Curiosity in Action

How can creative, participatory STEM activities support youth and community work to enhance young people’s confidence, resilience and wellbeing? 

Curiosity In Action is a two-year programme involving building an evidence-base, capacity and a network in Scotland to explore the impact of STEM in youth work funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

The action research strand includes pairing youth groups across Scotland with researchers involved in STFC research - including astronomy, space science and physics - in a collaborative action research process. Together they will trial activities, explore approaches to discover what works well and understand the impact this work has on young people.

This learning will shape a series of free training opportunities and resources developed for Community Learning and Development practitioners, researchers and science educators. We will also be collectively working on publishing the findings from this work with the youth workers and researchers involved.

Alongside this, we host the Curiosity In Communities Network. The network is open to everyone interested in the role of STEM to support Community Learning and Development (CLD) practice outcomes with and by young people. CLD practitioners, science educators, researchers and anyone else interested are invited to connect, build collaborations and share learning together.

The programme is facilitated by Science Ceilidh in partnership with Youth Link Scotland, along with partners including The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow. See the full project steering group here.

ACTION RESEARCH PROGRAMME

Curiosity In Communities Network

Upcoming Events

training sessions

We are hosting free online training sessions throughout 2025 to explore how we can use STEM in a youth work-based approach for youth workers, CLD practitioners (including early years) and researchers (including PhD students).

Next dates

  • Tue 25 Mar 2025, 2:00PM - 4:00PM

  • Wed 21 May 2025, 1:00PM - 3:00PM

  • Thu 24 Jul 2025, 11:00AM - 1:00PM

Curiosity in Communities: March Community of Practice

Tue 27 Mar 2025, 1:30PM - 3:00PM

In this month's CoP we will be sharing the learning from the Curiosity in Action programme, having a network member spotlight with a current project using STEM to support youth work outcomes, and having breakout rooms to explore the interests of those in attendance and a space for networking and exchanging resources.

If you would like to share a 5 minute spotlight on a project involving STEM to support youth work, get in touch!

Project Steering Group

This programme is facilitated by Science Ceilidh in partnership with Youthlink Scotland and a group of steering group members including Professor Catherine Heymans, Royal Observatory of Edinburgh (ROE) STFC, Abi Ashton, ROE STFC, Dr Xinran Liu, University of Edinburgh and UNDO, Dr Jean-Christophe Denis, University of Edinburgh, Dr Autumn Roesh-Marsh, University of Edinburgh Bink Hub, Professor Martin Hendry, University of Glasgow, Hilary Phillips, Youth Link Scotland, Dr Amy Calder, Youth Link Scotland and John Galt, Education Scotland. The Principal Investigator for the programme is Lewis Hou (Science Ceilidh Director). We also have developing collaborations including with SSERC Young STEM Leaders and University of Aberdeen, and are open to further connections.

This is a collaborative programme to help build momentum, evidence and connectivity across sectors to support the meaningful involvement of STEM in youth work and we’re still building collaborations and keen to connect with wider partners passionate about this work.  If you’re interested in being more involved in the strategy of the network & programme please get in touch.