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.

  • Supporting School Leaders to build a digital transformation strategy (DigiLEAD)

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

    Participants
    Christiana Karousiou

    Coordinator
    Institute of Technology and Development Foundation, Bulgaria

    Ref.
    Erasmus+, KA220-SCH - Cooperation partnerships in school education

    Budget
    264.626 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2021-1-BG01-4KA220-SCH-000032711

    Website
    https://digilead-project.eu

    DigiLEAD aims to upskill the school leaders’ competencies to develop digital transformation strategies and support the teachers and students to improve their digital skills and competencies. Specific Objectives:
    • Support School leaders and staff to develop a digital strategy and their digital skills.
    • Develop school leadership teams’ competencies for leveraging free digital tools and resources for school improvement.
    • Develop a practical toolkit aligned with the DigCompEdu, with practical, step-by-step guides on how to design and deploy a strategy.
    • Help schools to adapt and use the SELFIE and TET-SAT tools to support the digital strategy development.

  • 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.

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

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

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    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.