STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is a group of cognate disciplines which are especially exclusionary group of disciplines in school and one in which those in specialist education settings commonly have very limited experience. This article describes a knowledge exchange project in which young people with Additional Support Needs learnt about stem topics from academics with specialist stem expertise and considers the extent to which it was influenced by the wider educational context in which it took place. The outcomes of the intervention on both young people and stem researchers are analysed in terms of the growth of Bourdieusian capital, which was observed in all participants. The findings suggest that Scottish policy and associated culture facilitated the execution of knowledge exchange that was quite different to the common 'top down' transmission of knowledge. The work also raises questions about the extent to which inclusion within formal disciplines can be achieved without a renegotiation of the subjects' paradigms.