NEWS &
COMMENT

Over half of students surveyed by IRIS do not enjoy their lessons. What is missing from their classroom experience that might explain this lack of enthusiasm?

Our director, Jo Foster, says if we want to transform young people’s attitudes to the sciences if we don’t first change ourselves.

Shining a light on the AI research done by IRIS students this year in preparation for the Royal Institution’s AI Christmas Lectures.

IRIS has been recognised for an innovative outreach initiative that encourages people from non-traditional backgrounds to enter higher education.

Sixth-form and college students share their greener fragrance research with their peers and chemists at Queen’s University Belfast.

Surayyah Amul Aziz was over the moon when she discovered her cosmic ray research paper was published in a peer-reviewed journal last week.

As the aviation industry seeks innovative solutions to help tackle climate change, students research one of the most promising technologies.

IRIS celebrated talented and dedicated young researchers and the teachers and partners who inspired them at the IRIS Awards ceremony at the Crick Institute in London.

IRIS won the South East Physics Network (SEPnet) Public Engagement Partnership Award for Big Data: ATLAS, a collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Young researchers travelled from Belfast to Dover to share their research with members of the scientific community and their peers at the London IRIS conference.

Arthur, a pupil at Mullion School in Helston, Cornwall, has adapted existing satellite image feeds to monitor sewage pollution as part of the IRIS Earth Observation project.

Young researchers from across the North West travelled to share their discoveries with members of the scientific community and their peers at the IRIS Student Conference in Manchester.

Students at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School have built an AI ball boy robot which is programmed to scan and collect tennis balls as part of their IRIS Original Research project.

Greener Fragrances, a project run by IRIS and Queen’s University Belfast, was announced as a finalist for the Best Education Outreach Award at the Education Awards last month.

IRIS students met scientists at the University of Leeds to share their research, learn more about nanotechnology and discover potential careers in the materials sciences.

Our director, Jo Foster, offers 10 ways that schools can empower students to become active citizens, get involved to help lower their school’s environmental impact and change their world for the better.

Leading particle physicist, Alan Barr, returns to his home county in Northern Ireland to inspire the next generation of young scientists in the quest to answer some of science’s biggest questions.

World-leading particle physicists from RAL & the University of Oxford teach passionate sixth-formers about coding and more at the national scientific research laboratory.

Our director discusses a recent BBC Bitesize survey and how doing research can benefit school students’ future careers.

In our webinar celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, female scientists shared valuable advice for girls interested in science careers.

Jo Foster, director of IRIS, talks about why the apprenticeship should be seen as an equally strong pathway to a STEM career as the academic degree.

Northern Ireland students are attending their first research event at Queen’s University Belfast to kick-start their research investigating specialist chemicals to create greener fragrances.

What can the education sector can do to break down the barriers and challenge damaging misconceptions to prevent young people from learning science? IRIS director Jo Foster has a few ideas.

IRIS hosted its first awards ceremony, celebrating the talented and hard-working students and teachers who innovate in the classroom every day in their national programme.

Connie, a 14-year-old student from Liverpool, is today celebrating her win of Big Bang’s Young Scientist of the Year 2022 award in recognition of her work analysing how some birds can fly and others cannot.

Young people from secondary schools and colleges across the UK will be travelling to venues in Bradford, Edinburgh and London to showcase their scientific research.

Controversial comments from the social mobility tsar aside, STEM has a diversity problem and there’s plenty we can do about it.

IRIS director responds to UK Social Mobility Commissioner’s claim that girls do not choose physics A-level because they dislike “hard maths”.

Embedding a culture of research and innovation in schools is key to securing the UK’s leadership in STEM. This is our plan to help schools to get there.

If the UK is to realise the true potential of STEM apprenticeship, reform is needed. Jo Foster argues that companies must kickstart change by aligning the apprenticeship cycle with the school calendar.

To get more students studying #STEM, we need to engage them and demonstrate the real-world applications of science, argues Sean O’Sullivan from biotechnology company Illumina.

Teens are given a chance to share their research with their peers and leading materials scientists.

Schools must value and recommend apprenticeships if we are ever to become a ‘science superpower’, writes Jo Foster

Teens from Northern Ireland are working with leading scientists from Queens University Belfast to explore the liquid heralded as the UK innovation most likely to shape the 21st century.

BBC Look North reporters visited St John Fisher in Dewsbury to learn more about students’ latest research endeavour DNA Origami.

GCSE and A level results give grounds to rejoice about girls’ success in STEM subjects, but there is a long way to go before gender imbalance in the sciences is undone, writes Jo Foster.

These UK secondary students could quite possibly be the youngest people to construct artificial structures using DNA. They’ve been part of a pilot project investigating the emerging field of science – DNA nanotechnology.

Secondary students from around the country have been taking a closer look at their research subjects using an instrument more commonly found in leading universities, research organisations and high-tech  companies than schools.

Jo Foster explains why student-led research should be at the heart of  secondary education if the UK wants to realise its ambitions of becoming a science super power.

Students have been helping scientists from the Sanger Institute annotate the genome of the human whipworm, Trichuris trichiura. Their efforts could support the development of a vaccine to prevent a neglected tropical disease linked to malnutrition and cognitive developmental problems in children.

IRIS announces a Continuing Professional Development course for teachers wanting to embed authentic research opportunities across their school curriculum.

We list the top research projects presented by secondary students at the IRIS Virtual Conference 2020-21.

Dr Elizabeth Rushton, lecturer at King’s College London, talked to 50 teachers who said IRIS projects have helped them reconnect with scientific inquiry, develop new subject knowledge and connect and collaborate with scientists.

IRIS will launch the national STEM Research and Innovation in Schools Framework in November 2021 with partner organisations. It will bring together best practice from the education, research and charity communities to enable school leaders to develop an effective whole school strategy to support STEM within their school.

Jackie Flaherty Director of STEM at Chipping Campden School explains why meaningful investigative work is imperative to educate future scientists and how IRIS projects  can help overwelmed teachers ignite passions and ‘turn on’ the next generation of researchers.

The British Antarctic Survey acknowledged Scottish high school students for their encouragement which led to a discovery of a new colony of emperor penguins. The study, as part of , reveals that there are nearly 20% more emperor penguin colonies an Antarctica than previously thought.

Evidence now suggests that the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers is likely to have widened due to the inequalities of provision and access to education during the pandemic. Student-led research either in school or home could enhance students understanding of STEM subjects during this critical time in education.

Students make strides in research effort to improve the health of their peers in distance countries by completing more than 8,500 annotations of the genome of the human whipworm, Trichuris trichiura.

The Institute for Research in Schools and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) have launched a project to boost the research skills of secondary students while learning from home.

Due to the progression of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) has made the difficult decision to cancel the Spring Conferences.

Lauren Charters on how an IRIS project changed her life and why she believes research in schools could lead more women into STEM careers.

Catherine Lough, Tes staff writer, talks to Dr Jo Foster, director for the Institute for Research in Schools on teaching STEM to students.