STEM teaching and research

Advice for academics and lecturers working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths to help advance STEM research and teaching. These resources cover issues such as how to widen participation and get more women into STEM fields, preparing students for STEM careers, managing the impact of AI on STEM learning, building industry collaborations and communicating STEM research for greater impact.

By Miranda Prynne, 4 September, 2023

Inclusivity versus devotion to the cult of STEM

Is an underlying global STEM culture of devotion getting in the way of a more inclusive academy, asks Andrew Pye

Reading time

3minutes

By Eliza.Compton, 7 August, 2023

How to make dual-enrolment programmes work

high school student watching remote mathematics lecture on laptop

Dual enrolment can create student pipelines from high school to university, meet community education needs and improve retention and graduation rates. Here, Laura Brown Simmons breaks down the essential elements

Reading time

3minutes

By Miranda Prynne, 19 July, 2023

Medical teaching resources need to represent all skin colours to enable doctors to serve a diverse population

Medical education must diversify its learning resources away from a focus solely on white patients to prepare students to diagnose and treat patients of all ethnicities, write Musarrat Maisha Reza and Naabil Khan

Reading time

5minutes

By Miranda Prynne, 28 June, 2023

What are the barriers to success for under-represented early career researchers in maths, physics, computer science and engineering?

A young Black female engineer looks up in a satellite manufacturing facility

Recommendations for improving equity, diversity and inclusion in maths, physics, computer science and engineering, based on research into the barriers faced by ECRs from under-represented groups in these disciplines

Reading time

4minutes

By Miranda Prynne, 1 June, 2023

Ways to improve the equitable inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in research and higher education

A summary of actions universities and research bodies should take to create truly equitable, inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ staff and students

Reading time

5minutes

By Eliza.Compton, 11 May, 2023

Campus talks: when pop culture meets academia

Can superheroes teach us about physics? What can studying Kylie Minogue tell us about gender politics? Two academics talk about the intersection of popular culture and higher education

By Eliza.Compton, 4 May, 2023

Why learning to listen will help you avoid ‘helicopter research’ and make you a better science communicator

Magnifying glass over southern Africa on a globe

A year of failed fieldwork in Africa led Sallie Burrough to ask questions about how researchers interact with the societies they work in. Here, she shares five tips for transparent, inclusive practices

Reading time

4minutes

By Eliza.Compton, 6 March, 2023

Being elitist about sci-comms damages science

Man speaking jargon to confused man and woman

Scientists, if you communicate only with people at your own level of expertise, how will you recruit the best and brightest, engage the public and change the world? Kylie Ahern takes ‘dumbing down’ to task

Reading time

4minutes

By Miranda Prynne, 3 March, 2023

The House Cup: promoting qualitative grading in mathematics

A woman writing out equations on a glass screen

Using qualitative instead of numerical grading in mathematics supports meaningful feedback that helps students improve the quality of their work, Jean-Baptiste Gramain explains

Reading time

3minutes

By Miranda Prynne, 20 February, 2023

What does a 21st-century research and science system look like?

Jim Metson explores what is needed from universities and government to create a transformative research, science and innovation sector in New Zealand

Reading time

4minutes

STEM teaching and research