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.

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

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

    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.

  • DIALLS: DIalogue and Argumentation for cultural Literacy Learning in Schools

    • Start: 01/2018
    • End: 01/2021

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Vrikki

    Participants
    Maria Evagorou

    Coordinator
    Cambridge University, UK

    Ref.
    Horizon 2020/ EU funded

    Budget
    4400000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    770045

    DIALLS was a three-year project working with schools to understand and develop how children and young people make sense of Europe and its differing cultures. Schools in seven countries worked with researchers and teacher educators to develop a Cultural Literacy Learning Programme (CLLP), where young people of all ages learn the skills of ‘dialogue and argumentation‘ to be better able to communicate with each other, understanding each other’s perspectives and exploring the different cultural heritages and values of people who live in Europe.

  • Democratic Dialogue at school: an online game based training tool on Democratic Dialogue for Teachers, (DD@S)

    • Start: 11/2021
    • End: 05/2024

    Participants
    Christiana Karousiou

    Coordinator
    Erasmus Brussels University of Applied Sciences and Arts (EhB), Brussels

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

    Budget
    395.917 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2021-1-BE02-KA220-SCH-000032794

    Website
    https://ddasproject.eu/

    The DD@S project believes in the strength of dialogue to tackle intolerance and discrimination at school to stimulate inclusive education all over Europe. Therefore, this project contributes in the professional development of teachers to acquire effective dialogue skills to cope with ethnic, religious and multicultural conflict situations at school. A gamification based online training in democratic dialogue, a toolkit with tools and good practices including content managed system and guide to help teacher teams in developing their own specific training cases, teacher modules and a guide for implementation and policy recommendations will be organized and implemented to tackle this challenge.

  • 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.