In this article we offer a conceptual and practical contribution to the field of STEM education by investigating the concepts educators may include in Quantum Technologies (QT) outreach activities. We embed our approach in the discipline-culture (DC) framework, in which we consider the cultural nuances of QT as an important factor which must not…

Gypsy, Roma and Travellers (GRT) are a highly marginalised UK higher education minority with patchy targeted policy interventions. Drawing on qualitative interview data with education professionals working with GRT and with GRT young people, families and activists, the article compares attitudes, expectations, and desires around higher education.…

This presented study explores the ongoing Uni Connect Programme run by the UK government to widen participation among underrepresented young people. The research focused on one specific local authority that delivers Uni Connect activities, gathering data from eight in-depth interviews (project manager N = 2, activity coordinators N = 6) and the…

This study examines how academic libraries in the UK responded to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 open access policy. Thirteen information professionals at twelve institutions across the UK took part in semi-structured interviews. Findings from the interviews reveal how libraries created and deployed new infrastructures, workflows,…

Purpose: Considering the different roles universities can perform to contribute to sustainable development, it is through teaching and outreach that they might be able to connect to the academic and local communities the most. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which energy sustainability is being considered in campus…

The potential for further education colleges (FECs) to contribute to widening higher education access has been recognised in a number of studies. Yet, evidence suggests that higher education participation rates from FECs are lower than from school sixth forms. This article reports on the early findings from a research project that is exploring how…

Questions often heard echoing through classrooms are: 'Why do I need to know this?' and 'When will I use this in real life?'. Working with the Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC), the authors chose a curriculum segment that aligned with some of their own research -- microorganisms: how they can harm us, help us and how we can use…

During the coronavirus pandemic, nearly all forms of education underwent an online pivot, to some form of internet-based instruction. The UK Open University (UKOU), like many other distance education and online universities, found its expertise in designing and delivering effective online teaching in demand. This paper reports how the UKOU…

In 2018-19, Dr. Guirong Wang, from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, spent a year with the Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC). CIEC has been involved in world-class outreach work for thirty years. They have combined the design of effective practical programmes with research and evaluation of impact. This article explores…

Migrant students tend to underperform in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and are less likely to pursue higher education in STEM when compared with their nonmigrant peers. Given the substantial increase in migration, this disparity has been a central concern in science education in many European countries. The…

A massive open online course (MOOC), Exploring Everyday Chemistry (eeDc), was delivered four times between 2017 and 2019, attracting a worldwide audience of over 15?000 learners from a wide range of backgrounds. This 4-week course was designed to show a variety of everyday applications of organic chemistry, targeted at high school students seeking…

Comics and cartoons are valued in twenty-first century popular culture and are increasingly used as 'Applied Comics' to help communicate key messages and information in society. However, there is less evidence of cartoons and comics being used to communicate with and engage library users in learning, information literacy (IL) and research support.…

We present our outreach program, the "Thailand-UK Python+Astronomy Summer School" (ThaiPASS), a collaborative project comprising UK and Thai institutions and assess its impact and possible application to schools in the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 2018, the annual ThaiPASS has trained around 60 Thai high-school students in…

The paper introduces the "UK Open Textbooks" project and discusses its success factors with regards to promoting open practice and open pedagogy. Textbooks remain a core part of educational provision in science. Open Textbooks are openly licensed academic textbooks, wherein the digital version is available freely, and the print version…

This article reviews the adult literacy campaign in the 1970s in the United Kingdom (UK) and the influence of Paulo Freire's thinking on how we worked. We argue that much adult literacy provision had been designed to 'domesticate' rather than 'liberate'. The mid-1970s 'Right to Read' campaign in the UK rejected this approach (BAS, 1974). The use…