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.

  • NBS4S: Empowering students to act for climate through Nature Based Solutions

    • Start: 12/2023
    • End: 11/2025

    Local Principal Investigator

    Participants

    Coordinator

    Ref.
    KA2, Erasmus+

    Budget
    400000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    KA220-BW-23-36-156685

    Website

    NBS4School aims to introduce the concept of Nature-based-Solutions as an educational tool to support climate change education. NBS is gaining more ground as a methodology to solve real life challenges caused by climate change. At the same time, it has high innovative potential as a teaching tool. By combining the concept with effective and modern pedagogical methods like Citizen Science, NBS4School aims to train teachers to educate the students of the future.

  • Empowering and Inspiring Higher Education students in the STEAM field (STEAM4LIFE)

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

    Local Principal Investigator

    Participants
    Christiana Karousiou

    Coordinator
    Fachhochschule des Mittelstands

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

    Budget
    250.000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2022-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000087805

    Website
    https://www.steam4life.eu/

    STEAM4LaIFE focuses on empowering Higher Education students (with a focus on women) to actively engage in the STEAM field, while promoting higher educational institutes in building their capacity to implement innovative STEAM activities and approaches. This will help to empower and encourage women in the STEAM field, enhancing their confidence and self-esteem and positively affecting their future career choices.

  • ENSITE: Environmental Socio-Scientific Issues in Initial Teacher Education

    • Start: 09/2019
    • End: 08/2022

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants

    Coordinator
    University of Education in Freiburg, Germany

    Ref.
    Erasmus+, Strategic Partnership

    Budget
    449738 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2019-1-DE01-KA203-005046

    Website
    https://icse.eu/ensite/

    The project aimed to develop pre-service teachers pedagogical skills to enable them to deal with environmental socioscientific issues.

  • ICSE Science Factory: Combat a shortfall of scientists and citizens versed in science

    • Start: 01/2023
    • End: 12/2025

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants
    Efi Nisiforou, Maria Nicolaou, Evi Kostantiniou, Maria Vrikki, Elena Papanastasiou, Myrtani Pieri, Iris Charalambidou

    Coordinator
    University of Education in Freiburg, Germany

    Ref.
    HORIZON/WIDERA/2022ERA01

    Budget
    1980000000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    101093387

    Website
    https://icse.eu/reported/icse-science-factory/

    The ICSE Science Factory supports the EU’s endeavor to combat a shortfall of scientists and citizens versed in science. It does so by offering a unique combination of different measures, each of them tackling the issue from a different starting point, thereby leveraging impact. The unique features of the ICSE Science Factory are, in a nutshell:
    • New high-capacity cross-sectoral partnerships in five partner countries consisting of science researchers, science education researchers and non-formal education providers, supported by attached schools, enterprises and community institutions.
    • Innovative concept to enlarge the number of scientists and scientific knowledge in the communities:
      1. To strengthen the partnerships, we organise local partnership conventions, where we share and apply research findings, and local public fairs to integrate communities in the scientific learning process.
      2. With the expertise of the local cross-sectoral partnership, in each country we offer collaborative and interdisciplinary lighthouse activities and open schooling activities for community members (on health, digitalisation, Green Deal), supported by mentoring.
      3. All activities are complemented by a series of interactive career talks, focussing especially but not only on female role models in science and on overcoming stereotypes.
    • An educational, research-backed concept for our lighthouse and open schooling activities which deliberately includes real-life problem-solving on issues relevant to society (including decision-making), and the concept of challenge-driven innovation, which integrates communities in overcoming challenges.
    The activities are supplemented by special features: The setting up of stimulating science labs in each country, a threefold system for encouraging mentoring across the partnership and a systematic approach to quality assurance by using design research, which strives for solutions tailored to local communities based on a joint European concept.