Forty-six participants from 10 countries, including Malta, took part in a nine-day science communication summer school in Rhine-Waal University in Cleves, Germany.

The summer school’s name reflects its educational approach to include arts in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem). It provided participants an insight into the most important and recent topics related to science communication. Participants learnt and discussed about applying dialogue techniques, organising events, using journalistic tools, managing social media, working with policymakers, public speaking, and merging arts with sciences.

The participants’ and speakers’ diverse background made Steam a powerful networking hub. They shared experiences and opinions, established new areas of cooperation and developed their creativity and communication skills.

Many participants considered the summer school a valuable opportunity to learn about professional science communication and possible career options, become more confident in their current jobs.

In addition to hands-on experiments and insightful lectures, participants took part in many social and public engagement events, including Science and Cinema, Bright Club, which merges science and comedy, and a field trip to the science museum Nemo in Amsterdam, to make learning about science communication even more practical and inspiring.

The summer school was funded by the Erasmusplus programme and was held in collaboration with Creations, an EU-funded project that creatively takes science into schools. The project is a collaboration between the University of Malta, European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations, Haaga-Helia University, Rhine-Waal University, Science View and University of Edinburgh.

www.steamsummerschool.eu