
IRIS and Queens University Belfast shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award
IRIS has been recognised for an innovative outreach initiative that encourages people from non-traditional backgrounds to enter higher education.

Queen’s University chemistry conference smells like teen spirit
Sixth-form and college students share their greener fragrance research with their peers and chemists at Queen’s University Belfast.

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

Future Flight: Pupils join scientific search for aviation climate solutions
As the aviation industry seeks innovative solutions to help tackle climate change, students research one of the most promising technologies.

IRIS Awards 2023 – Celebrating young researchers and those that inspired them
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.

Big Data: ATLAS wins physics engagement award
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.

IRIS London conference: AI ball boys & girls, future hackers & searching for wolf stars
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.

Tracking sewage from space: Cornish student highlights pollution problem
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.

IRIS Manchester conference: robot dentists, Coeliac disease awareness & preventing organ rejection
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.

Serving up success: students create AI robot ball boy
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.

The scent of success: IRIS recognised at the Education Awards
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.

Art, science and computer design at a nanoscale
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.

10 ideas for lowering carbon emissions in schools
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 returns home to meet with aspiring young scientists
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.

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

The top 10 career choices for teenagers in the UK
Our director discusses a recent BBC Bitesize survey and how doing research can benefit school students’ future careers.

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

Why we should all love apprenticeships
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.

Shattering perceptions of chemistry
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.

Give students the tools to achieve
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 Awards 2022
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.

IRIS student wins Young Scientist 2022
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 researchers share their findings at IRIS Student Conferences 2022
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.

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

I am not ‘totally fine’ that only 16% of girls study Physics
IRIS director responds to UK Social Mobility Commissioner’s claim that girls do not choose physics A-level because they dislike “hard maths”.

The National Research and Innovation Accelerator – our plan to open up science for young people
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.

Apprenticeship reform starts with the school calendar
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.

For young people to ‘get’ STEM, they must see the real-world applications
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.

It’s all materials (science) – Students showcase their DNA designs to leading scientists at the University of Leeds
Teens are given a chance to share their research with their peers and leading materials scientists.

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

Northern Ireland students work with leading scientists on salty research
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 investigates students’ research skills at St John Fisher
BBC Look North reporters visited St John Fisher in Dewsbury to learn more about students’ latest research endeavour DNA Origami.

Girls in STEM: A cause for celebration, not complacency
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.

Stuff clay, let’s play with DNA
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.

What’s under their scopes?
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.

If the UK wants to be a science super power, research must be at the heart of science education
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.

UK students decode parasite genome to help prevent childhood infection
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 CPD course to empower teachers with skills to embed student-led research in their schools
IRIS announces a Continuing Professional Development course for teachers wanting to embed authentic research opportunities across their school curriculum.

The IRIS Virtual Conference: Secondary students illustrate resilience during a tough school year
We list the top research projects presented by secondary students at the IRIS Virtual Conference 2020-21.

Could research reignite teachers’ passion for science?
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.

The Institute for Research in Schools announces launch of national STEM framework
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.

Where are tomorrow’s scientists? Teachers can still ignite passions to ‘turn on’ the next generation of researchers
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.

Scottish high school students inspire discovery of new penguin colony in Antarctica
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.

Teens’ education is at stake – why it’s as critical as ever to get students involved in real research
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 on human whipworm genome
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.

Students given the chance to study the stars at home
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.

IRIS cancels Spring conferences in response to COVID 19 outbreak
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.

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

Jo Foster on how to help your students shine at science
Catherine Lough, Tes staff writer, talks to Dr Jo Foster, director for the Institute for Research in Schools on teaching STEM to students.
UCL Professor Michael Reiss joins IRIS board of trustees
UCL’s Professor of Science Education joins our board of trustees.
Higgs Hunters wins University of Oxford Award
Higgs Hunters wins Project Award at this year’s University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards.
IRIS appoints STEM education champion Jo Foster as new director
Jo Foster, the current director of the Nexus STEM Programme and Cornwall School of Maths and Science, joins IRIS as director in September.
Lampton physics technician wins Gratnells award
Lampton School technician wins Gratnells Science Technician of the Year Award.
IRIS pupils featured in Tes for research on nature’s impact on our health
IRIS’ Well World was featured in Tes, the UK’s leading education publication. The student research project studied the impact of biodiversity on mental health.
IRIS awarded Garfield Weston Grant for glacier research project
The Garfield Weston Foundation grant will enable IRIS continue to run school hubs ran by a teacher scientist for a year.
IRIS & UK Space Agency launch polar ice caps research project for schools
IRIS has joined forces with the UK Space Agency to develop a series of school research projects studying the rate of polar Ice cap melting.
It’s Minecraft: teens create replica of CERN
UK teenagers have created an interactive museum of one of the world’s most famous science experiments – the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider – in the virtual land of Minecraft.
School-age scientists contribute to tropical disease research
IRIS students stand to become world experts through their participation in Genome Decoders, a research project launched in partnership with Wellcome Genome Campus.
IRIS and Transport for London bring big data into classrooms
The project will give students insight into how TFL analysts use data to improve millions of people’s journey every day.
NASA launches space radiation research project TimPix in the US
The Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) is working with NASA to get American students involved in the TimPixproject.
IRIS students break new ground in fields from astronomy to medicine
A new community of UK scientists breaking new ground in fields from astronomy to medicine and not one of them has so much as a university degree.
Students research radiation levels in the world’s oceans
Students from a school in Canterbury look to analyse radiation levels in oceans near nuclear reactors such as Sellafield or Fukushima in real time.
Using NASA data to analyse radiation exposure in space
High school students use NASA data to analyse astronaut radiation exposure in space.
Academics and scientist launch the Institute for Research in Schools
Academic and scientists launch the Institute for Research in Schools, set to change STEM education for secondary students.