with the software used in academia and industry.

I spent two weeks investigating the use of quantum computation for particle physics with a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. Some of the theory and mathematics involved was at an undergraduate or even post-graduate standard, but my supervisor was very patient with me and willing to explain things multiple times if needed. My supervisor's work involved testing a quantum physics concept known as a gauge theory using quantum computation. The particles involved in testing the gauge theory can be modelled as quantum gates, which I implemented in a quantum circuit and simulated using Qiskit, an open-source SDK (software development kit) that provides tools for working with quantum machines.

At the end of the placement, I had to produce a 10-20 page research report outlining my project's aim, findings, methodology, and more.

Read more: Solomon's Story: Nuffield Placement