InSSTER

InSSTER, Innovative STS (Science, Society, Technology) Education Research Centre, is a dynamic multidisciplinary research hub that brings together passionate educators and scholars from diverse fields within the field of education. Our collaborative team includes faculty members and researchers from the Department of Education at the University of Nicosia. Together, we explore the intersection of inclusive research education, science, society, and technology, with a strong emphasis on innovative and inclusive practices.

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Vision

InSSTER promotes research in education focusing on innovative and inclusive practices in Science, Society, Technology education. This involves transforming schools to cater to all children, including marginalised groups, aiming to eliminate exclusion. It also emphasises cultivating skills for global problem-solving, ensuring inclusive education, and addressing gender equality in digital skills. InSSTER aligns with the Digital Education Action Plan for comprehensive and high-quality digital instruction and training (European Commission, 2020).

Objectives

  • 1

    Conduct state-of-the-art research under the umbrella of innovative and inclusive education with links to science, society and technology;

  • 2
    Participate in competitive EU calls and receive external funding for projects
  • 3
    Establish a national and international network with relevant, researchers, schools, and policy makers;
  • 4
    Engage with society on issues related to inclusive science and technology education, and
  • 5
    Offer continuous training on skills, methodologies and technologies to its members and beyond.

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Research

The members of InSSTER are involved in funded research under the umbrella of Innovative and Inclusive education with links to science, society and technology.

  • VRinHE: Integrating Virtual and Augmented Reality in Higher Education Curricula

    • Start:
    • End:

    Local Principal Investigator
    Efi Nisiforou

    Coordinator
    UNIVERSITY OF RUSE ANGEL KANCHEV

    Budget
    259015 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2021-1-BG01-KA220-HED-000032128

    VRinHE aims to build the capacities of HE institutions and their staff, to integrate Virtual and Augmented Reality in teaching and learning, targeting key EU priorities. The project will sustainable promote digital transformation of the HE sector, by providing relevant stakeholders with innovative methods, approaches and guidelines to increase the participation rates, improve the quality of HE, and foster university learners’ digital, 21st century skills. A discussion on the importance of following coherent strategy and policy will also be initiated.

  • Fighting the online post-truth conspiracy (NEWSPIRACY)

    • Start: 12/2022
    • End: 11/2024

    Participants
    Christiana Karousiou

    Coordinator
    Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)

    Ref.
    Erasmus+, KA220-HED - Cooperation partnerships in higher education

    Budget
    250000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2022-1-ES01-KA220-HED-000089608

    Website
    https://newspiracy.eu/

    NEWSPIRACY aims to raise public awareness of the existence of fake news and their influence, learning about their mechanism and their creation process, in order to be able to detect and analyze them in greater depth.

  • OnlineHE: A practical toolkit for integrating elearning in Higher Education Curricula

    • Start:
    • End:

    Participants
    Christiana Karousiou

    Coordinator
    University of Pitești, Romania

    Ref.
    ERASMUS + KA2, Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, KA226 - Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

    Budget
    183680 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2020-1-RO01-KA226-HE-095434

    Website
    https://onlinehe.eu/

    A shift towards distance learning is evident worldwide, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, educational organisations, including Higher Education (HE) institutions, are asked to face the complexities and challenges emerged, such as the lack of digital skills and strategic planning. To address these issues, a consortium of 7 partners from 6 EU countries, including CARDET from Cyprus and Universitatea din Pitesti from Romania, participate in the project OnlineHE, under the ERASMUS+ KA2 programme of the European Commission. The project, aligned with the European Commission’s initiatives, aims at building the capacity of HE faculty, leaders, and learning designers in integrating eLearning in the design and delivery of courses. By producing valuable resources, such as a useful Toolkit, a training course, a MOOC, and policy recommendations, the project is expected to modernise HE curricula and practices across Europe, improving the quality of teaching and learning online.

  • NBS Academy: A European Academy for integrating Nature-based Solutions (NBS) in teacher education

    • Start: 06/2023
    • End: 05/2026

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants
    Iris Charalambidou

    Ref.
    ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PEX-TEACH-ACA

    Budget
    1500000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    101104412

    NBS Academy sets to create a European Community of Practice (CoP) of teacher education and training providers, teachers, policy makers and other education experts focused on developing and testing new professional learning programmes for improving teachers’ competences on Education for Environmental Sustainability by utilising Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). By creating a new NBS Education Framework, NBS Academy will acknowledge the innovative aspect of NBS Education and supplement the theoretical research on NBS’ educational potential. Innovative ITE and CPD programmes will be developed and pilot implemented by in six different countries, covering different geographical, cultural and linguistic areas of the EU. The cultural diversity and multilingualism will be celebrated by implementing the training programmes via a blended mobility approach (including a Summer School as well as distance VR mobility training). This will result in raising the appeal of the teaching profession and its internationalization by increasing the opportunities for both teachers and teacher trainers to interact and learn from peers across the EU.