Projects

At NUSTEM we’ve had the pleasure of working with a wide range of funders along with academic colleagues and external partners over the years. This timeline brings all of our projects together in one place. A veritable trip through time!

2025–2027
Sonic Intangibles

Sonification is a way of representing data through sound. It has been used to represent distant galaxies, computer network traffic, and the Earth’s magnetic sphere.

The Sonic Intangibles project aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines to explore the most effective way of collaborating to produce sonification of research data. As part of the project, the NUSTEM team are developing a ‘Sounds club’ for primary schools to see if sonification could be useful in primary school teaching.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick, Antonio Portas

Northumbria University academic Partners: Shelly Knotts, Daniel Ratliff, Paul Vickers, Lucy Whalley

Newcastle University academic partners: Jorge Boehringer, George Castleton, Christopher Harrison, Bennett Hogg, Rose Shepherd,

Funded by: UKRI’s Cross Research Council Responsive Mode Scheme Grant number MR/Z506448/1
ONE Planet Outreach Network
The ‘ONE Planet Outreach Network’ aims to address the low engagement of minoritized ethnic groups across the NE in the natural and environmental sciences. Through the project we will develop a network of climate change facilitators in the NE, across both Newcastle and Northumbria Universities (with support from the ONE Planet partnership) and establish a new environmental outreach programme that is underpinned by a DEI assessment and impact framework.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

Academic Partners: Emma Hocking

External partners: Newcastle University (Stephen Blenkinsop, Rachel Carr, Heather Sugden, Hayley Fowler, Michelle Palmer, Laura Jones, Jayne Moorhead)

Funded by: NERC Diversifying the Talent Pipeline

2023
2023–2026
SPOTW Cymru
STEM Person of the Week (SPOTW) – Cymru uses the established and evidence-backed initiative created by NUSTEM and adapts it to serve a new primary schools’ audience in Wales. SPOTW-Cymru helps Welsh students and teachers recognise local/regional relevance of STFC-linked STEM jobs and will meet the bilingual requirements of the country and the curriculum.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

External partners: Science Made Simple: Rachel Mason, Wendy Sadler

Funded by: STFC
STEM Communities
STEM Communities targets families with children aged 8–11 from schools in the area local to Woodhorn Mining Museum. It brings together children, their families and researchers, to learn about the local heritage of science and technology in the North East, and to explore science and technologies currently being developed that will shape their futures. The project aims to enable local families to develop their STEM interests, to become a community of scientists leading their own scientific enquiries.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick

External partners: Woodhorn Museum (Liz Ferguson, Becky Cooper, Zoe Cheshire)

Funded by: STFC ST/Y002954/1

2023–2026
2022–2025
NUNA: Effective mitigation and adaptation to changing ground conditions for reslilient coastal futures
NUSTEM is part of an international project working with the community in Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories of Canada. This broad project will look at how the gathering data with the community to support them to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change on their region. Our role will be to work with the school and community organiser to help communicate the scientific findings to children and families in Tuktoyaktuk.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick, Carol Davenport

Wider Northumbria Team: Mike Lim, Jane Entwistle, John Woodward, Paul Mann, Anil Namdeo, James Martin

Funder: Canada-Inuit Nunangat – United Kingdom Arctic (CINUK) Research Programme
Career-related learning in Chemistry (CLIC)
CLIC provides a programme of chemistry-focused, careers-linked interventions for pupils in year 7 and year 8 in two secondary schools in the North East of England. Over the course of the two years, pupils will meet and find out more about people who work in chemistry and explore applications of chemistry in the real-world. The main objectives of the project are to: increase young people’s awareness of chemistry careers, increase young people’s knowledge of the pathways to these careers, and support their ‘chemistry-identity’.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Antonio Portas, Annie Padwick

External Team: Graeme Turnbull, Matt Unthank, Gary Black

Funder: Royal Society of Chemistry

2022–2023
2022
Careers-related Learning in Primary Schools
This project, in collaboration with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP), aims to analyse current Career Related Learning (CRL) in primary school settings to inform government policy on careers guidance. We will commission and examine the views of a representative sample of over 2000 primary school teachers in across England in 2022. This data will be presented alongside the evaluation findings of other careers-related learning projects of the group in a State of the Nation report. This project will develop our learning into how best to disseminate our findings with key policy makers and other stakeholders.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick

External Team: North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP)

Funder: Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement (CAPE)
Climate Change: It’s In Our Hands
Climate Change: It’s In Our Hands will be a climate change education resource, co-designed by experts in climate science, games design, and science outreach with stakeholders from the target audiences: teachers and children. The aim for the board game is to enable players to explore the complexities of climate change in an engaging and accessible way. It will invite children to take part in discussions about actionable solutions to climate change, and support them to adopt climate-positive attitudes and behaviours. Following the game creation, teachers from 15 primary schools in North-East England will be trained to use it in classrooms, and resources will be distributed online. What children learn through the game play, and how, will be explored through an impact evaluation and corresponding research study.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

External Team: Emma Hocking, Matthew Pound

Funder: NERC

2022–2023
2021–2024
Fungi in a warming world
In this project NUSTEM will develop a board game. Aimed at primary children, the game will help them to find out about the importance of fungi and how they will be affected by climate change.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

External Team: Matt Pound

Funder: NSFGEO-NERC
MAPPP - Maya Archaeology and Palaeoecology Partnership Project
NUSTEM is contributing to this project by training Belizean undergraduate students in science communication so that they can work with school children in their home towns. We’ll work with the project researchers to develop classroom resources based on the findings from the research, which the undergraduates will be able to use.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell

External Team: Bronwen Whitney

2021-2023
2021–2023
Carbon Emissions under Arctic Snow: Climate Connections
As part of this research project, NUSTEM is linking two schools, one in Canada and one in the North East of England. The schools’ children will share information about their schools and their environments. Together they’ll learn more about climate change and how it might affect their lives.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell

External Team: Nick Rutter

Funder: NERC
Creativity Clubs
NUSTEM partnered with Success4All to develop and deliver Creativity Clubs. The project is a year-long series of 6-week Creativity Clubs, with each 6-week block being themed around a broad area of STEM linked to science funded by the STFC. It is delivered in a North East Community centre to children aged 4–7 years old. Club sessions are filled with a variety of STEM-linked activities and the themes were linked to children’s literacy books with copies gifted to each child. This project looks at the best ways to engage younger audiences in community settings with STFC science.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Mel Horan, Annie Padwick

External Team: Kirsty Hayward, Emma Clark at Success 4 All.

Funder: STFC.

2021–2022
2021–2022
Let’s do engineering
Let’s do Engineering is a project led by Dr Helen Bridle from Heriot-Watt University. The project brings together engineering professionals, schools, nurseries, musicians, artists, storytellers and children to design fun and engaging engineering activities. All of the resources developed during the project will be available on the Let’s do engineering website.

NUSTEM is supporting Helen as she develops the project, using our previous experience of working with young children and their families, and our expertise in evaluating the impact of activities with this group.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

External Partner: Dr Helen Bridle, Professor Thusha Rajendran

Funder: EPSRC Engagement Champions Award
RiPSAW – Revealing the pattern of solar alfvénic waves
NUSTEM will work with Richard Morton to develop poetry workshops for families and communities in rural areas of the North East. We’ll help solar physics colleagues to create their own poetry, and deliver workshops as well.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick

External Team: Richard Morton

Funder: UKRI

2020–2025
2020–2023
Reading Sparks
Reading Sparks is a project led by The Reading Agency. The project will harness the proven power of reading to engage families with STEM, and bridge the gap in science capital for families from lower socio-economic groups, teenage girls and BME communities. There are 11 library services across England involved in the project: Barnsley, Coventry, Derbyshire, Halton, Hillingdon, Hull, Newham, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Swindon, and Torbay.

NUSTEM is working with The Reading Agency to develop activities for loan bags that the libraries will share with their visitors, and supporting the work with young people. We are also involved in the governance and evaluation of the project.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Jonathan Sanderson, Carol Davenport

External partners: The Reading Agency, British Science Association

Funders: Arts Council England, Science and Technology Facilities Council
Union Chain Bridge: Crossing Borders, Inspiring Communities
The Union Chain Bridge project will conserve the historically important Union Chain Bridge near Berwick, simultaneously delivering an exciting programme of events, activities and learning opportunities. NUSTEM is working with Museums Northumberland on the development and delivery of the primary schools and family engagement activities.

You can find out more about the whole project, including some amazing drone footage of the bridge at the project website: Union Chain Bridge

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick

External Partners: Museums Northumberland

Funders: National Lottery Heritage Fund, Northumberland County Council, Scottish Borders Council

2020–2022
2020–2022
Inventive
Professor Trevor Cox, from Salford University, is creating a podcast series – Inventive – which tells stories of engineering. Using a fascinating mix of interviews with a diverse range of engineers and fiction based on those interviews, Inventive blends different voices together to create a new way of looking at engineers and engineering.

NUSTEM is working with the Inventive team to create curriculum materials linked to the engineers and the stories.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Jonathan Sanderson, Antonio Portas

External Partners: Professor Trevor Cox, Adam Fowler, Anna Scott-Brown, Annabeth Robinson, Gill Davies

Funder: EPSRC
Our Past, Your Future
Using the NUSTEM primary schools partnership as a model, children, teachers and families from 15 primary schools in the North of Tyne region will learn about the heritage of the North East and look to the future of STEM in the region. There will also be a summer school based at Woodhorn Museum, visits to local companies and teacher CPD provided by Historic England.

You can find out more about the project, including an interactive map of North East Heritage, on the project webpage: Our Past, Your Future.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Jonathan Sanderson

External partners: Museums Northumberland, Historic England

Funder: North of Tyne Combined Authority

2019–2022
2019–2023
Connect
A collaboration with the making and tinkering experts at the Centre for Life, this three-year project will bring physical computing to families and communities across the region. Participants will add their own biological and technological distinctiveness to an ever-growing network of robots.

For more information, see the Connect pages.

NUSTEM Team: Jonathan Sanderson, Joe Shimwell, Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick
External partners: Centre for Life
Funder: North of Tyne Combined Authority
Tipping Points in Antarctic Climate Components (TiPPACs)
TiPPACs is a collaboration between five European partners. The project is investigating the possibility of sudden and large changes in different parts of the environment in Antarctica, particularly the relatively ‘warm’ water underneath some of the ice shelves, and the ice sheets themselves.

NUSTEM is supporting public engagement and training for researchers involved in the project.

You can download the teaching resources developed for the project from the University Knowledge Bank (free).

The project lead at Northumbria University is Hilmar Gudmundsson.

Funder: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no.820575

2019–2023
2019–2022
SOLARNET
SOLARNET is a European Commission project aimed at fostering networking between around 600 European solar scientists, conducting joint research activity and supporting access to research infrastructures. Some of the activities in the project involve training in scientific principles and in public engagement. NUSTEM is working with Dr Richard Morton to support the outreach activities of the project.

Funder: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824135.
Me, You & Science Too
MYST is an early years literacy project, seeing us collaborate with one of our partner schools to develop and deliver a series of ten family workshops. The workshops involve reading a STEM-based story book and a linked practical activity.

We’re aiming to support the school in developing home-school links; empower parents to read more often with their children; normalise family discussion about STEM ideas; and research the effects of the project so we can subsequently share recommendations and best practice.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick, Mel Horan, Carol Davenport

External partner: Battle Hill Primary School

Funder: SHINE Trust

2019–2021
2019–2021
Cacoon
We are working with Dr Paul Mann to develop activities exploring the impacts of climate change on Arctic ecosystems and communities. Local artist Dominic Smith has helped us to use photography to model permafrost melting in an understandable and highly visual fashion.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Carol Davenport

Academic: Paul Mann

External Partners: Helix Arts and Dominic Smith

Funded by: Natural Environment Research Council, through their Changing Arctic Oceans programme
Family Space Explorers 2
Building on the Family Space Explorers project, NUSTEM are working with local cultural venues to share the excitement of space exploration with a wider audience.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Itoro Emembolu, Joe Shimwell

External partners: Life Science Centre, Great North Museum: Hancock, Success4All, Common Room of the Great North

Funder: UK Space Agency

2019–2021
2019–2021
MANAPRE
NUSTEM is collaborating with colleagues in the Department of Geography and researchers in Mexico City on the Mexico City Partnership on Health and Air Pollution Research and Engagement (MANAPRE). The project studies air quality in Mexico City. NUSTEM have created a series of science and career lesson inserts for teachers in Mexico to use to teach their students about what air quality is, and how it can be improved. You can find the Spanish and English versions of the resources here.

NUSTEM Team: Antonio Portas, Carol Davenport

Northumbria University Academic Team: Anil Namdeo, Jane Entwistle, Lindsay Bramwell

Funded by: British Council Newton Fund
Tales of Engineering
Tales of Engineering connects professional engineers with pre-school children and their families, and with nursery children. They share their love of engineering by reading a story book with family groups, the books chosen carefully to align with the engineers’ interests and expertise. At the end of the session, the children will take the book home with them.

NUSTEM Team: Antonio Portas, Mel Horan, Annie Padwick, Sonia Singh Chahal, Jonathan Sanderson, Carol Davenport

Engineer team: Vikash Kumar, Stewart Franks, Carolina Costa, Linzi Dodd, Paula McMahon, Harri Beatie, Talib Butt

Funder: Royal Academy of Engineering Ingenious Grant

2019–2020
2019–2020
Careers in Initial Teacher Education (CITE)
CITE is a study which provides training for trainee teachers and their mentors about careers education in primary schools. The training consists of three sessions and gap task which explore unconscious bias, careers aspirations and employability characteristics in primary schools.

The training has also been used with other primary school teachers and was delivered both face to face and online.

NUSTEM team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

External partner: North East LEP

Funder: Careers and Enterprise Company
Geography: Past Present and Future
Geography: Past, Present and Future is a series of three workshops exploring climate change and environmental science with primary school children.

Academics from Northumbria University’s cold and palaeo-environment (CAPE) research group worked with NUSTEM to co-design and co-deliver workshops. The project also supported children to act as researchers to consider how environmental science can be used to see what the environment was like in the past, measure what’s happening now, and predict what it will be like in the future.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Mel Horan, Annie Padwick, Itoro Emembolu

Academic Team: Leanne Wake, Matthew Pound, Kate Winter, Nick Rutter, Sebastian Rosier, John Woodward, Richard Morton

Funded by: Northumbria University

2019–2020
2018–2021
Exploring Extreme Environments (E3)
Exploring Extreme Environments (E3) uses science, poetry and art linked to the extreme environments found in the Sun and Antarctica to engage and educate children.

Towards the end of the project there will be an Antarctica-inspired community performance of poetry and sounds by Katrina Porteous (poet) and Peter Zinovieff (composer) to help showcase the amazing relationship between art and science.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick, Joe Shimwell, Mel Horan, Jonathan Sanderson
Academic team: John Woodward, James McLaughlin, Richard Morton

External partners: Katrina Porteous, Peter Zinovieff, Helen Schell, Discovery Museum

Funder: STFC
Think Engineering #2
The Reece Foundation funds part of the NUSTEM primary partnership work, with a particular focus on showcasing engineering careers. The funding also supports NUSTEM Think Week, yearly summer schools for children aged 9–10.

Each year, the Reece foundation also supports a Northumbria University Placement Student, who works with NUSTEM for the whole year.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Mel Horan, Jonathan Sanderson, Carol Davenport, Annie Padwick

Placement Students: Dan Wilkinson, Luke Haworth, Sonia Singh Chahal, Bethany Willis

Funder: Reece Foundation

2018–2020
2018–2019
Union Chain Bridge Learning package
The Union Chain Bridge is a historic bridge near Berwick upon Tweed which was completed in 1820 and was then the longest chain suspension bridge in the World. Two hundred years on, the bridge was in need of refurbishment, and a partnership between Northumberland County Council, Scottish Borders Council, Museums Northumberland and supported by the Friends of the Union Chain bridge came together to bid for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

As part of the preparation of that bid, NUSTEM drew up a vision for a STEM learning programme that would bring an understanding of the science and engineering involved to children, teachers and families in schools within 10 miles of Berwick.

NUSTEM Team: Jonathan Sanderson, Carol Davenport

External partners: Jane Miller, Anita Wan, Rowan Brown (Museums Northumberland)

Funder: Northumberland County Council / Heritage Lottery Fund
Ogden Outreach Officer
The Ogden Trust provide support for the Ogden Outreach Officer within NUSTEM. The officer provides physics-specific support to pupils and teachers, as well as working with academic staff on public engagement projects.

NUSTEM team: Antonio Portas, Carol Davenport.

Academic team: Rodrigo Ledesma-Aguilar, Shaun Bloomfield

Funder: Ogden Trust

2017–2021
2017–2019
British Gear Association
Working with the industry association for gear specialists within mechanical engineering, we developed a practical workshop for primary schools and trained BGA members to deliver the workshop nationwide.

NUSTEM team: Joe Shimwell, Jonathan Sanderson, Carol Davenport

Funder: British Gear Association
Family Space Explorers
Family Space Explorers involved two family storytime activities based around the theme of space exploration. Using two books, one of which was written specifically for the project, families of pre-school children read a story and then did a simple building activity together using the story as a creative springboard. The sessions were delivered in local libraries and cultural venues. After the session, families were given a copy of the book to take home.

NUSTEM team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Jonathan Sanderson, Luke Howarth

Funder: UK Space Agency

2017–2018
2017–2018
NECOP Careers Material Development
The North East Collaborative Outreach programme involved the five universities and 19 colleges in the North East region. As part of the special projects fund, NUSTEM created two teacher CPD sessions on careers in the curriculum and unconscious bias. We also wrote science topic worksheets using (mostly local) companies as a context that teachers could use in their classrooms.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Jonathan Sanderson

External partners: Alom Shaha, James Brown, Anne Willis, Cathryn Arnold

Funding: HEFCE
Imagining the Sun
Imagining the Sun was a collaboration between a poet, a sound artist and a visual artist with Northumbria University’s solar physics research group, supported by NUSTEM. The project challenged public and schools audiences to explore how approaches from art and science can complement and inform each other. Alongside the schools programme was a series of public performances and exhibitions.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Sarah Hilton, Jonathan Sanderson

Academic team: John Woodward, The Solar Physics group including Richard Morton, Gert Botha, Valentina Zharkova, and James Mclaughlin,

External partners: Katrina Porteous, Helen Schell, Peter Zinovieff

Funded by: STFC (ST/N005562/1)

2016–2018
2016–2017
Engineering for Families
Engineering for Families is a 6-week family-learning course developed for primary school children and their parents/carers. Each session introduced families to a different branch of engineering, and allowed carers and children to create and build together in a relaxed atmosphere. The sessions were delivered at six schools in Blyth, and there was also teacher CPD so that the schools could continue to deliver the club themselves.

NUSTEM Team: Joe Shimwell, Dan Wilkinson, Carol Davenport, Antonio Portas

Funded by: Platten Family fund at the Community Foundation
Giant Waves in the Ocean: From Sea Monsters to Science
In this project NUSTEM collaborated with colleagues from the Maths department and a visual artist to explore the concept of creativity in art and mathematics in North East primary schools.

NUSTEM Team: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell

Academic team: Sara Lombardo, Matteo Sommacal, Benoit Huard

External partners: Gloria Ronchi

Funded by: Maths Forsees network

2016–2017
2016
A-level Practical Films
Working with physics teachers Alom Shaha and Christina Astin, NUSTEM produced a series of films for A-level Physics teachers. The films showed different ways to approach some of the required practicals in A-level Physics in England.

NUSTEM Team involved: Carol Davenport, Jonathan Sanderson

Funded by: Ogden Trust, Northumbria University

External partners: Physics Partners
Tim Peake Primary Project
The Tim Peake Primary Project was developed around Tim Peake’s stay on the International Space Station. The project was led by STEM Learning and involved Space Ambassadors working in schools and with other organisations to share the excitement of space (and STEM more widely) with children.

NUSTEM worked with schools in the North East to deliver the project.

NUSTEM Team involved: Carol Davenport, James Brown, Joe Shimwell

Funder: ESERO-UK

2015–2016
2014–2017
Think Engineering #1
We developed a Maker Lab, allowing us to purchase maker tools and equipment which could be used with young people either in Think Lab, or within schools and other venues. This meant that we could include hands-on tinkering and making activities in partner schools. It also helped us to develop installations for Maker Faire to show engineering and design thinking in action.

Reece also funded three yearly summer schools for year 12 female students who were studying Maths and Physics at A-level (or equivalent) and considering Engineering at University. The three week long summer schools introduced the students to a range of local engineering companies and helped them to think about how they could make a difference in the world through STEM.

NUSTEM Team involved: Carol Davenport, Emma Garrick, Jonathan Sanderson, Joe Shimwell, Annie Padwick

Funder: Reece Foundation
Explore Your Universe
Explore Your Universe was developed by the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and supported by STFC. The activities included science shows and workshops.

NUSTEM was part of the second phase of the project.

NUSTEM Team involved: Carol Davenport, Joe Shimwell, Sarah Hilton

2014–16
2014
Think Physics – HEFCE Catalyst
We started as ‘Think Physics,’ an ambitious three-year initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England as a ‘Catalyst’ project. Our original aim was to increase the number of young people studying A-level physics and physics related degrees. However, we knew from the beginning that we had to plan for the longer term – about 20 years – to really see a change in the number of young people studying physics, and STEM subjects more widely.

NUSTEM Team involved: Everyone

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2023

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2023–2026

2022–2025

2022–2023

2022

2022–2023

2021–2024

2021-2023

2021–2023

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2021–2022

2020–2025

2020–2023

2020–2022

2020–2022

2019–2022

2019–2023

2019–2023

2019–2022

2019–2021

2019–2021

2019–2021

2019–2021

2019–2020

2019–2020

2019–2020

2018–2021

2018–2020

2018–2019

2017–2021

2017–2019

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2014

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