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.

  • SciLMi: Meta-Scientific Literacies in the (Mis-)Information Age

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

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants
    Maria Vrikki, Christiana Karousiou

    Coordinator
    University of Innsbruck

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

    Budget
    1500000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    101104523

    The SciLMi Teacher Academy is rising to the challenge. It will develop, pilot and evaluate cross-disciplinary blended intensive mobility programmes and trainings for pre- and in-service teachers that provide them with the required transversal competences, digital skills and inclusive teaching strategies to educate the future generation to critically engage with socio-scientific issues, and research and evaluate scientific claims and arguments for decision-making and action (PISA 2025 Science Competency 3). After the project’s lifetime, the programmes and trainings will be continued utilising Erasmus+ KA funding. Given the pan-European dimension of the challenge, the SciLMi Teacher Academy will build a pan-European Hub consisting of providers of initial and continuous education, schools, teacher associations, education authorities, foundations, NGOs, libaries, science centres and other stakeholders to actively involve in the process, to share the implications drawn from the evaluation and to facilitate the integration of meta-scientifc literacy skills into the education systems across Europe, ensuring the impact of the project is sustainable.

  • GEM: Empower Girls to Embrace their Digital and Entrepreneurial Potential

    • Start: 01/2020
    • End: 12/2022

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Coordinator
    University of Education Freiburg

    Ref.
    Pilot Project Horizon 2030/ EU funded

    Budget
    300000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    LC-01380173

    Website
    https://www.girls4stemcyprus.com

    The purpose of this project was to engage girls in STEM activities and enable them to appreciate aspects of STEM and entrepreneurship in which girls usually do not participate in.

  • 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.

  • ProSTEM: European collaboration and mobility in professional development of pre- and in-service STEM Teachers

    • Start: 02/2022
    • End: 01/2025

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants
    Evi Kostantinidou, Kyriakos Demetriou

    Coordinator
    University of Education in Freiburg, Germany

    Ref.
    Erasmus 2027

    Budget
    1495323 EUR

    Website
    https://icse.eu/icse-academy/

    ProSTEM supports the EU’s endeavours to minimize the amount of low-performing STEM learners. It does so by investing in a new era of a high-quality STEM teacher workforce by innovating based on existing best practices teacher education and transnational exchange strategies.