What is STEAM?

STEAM is the concept of combining STEM with the Arts and has recently been advocated as a way for science to develop better relationships with the society it serves. The Arts help us to engage with each other and can therefore be a powerful tool to spark those conversations between researchers and other publics.

STEAM is also a collection of experts sitting at various institutions across Europe, who have collaborated to develop an innovative programme in science communication. The ethos of this programme is combining STEM with the Arts to allow researchers to better engage. This initiative began as an EU project, hosting an annual summer school from 2016 onwards. Since then we have established ourselves as independent enterprise, continuing the face-to-face course that began with the STEAM project and expanding it to include an online course.

Who is it for?

The STEAM programme is open to all motivated STEM students and researchers interested in science communication. Teachers, science communication practitioners, science journalists, and established researchers will also find novel techniques within our content. The programme is comprehensive and no previous experience in communication is required to start the online course or attend the summer school. 

The STEAM programme offers you:

  • An introduction to all aspects of science communication with no previous knowledge required
  • The possibility to experiment with different ways to engage various public groups with scientific research
  • A sneak preview into a science communication career
  • An opportunity to improve transferable skills and career development (part of Continuous Professional Development)
  • Access to educational materials and already established practices
  • A large network for international cooperation and knowledge exchange

What do you cover?

Dialogue and Deliberation — theory and practice of science communication
Managing and Monitoring — how to work with schools, at science festivals and how to conduct simple evaluation, how to scale up for larger events
Create and Act —international examples of collaborations between scientists and artists in festivals and theatres
Media and Journalism —how to write, edit, and create video to effectively communicate science
Online and Social — how to use online and social media in the most powerful way
Present and Moderate — how to speak in public and moderate a discussion

Where do I start?

As of now we offer an online course and the 9-day summer school. You can either decide to take our online course as a stand-alone, or you can access the full programme, which involves completing the online content followed by attending the summer school. Unfortunately, we do not recommend attending the summer school without completing our online content.

You can find out more about the structure of our programme and our rationale here.