Focus
- Active citizenship
- Education and training
- Science
- Social inclusion
- Young people / youth work
Interest
- Development of education and training materials and programmes
- European learning networks and exchanges
- Community outreach and engagement
- Cultural and artistic innovation
- Scientific innovation
- Technological innovation
EU Project Experience
No experience
This organisation is new to EU funding and will be supported by the Access Europe team.
EU Funding Goals
SciFest is a successful initiative with a 17-year history and a strong foundation in the STEM education space within Ireland. However, SciFest is keen to develop a broader network beyond Ireland and learn via partnerships about best practice in STEM education and informal co-curricular initiatives in Europe.
SciFest has recently undertaken the first phase of an impact study and we are keen to develop on the recommendations it provided which include greater teacher support and continuous professional development in inquiry-led learning for teachers, alongside a renewed focus on how best to serve those who are socially excluded and disadvantaged within society.
Thus, within the next two years, it would be ideal for SciFest to partner with an organisation that shares some of these objectives in order to build greater capacity in these areas. This would assist in SciFest laying the foundation to develop and manage its own specific project in 5 years time in one of these areas.
Strengths
SciFest is a long established and successful organisation with a 17-year history within the STEM education ecosystem in Ireland.
During this time SciFest has positioned itself at a unique nexus of secondary and third-level education, industry and government. This has allowed SciFest to draw from a large network of over 700 volunteers annually from industry and academia. The local and regional nature of the programme threads a link from secondary to third level education and at SciFest@college all elements of the STEM talent pipeline are aligned. The longevity of the partnerships between SciFest the third-level universities and our corporate sponsors is testament to the strength of the SciFest programme and offers unique opportunities for sharing of ideas across different sectors.
In addition, the long established nature of the programme and the fact that all SciFest employees are formerly STEM teachers, ensures SciFest has a deep understanding of the second-level education system in Ireland and the perspective of STEM teachers in particular.
Finally over 10,000 second-level students participate in SciFest every year, offering access to a large cohort of budding scientists and innovators.
