Three science education researchers from the Mathematics and Science Education Centre (MaSE) at Southampton Education School, Dr Wonyong Park, Dr Andri Christodoulou and Dr Neta Shaby, attended the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) meeting in Cappadocia, Turkey, from 28 August to 1 September.

Dr Wonyong Park co-chaired a symposium on ‘Connecting Disaster and Risk Studies with Science Education Research’, which brought together researchers from the UK, Germany, South Korea and Brazil. He presented the activities and research findings of an ESRC-funded project on disaster education, based on a synthesis of literature and empirical evidence.

Dr Neta Shaby presented her work on epistemic agency in family science engagement as part of the symposium “Children’s experiences and engagement with science” and her research on science museums at the Winchester Science Centre was presented as part of SIG-3 invited symposium: Showcasing research in out-of-school science learning by junior scholars.

Dr Andri Christodoulou presented on the work of the Wild Citizens project, which aims to empower children to become active environmental citizens through a school-based outdoor programme focused on improving biodiversity in five primary schools in Southampton. This work was presented as part of a symposium on collective activism to address socially acute questions in science and technology learning, together with colleagues from the University of Malaga and the University of Toulouse.

Professor Marcus Grace, Head of School, commented: ‘It is so rewarding to see high quality science education research from Southampton being shared at prestigious international conferences such as ESERA’.