STEM Education

We are passionate about helping our local young people receive a world-class STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) education.

We believe it is important that our local young people benefit from our location and the world-leading science and research taking place across the BioQuarter.

Our aim is to inspire and assist young people and their families to engage with STEM and provide access to a first-rate science education, encouraging future careers in science.

Our STEM Activities

This highly successful mentoring programme for science students is a partnership between Edinburgh BioQuarter and neighbouring high school – Castlebrae Community High School.

Young scientists based at Edinburgh BioQuarter provide mentoring and tutoring support to senior pupils studying science subjects.

With a wealth of opportunities for enriching the young people’s education, we are collaborating with our local schools to create annual modules of work, embedded within the curriculum.

We have developed a cross-curricula module of work Zoom in on Zebrafish that sees local S1 pupils build their own smartphone microscopes which they use to explore zebrafish.

We have a long history of working collaboratively with our neighbouring primary schools, providing exciting STEM Clubs for local primary school children.

By involving STEM professionals and students, we aim to open children’s eyes to STEM related careers, building confidence and demonstrating that STEM is relevant to their lives and that people like them ‘can do science’.

The annual Craigmillar Community Science Festival was established in 2017 and is held on the last Friday in March in the run up to the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

Held in partnership with The Community Alliance Trust at The White House Kitchen Community Cafe, the festival sees young people in the community demonstrating science to Festival-goers alongside scientists from the BioQuarter.

In June 2016, following a visit from our neighbouring high school to the Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM), pupil Kelsey Wallace plucked up the courage to ask if there were any work opportunities over the summer.

This led to the establishment of an annual CRM Summer Internship – a four week long paid internship, offered each year to a 16+ pupil from Castlebrae Community High School motivated by science.

Our connections with the local community offer a richly rewarding learning experience for students at The University of Edinburgh.

We offer opportunities for postgraduate students studying science communication and undergraduate biology students to design science workshops in partnership with one of our local schools.

Our STEM activities are all developed alongside our teachers and education professionals in the local community. This engagement allows us to create and deliver activities that complement and enhance science teaching within schools.

We also provide CPD training and resources for teachers, ensuring that they too can benefit from the world-leading science taking place at Edinburgh BioQuarter.

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Inspiring Future Generations

Our STEM Activities

ScienceMentors@Castlebrae

Curriculum-linked units

STEM Clubs

Craigmillar Community Science Festival

Summer Internship

Student-led Workshops

Engaging with teachers

Our Partners