CALMAST stands for the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology. It was established at SETU in 2003, building on the work of the South East Schools Science Initiative which began in the 1990s. The centre is part of the School of Education and Lifelong Learning and works closely with the Schools of Science, Engineering and Health Sciences, with cross-disciplinary projects with the other schools at SETU.

Funded by Science Foundation Ireland as the STEM Hub for the South East of Ireland, CALMAST is developing clusters of industry, schools and government agencies across the region to deliver STEM locally through symbiotic partnerships. Our guiding principle is ‘STEM for all’. We are committed to inclusion regardless of gender, socio-economic background, ability or location.

The centre engages over 35,000 participants in the region each year. Maths Week Ireland, founded and coordinated by CALMAST, engages a further 500,000. The Centre adopts a partnership approach working with external groups such as local and national visitor centres, local and other governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations, community groups, library services, institutions and industry to achieve impact, scale and sustainability. We want to reposition STEM in our culture by proposing a wide range of activities that promote inclusion, creativity, critical thinking, self-confidence and awareness of the environment.

To achieve the important national objective of promoting STEM, CALMAST has a full-time staff of five who work with University staff, students, resources and external partnerships.

The Centre’s founders and current directors are Dr Sheila Donegan and Eoin Gill.

The CALMAST team have won many national and international awards for their work in STEM engagement, including the 2006 EU Descartes Award for Science Communication, the highest EU award in this field. Previous winners include Bill Bryson and David Attenborough. Recently CALMAST received the Education Awards 2021 (Ireland) Best Outreach Award and also in 2021, Highly Commended in THE Awards (Times Higher Education), the first Irish organisation to be so honoured.

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