Funded projects
These research projects are or have been undertaken at the School of Education by staff members student members and affiliates of CEEN. Full project archive here,
Roadmap STEAMer: developing a steam roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe

September 2022 - August 2025
PI/s in Exeter: Associate Professor Kerry Chappell
Research partners: The Lisbon Council (Belgium), Ellinogermaniki Agogi (Greece), ECSITE (Belgium), TRACES (France), University of Malta, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ScienceView (Greece), Centre for Social Innovation (Austria), Engineering Ingegneria s.p.a (Italy), European School Heads Association (Netherlands)
Funding awarded: (total funding of £109146)
Sponsor(s): UKRI and Horizon 2020
Project webpage(s)
Roadmap STEAMer: developing a steam roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe
About the research
The overall aim of the project is to develop a STEAM roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe, i.e., a plan of action that will provide guidance to EU's key funding programme for research and innovation on how to encourage more interest in STEM through the use of artistic approaches, involving creative thinking and applied arts (the “A” in ‘STEAM’).
The consortium aims to provide Europe with this roadmap, through:
- Collaboration and co-creation with the stakeholder communities of science education, research, innovation, and creativity, through intensive exchange, dialogue and mutual learning among them which will produce better knowledge and shared understandings of the relevant opportunities, challenges and needs.
- A bottom-up approach emphasizing educational practice and practitioners’ agency rather than high-level conceptualizations of STEAM and generic top-down plans (in reality often just vague statements of intention) for its adoption in science education.
- A specific focus on ways to leverage the power of STEAM approaches, as manifested through exemplary cases and best practices, to enable a bridging of open science and open schooling which can catalyse an increased impact for science education as a crucial tool for addressing Europe’s current scientific and societal challenges.
The UoE team consists of Kerry Chappell, Lindsay Hetherington, and Harriet White, and Lucy Yeomans who bring expertise in arts, science education, outdoor learning and equity and participation, respectively. The team’s contribution to Roadmap STEAMer involves bringing these expertise to developing a conceptual framework for STEAM, designing a research methodology and supporting consortium partners with co-creation workshops.
The consortium of Roadmap STEAMer also includes partners from The Lisbon Council (Belgium), Ellinogermaniki Agogi (Greece), ECSITE (Belgium), TRACES (France), University of Malta, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ScienceView (Greece), Centre for Social Innovation (Austria), Engineering Ingegneria s.p.a (Italy), European School Heads Association (Netherlands).
University of Exeter are supported in Project STEAMer by UKRI grant number 10040523 and Horizon 2020.
Download infographic: Road steamer pdf
Creativity Collaboratives: Penryn Partnership
24 January 2022 - 1 December 2026
PI/s in Exeter: Associate Professor Kerry Chappell
Research partners: Penryn College
Funding awarded: £ 50,000
Sponsor(s): Arts Council England, ESRC Impact Accelerator Fund.
About the research
The Penryn Partnership is one of a national cohort of Creativity Collaboratives, a programme commissioned by Arts Council England. The Creativity Collaboratives are networks of schools that have been established to test innovative practices in teaching for creativity, and to share learning to facilitate system-wide change.
The Penryn Partnership is exploring how teaching for creativity across the curriculum prepares young people for their future in a changing workforce, working in partnership to establish a creative strategy and pedagogy to ensure students are best prepared for the modern workforce. The Partnership is based around Penryn College and includes a network of local primary schools and local industry partners as well as the University of Exeter. Together we will be researching, developing and testing a range of teaching and learning strategies leading to systemic changes in practice in teaching for creativity.
The UoE team is Kerry Chappell, Alex Thornton and Ursula Crickmay and we are working together with Sarah Childs, Creativity Collaboratives Penryn Partnership Lead, and with colleagues in schools including Penryn College and neighbouring primary schools.
Year 2 report and details of Creativity Collaboratives here.
Dance, Health and Wellbeing: Debating and Moving Forward Methodologies
1 January 2019 - 1 June 2021
PI/s in Exeter: Professor Kerry Chappell
Research partners: Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and Dance in Devon.
Funding awarded: £ 19,000
Sponsor(s): Wellcome Centre Cultures and Environments of Health
Project webpage(s)
Dance, Health and Wellbeing: Debating and Moving Forward Methodologies
About the research
Evidence of the positive benefits of dance on developing physical aspects of health and fitness is now widely recognised. Building on this, this research sought to develop understanding of the under-researched aesthetic, artistic and creative contributions that Dance makes to Health and Wellbeing across the life course. In particular, it focused on what kinds of methodologies are appropriate for investigating these contributions, and how these methodologies can generate findings which extend how we understand the impact of the arts on health and wellbeing.
The research took a transdisciplinary approach, bringing together arts education and community research and practice, together with dance science and dance health practice. This was represented in the research team which included Kerry Chappell and Ursula Crickmay at UoE, working together with colleagues at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and Dance in Devon.
The research included a literature review of recent peer-reviewed research, practice-based literature and evaluations and also a series of focus group discussions with dance/health practitioners and participants in dance/health projects. Findings were shared through publication and a symposium at The Wellcome Collection London.
You can read the Systematic Literature Review here.
You can read the Focus Group Findings and Project Report hereFocus Group Findings and Project Report here.
You can find out more about the symposium here.
Sci-Arts Creative Teaching Resource
1 January 2019 - 1 December 2020
PI/s in Exeter: Professor Kerry Chappell
CI/s in Exeter: Professor Lindsay Hetherington
Research partners: University of Birmingham, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Institute of Physics.
Funding awarded: £ 7,500
Sponsor(s): University of Exeter ESRC Impact Acceleration Account
Project webpage(s)
Sci-Arts Creative Teaching Resource
About the research
The Sci-Arts Creative Teaching Resource is a set of teaching guides and planning tools which support transdisciplinary science and arts teaching, engage learners with science and helps them to develop their own scientific creativity.
The resource has grown from the EU-funded project CREATIONS (Grant Agreement No.66517; www.creations-project.eu) which developed arts-based creative approaches to science education across 11 countries. Project materials were created by researchers, teachers and other educators across the EU, based on a series of eight pedagogic features of creative science education which were identified by the CREATIONS team. During the current project the materials are being developed further for use in UK classrooms.
The UoE team is Kerry Chappell, Lindsay Hetherington and Ursula Crickmay, and we are working together with colleagues at the University of Birmingham, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Institute of Physics. During the project, we have worked with teachers in London and the South West to trial and further develop the resource, and it will be available online for schools from June 2020.
Project updates on twitter @sciartsedu.
OCEANS Connections
1 November 2018 - 31 October 2021
PI/s in Exeter: Professor Lindsay Hetherington
CI/s in Exeter: Professor Kerry Chappell Professor Justin Dillon
Funding awarded: £ 70,000
About the research
OCEANS Connections is a Europe-wide project which is developing innovative digital tools that employ creative pedagogies to develop pupils' 'Ocean Literacy'. This is an aspect of scientific literacy which specifically addresses issues of climate change and the marine environment. It will use Augmented/Virtual Reality experiences developed with aquaria alongside innovative, creative approaches to teaching and learning developed with schools to help pupils gain skills in understanding the climate change and human impact on the environment in the context of the Ocean. In terms of impacts, pupils will gain both scientific understanding in terms of key content, and understanding of scientific processes and methods, as well as acquiring digital skills and 'soft' skills and competencies with respect to intercultural understanding and global citizenship. The UoE team is Lindsay Hetherington, Kerry Chappell, Justin Dillon and Andrew Dean.
Digital innovation in project-based learning: toward a model for praxis
1 September 2018 - 1 September 2019
PI/s in Exeter: Associate Professor Kerry Chappell
CI/s in Exeter: Dr Katie Natanel
Funding awarded: (total funding of £ 10,000)
Sponsor(s): Exeter Education Incubator grant
About the research
Dr Kerry Chappell from the Graduate School of Education has been awarded a £10,000 University of Exeter Education Incubator grant, along with project partner Dr Katie Natanel from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.
The project is called "Digital innovation in project-based learning: toward a model for praxis".
This project explores how ‘project-based learning’ (PBL) can be enhanced through digital technologies and creative pedagogies in HE classrooms, which work through face-to-face interaction and virtual learning environments (VLEs). The primary aim is to understand and share how digital technologies can be creatively integrated into project-based learning in a way that compliments, and ideally strengthens, their capacity for deep, creative knowledge production. The project will produce – and relies upon – a cross-departmental/college network of scholars who engage in PBL with some digital tools integration. This network will develop a model of PBL that integrates VLE platforms in a way that maximises their potential to support deep learning, creative knowledge production and ethical communities. This model will be piloted in Dr. Natanel's course 'Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Palestine/Israel', and findings will be shared at an interdisciplinary workshop in summer 2019.
The project will run for 12 months from September 2018.
Details of the Education Incubator here
Decolonizing the Educational Relationship in Higher Education

September 1 2019 – May 7 2021
Awarded to: Professor Fatima Pirbhai-Illich
Research partners: University of Regina with University of Exeter
Funding awarded to Exeter $5000 CDN
Sponsor(s): University of Regina Knowledge Mobilization Fund
Principal Investigator: Fatima Pirbhai-Illich
Co-Investigator: Fran Martin
About the project
The aim of the project is to disseminate the outcomes of research conducted over the last ten years through (a) a conference and (b) preparation and analysis of data for a book.
Project description
A critical ethnographic study has been conducted on the impact of a Culturally Responsive Literacy Education course on pre- and in-service teachers’ understanding and implementation of decolonial approaches, supported by either/or SIDRU and the President’s SSHRC funding for the past ten years. Year on year, the findings have informed the next iteration of the course and, over time, we have developed a theoretical framework for decolonizing the educational relationship.
An overview of the proposed activities.
November 2020: Conference
Due to the global COVID pandemic, all conferences in 2020 were cancelled, and the conference did not run in 2021. In April 2022 it was agreed by the funding body that we could use the funds to support the professional editing of video recordings for a series of seminars given at the University of Exeter and the University of Regina in 2020-2021. These can be found on YouTube.
2019-2021: Data analysis and writing
A book contract has been secured with Emerald Publishing.It is being co-authored by Fatmakhanu (Fatima) Pirbhai-Illich, Fran Martin, and Shauneen Pete. The tentative title is “Developing Equitable Educational Relations: Practical Approaches to Decolonizing Pedagogies”.
Impact:
The book will make a novel contribution to the ‘Decolonize education’ debate through its call for educators to radically change their educational relationships. Decolonizing education currently focuses on the curriculum. Our book argues that it is necessary to decolonize relationships before any attempt to decolonize the curriculum can be successful. The theoretical framework that we have developed, with our examples of how such a framework might be operationalized, have the potential to radically change not only Teacher Education, but education systems as a whole.


