Sponsors: Will Cresswell, School of Biology

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students from Biology, and those with an interest in biodiversity and local wildlife research.

Project description:

Concerned with a decline in biodiversity in the UK? Interested in environmental project planning? Keen on learning more about local flora and fauna in St Andrews? Come along and help us create a plan for a future Biodiversity Trail in St Andrews!

The Biodiversity Trail will help to improve wellbeing and nature literacy, tackle the Biodiversity Action Plan (part of the University strategy) and provide an extra green space for our students. The project accepts students from all disciplines and skill backgrounds keen on engaging with project plan writing, biodiversity and landscape management research, and website design. If you’re looking to make a difference this summer and are keen on learning more about biodiversity in St Andrews, this is the project for you!

Project outputs:

A Biodiversity Trail Landscape Report including potential trail location, wildlife infrastructure to be incorporated on the trail, a list of possible stakeholders for collaboration, and examples of biodiversity/nature trails at other universities in the UK.

The second output will be a PDF/website/graphic design (via QR code) for seasonal wildlife and plants that can be found along the trail. We hope our report will provide the foundation for a longer-term University-wide project to complete one of the action tasks listed in the Biodiversity Action Plan.

If implemented in the long term, the construction of this trail would improve community and student biodiversity literacy, provide an outlet for wellbeing, and provide both academic and student fieldwork opportunities.

Graduate attributes:

Students will develop the following graduate attributes: environmental sustainability awareness; local citizenship; diversity awareness; effective team contribution; creativity; confidence and adaptability; research skills and problem-solving; organisation; and oral, written, and digital communication.

Please note that this project is proving very popular. You are still very welcome to apply for this project, but you may be more likely to get one of your top choices if you apply for other projects. 

 

Sponsor: Dr Stefania Lisai and Dr Feyisayo Olukoya, School of Mathematics and Statistics

Student eligibility: Open to all, but would be especially attractive to students interested in a decolonising approach to education. 

Project description:

What is your reaction to the phrase "decolonising mathematics"? If your response is "can Mathematics be decolonised?" or "isn't this a social science thing?" You are not alone. Many practicing mathematicians initially respond in this way, and either do not have the time to examine the notion more closely or are unconvinced that doing so will be beneficial.

This project will focus on the repercussion of coloniality on the teaching of mathematics. We are looking to produce resources to help a willing sceptic learn more about why the mathematics curriculum needs to be decolonised, and what they can do about it.

The STEP team will review the decolonising mathematics literature to investigate

a) ways in which the teaching of mathematics can be colonial, providing examples;

b) ways in which the teaching of mathematics can be decolonised, including evidence of successful decolonisation in other mathematics departments;

c) benefits of a decolonised approach to teaching mathematics: does such an approach increase a sense of belonging and decrease attainment gaps?

The team will summarise their findings in an accessible and interactive display which will be used in the School of Mathematics and Statistics to stimulate further conversations on the topic.

Project outputs:

The STEP team will produce an engaging display that objectively summarises findings in an accessible manner with the target audience being a willing sceptic. This can take the form of a poster (or series of posters), a website, or a video depending on the skillset of participants.

Graduate attributes:

This project will allow students to develop several of the Graduate Attributes, particularly social responsibility, diversity awareness, interpersonal skills, influencing and negotiation, self-awareness and reflection, oral and written communication, and effective team contribution.

Sponsor: Bede Williams, Deputy Director of Music and Ellen Thomson, Head of Outreach. Music Centre

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students interested in music with social responsibility and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Project description: 

StAMP Brass (St Andrews Music Participation) is an initiative run by the Laidlaw Music Centre with a range of key partners. We work in primary schools in Fife teaching brass with the view of encouraging and inspiring children and their families to make music making part of their lives. We aim to support children into learning with their local community band, and in doing so aim to reinvigorate community bands for future generations. The student team will work on analysing entry and exit questionnaires from children and carers to determine to what extent the initiative has been effective in its fourth year. Reports for years 1-3 of the project could also be reviewed by the student team and additional interviews undertaken to give further grounding to conclusions. See https://stamp.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/ for more information

Project outputs:

Written report with qualitative and quantitative data, as well as novel forms of presenting that data to be determined by the team.

Graduate attributes:

A lot of transferable skills around social responsibility, entrepreneurial mindset and leadership skills will be gained from this project.

Sponsor: Alice Konig, Classics

Student eligibility: Open at all, but particularly of interest to students from Classics and students with interest in researching different approaches to teaching.

Project description:

The study of ancient history, archaeology, literature and art involves repeat encounters with war. Few of those delivering Classics or Classical Studies education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels are experts in war or peace studies, and even fewer have been trained in trauma-informed teaching practices. Current habits of teaching ancient war and peace have their roots in 19th century military history, with an emphasis on weapons/equipment/technology, tactics and strategy, and (usually male) leaders; too little attention is paid to the second-order impacts of conflict (famine, disease, displacement, etc), to the diversity of people impacted by it, to everyday experiences and ‘the human front’; and ancient ideas of peace and conflict prevention/resolution, along with ancient experiences of peacebuilding or pockets of peace amid conflict, get even less coverage. Engagement with approaches in other disciplines (peace studies, critical military studies, feminist military studies, migration studies, education studies, childhood studies) have the potential to enhance our approach to teaching ancient war and peace. The skewed nature of our surviving sources (which foreground elite, male experiences) can be addressed via creative approaches such as speculative history and useful fiction. Participants in this project will research current habits and future possibilities for teaching ancient war and peace, across the primary, junior and tertiary education sectors, to set the agenda for a five-ten year research and impact project, which will produce publications, develop training materials, and contribute to policy-making in this space.

Project outputs:

The goal is to establish templates for a series of prototype teaching resources that experiment with different ways of teaching war/peace in relation to antiquity. These templates might cover topics such as ‘peace and/in space from antiquity to today’, ‘inner peace from antiquity to the present’, ‘ancient discourses of war and childhood’, ‘war’s impact on women in antiquity’, and ‘from ceasefire to peacebuilding: ancient case studies’. These prototype resources will then be used in a consultation/market research phase, as part of wider research into approaches to teaching ancient war and peace in junior and senior schools.

Graduate attributes: 

Ethical awareness, civic engagement, local and global good citizenship, teamwork, interpersonal skills, diversity awareness, research and analysis, critical thinking, creativity, adaptability, problem-solving, self-awareness and reflection, organisation, and communication skills.

Sponsors: Dr Emily J. Hanson, School of Art History

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students from Art History, and those with an interest in wellbeing.

Project description:

We seek a wide range of voices, from within and outside of art history, to engage in a dialogue about how art can influence, reflect, and define wellbeing. With an emphasis on the body, the team will curate themes for an online exhibition after spending time reading and discussing the topic and its potential connections. The team will exercise complete autonomy in the curation of this exhibition. The exhibition as a digital resource will contain the usual components of an art exhibition [thematic introductions, image captions, labels with descriptions of the works], but being online it will remain a more lasting presence and much more accessible. To expand impact beyond this resource, the team will also draft, edit, and revise programming suggestions for specific institutions to outline potential future projects that would highlight their chosen themes, while also promoting accessibility and wellbeing. The team will undertake a range of activities useful in many programs of study, as well as in future post-graduate endeavours. Conversations will lead to independent and collaborative study, collective drafting and revision of ideas, the implementation of final outputs that help synthesise big concepts in an approachable manner.

Project outputs:

• Online exhibition
• Resources for potential satellite exhibitions

Graduate attributes:

The student will develop leadership skills (especially organisation, self-awareness and reflection), while engaging a socially-responsible outlook (considering integrity and ethics) that values diversity (awareness, using interpersonal skills to elicit effective team contribution). This work also engenders a global outlook, as the thinking can be applied broadly beyond the UK.

Sponsors: Cat Wilson and Eilidh Harris (CEED)

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students interested in research and skill development.

Project description:

The University has a set of graduate attributes (www.st-andrews.ac.uk/careers/improve-your-skills/graduate-attributes) to help students track their skills development whilst they are at University. Students also have the opportunity to complete an award to demonstrate their graduate attribute development, which is listed on their degree transcript when they graduate. This Saints Skills Builder award is embedded in our graduate attribute platform (www.st-andrews.ac.uk/graduate-attributes).

One of the key ways students develop graduate attributes is through their extra-curricular activities, especially taking part in clubs and societies. Currently there isn’t much in place to connect the Saints Skills Builder award with the community of students actively involved in clubs and societies.

This project will look at how the Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development (CEED) can best partner with clubs and societies to help raise awareness amongst their members of the graduate attributes and Saints Skills Builder award.

Project outputs:

1. Some research involving students who are active participants in societies and clubs to measure if they make connections between their society/club membership and development of graduate attributes.

2. A report and presentation for CEED outlining ideas as to how we can work with clubs/societies to raise their awareness of graduate attributes and the award, and encourage members to engage with them.

3. Some informational materials for club/society committees we can distribute at the start of the academic year (e.g. an infographic, short video, handbook, newsletter etc)

Graduate attributes:

STEP project members will develop a range of graduate attributes by taking on this project. In particular, research skills, creativity, communication, organisation, resilience, and effective team contribution.

 

Sponsor: Dr Lenia Kouneni, School of Art History

Student eligibility: This project is open to all.

Project description:

The Pilgrim Trust ‘Recording Scotland’ Collection consists around 130 works, largely watercolours, gifted to the University of St Andrews in 1953. It was a project designed to produce employment for artists at a time of hardship during the Second World War, and create a pictorial record of a Scotland currently under threat of enemy action or of loss of traditional industries. Local Scottish artists were commissioned to record these endangered sites; the vast majority of them were born and trained in Scotland, with many originating from Fife and the east coast. This project aims to focus on and highlight the contributions of women artists to this important pictorial archive of Scotland. Participating students will identify women artists, research their lives and careers, explore their experiences and consider their contributions to Scottish art. The project offers a great opportunity to interested students to familiarise themselves with part of the University Collections and engage in independent research that enhances the value of the collections.

Project outputs:

The student team will: 1) produce short biographical accounts of the women artists of the Recording Scotland collection, accompanied by a selective bibliography 2) create displays of selective artworks by using Exhibit (an interactive digital tool).

Graduate attributes:

Socially responsible: civic engagement. local and global good citizenship
Valuing diversity: diversity awareness, effective team contribution, interpersonal skills, influencing, negotiation
Entrepreneurial Mindset: creativity, confidence, adaptability, research skills, problem solving
Leadership Skills: self-awareness, reflection, organisation, leading others
Global Outlook: networking, digital literacy, oral and written communication, technical and specialist academic skills

Please note that this project is proving very popular. You are still very welcome to apply for this project, but you may be more likely to get one of your top choices if you apply for other projects. 

 

Sponsors: Deborah Kent, School of Mathematics and Statistics 

Student eligibility: Open to all, and especially for students interested in the process of data collection and data analysis.

Project description:

Are you interested to discover insights through data? In this STEP project, students will conduct exploratory data analysis on a variety of 19th- and early-20th-century data sets. These data sets include British census data collected in India and census data in the United States; data on ocean temperature, salinity, and depth collected for the organisation currently known as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea; data on fish stocks from the Fisheries Board of Scotland; marine data collected by the Continuous Plankton Recorder;  and also human health statistics collected during the typhoid epidemic. There may be additional possible data sets involved, depending on how the project develops.  Students will work in teams to explore the processes of data collection in each of these instances and to investigate ways in which the collection process may influence the kinds of analyses possible on the data and the resulting outcomes. The students will produce exploratory data analysis reports --  these may or may not involve visualizations such as a Shiny app, etc – that will present their findings and facilitate further investigations of the selected data sets. 

Project outputs:

 Students will produce reports and/or a Shiny app to present their findings

Graduate attributes:

Effective Team Contribution; Interpersonal skills; organisation; resilience; research and problem solving skills; digital literacy; oral and written communication; disciplinary knowledge.

Sponsors: 

Dr Kirsty Ross, Computer Science
Dr Pauline Souleau, Modern Languages
Dr Abd Alsattar Ardati, Computer Science
Henry Rae, Medicine

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students from Medicine and students interested in editing Wikipedia. Knowledge of an additional language will be required - please indicate this on your application form.

Project description:

Wikipedia is a prominent source of medical and healthcare related information. The 1000 most read articles connected to WikiProject Medicine have received 133 million page views in February 2024 alone. However, this information is not evenly distributed across different language versions of Wikipedia. This project aims to address these knowledge gaps by translating lead paragraphs from English articles into a plethora of other languages. Training will be provided to all participants throughout the duration of the project.

The ability to read and write in other languages, in addition to English, is an important requirement for successful participation in this STEP project. It is not necessary to have a medical background to take part, although it would be helpful, or to have experience in editing Wikipedia. For more contextual information about the project, check out the WikiProjectMed Healthcare Translation Task Force webpage (https://mdwiki.org/wiki/WikiProjectMed:Translation_task_force).

Project outputs:

By the end of the project, all students will be trained Wikipedia editors. The students will have translated at least one lead paragraph for an article each; they may do many more.

Graduate attributes:

Social responsibility: civic engagement and global good citizenship.
Valuing diversity: effective team contribution, interpersonal skills, influencing and negotiation
Entrepreneurial mindset: creativity, confidence and adaptability, research skills and problem solving
Leadership skills: self-awareness and reflection, organisation, resilience, and leading others.
Global outlook: networking, digital literacy, written communication, and technical and specialist academic skills and disciplinary knowledge.

Sponsors: Dr Kirsty Ross, Dr Abd Alsattar Ardati, and Professor Ian Gent (Computer Science)

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students from Computer Science, and those with a willingness to learn and apply new knowledge about open data and Wikidata.

Project description:

Wikidata is a prominent source of linked data and facts. However, this information is not evenly distributed across different areas of Wikidata. This project aims to address these knowledge gaps by identifying and plugging knowledge gaps connected to five popular topics: Film & TV, Palaeontology and Dinosaurs, Sport, Video Games, and Weather. Training will be provided to all participants throughout the duration of the project.

Knowledge of open data or Wikidata would be helpful for this project, but not essential.

Project outputs:

By the end of the project, all students will be trained Wikidata editors. The students will have fixed at least one Wikidata page for one of the projects previously mentioned; they may do many more.

Graduate attributes:

Social responsibility: civic engagement and local and global good citizenship.
Valuing diversity: effective team contribution, interpersonal skills, and influencing and negotiation
Entrepreneurial mindset: creativity, confidence and adaptability, research skills and problem solving
Leadership skills: self-awareness and reflection, organisation, resilience, and leading others.
Global outlook: networking, digital literacy, written communication, and technical and specialist academic skills and disciplinary knowledge.

Sponsors: Julie Brooks and Shuting Liu (Business School, Management Department)

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students from the Business School.

Project description:

A recent report by Deloitte suggests that the overall economics of the sports industry is expected to continue to be strong in 2024 but sports organisations and leagues have been undergoing significant transformation (Giorgio, 2024). What role will the new business school, located at the home of golf, and with strong connections to other sporting organisations (football, rugby, etc.) play in this growing industry? This project aims to investigate and assess the potential need for developing new programmes in Sports Management, most likely at the professional/executive education level. Students will conduct in-depth market analysis, identify target audiences for the programme, ideate concepts related to programme design and consider pricing strategies as well as funding opportunities for participants.

This project aims to answer the following questions: 1) who are the competitors offering similar programmes in the market and what do they offer? 2) who will be our audience or customers? 3) what kind of programme we can offer (at what level, how long it will be, what contents)? 4) how much are participants willing to pay for similar programmes elsewhere?

The outcomes will inform the programme design at the School of Management and benefit participating students by providing them with real-world research experience and insights into curriculum development. The project's impact extends to enhancing student engagement and contributing to the enrichment of the educational offerings within the university.

The outcomes will inform the programme design in the Business School and benefit participating students by providing them with real-world research experience and insights into curriculum development. Students with an interest in business, management, marketing, entrepreneurship and sport-related studies/activities are encouraged to apply. It is not essential for students to be studying on programmes in the business school. The project's impact extends to enhancing student engagement and contributing to the enrichment of the educational offerings within the university.

Project outputs:

1. Report on the market for short courses related to sports management to include competitor and market analysis as well as potential course content (based on market demand).
2. Creative proposal(s) for programme design to include possibilities for digital or in-person delivery.
3. Pricing strategy for potential programmes and information on funding for which participants may be eligible to apply.
4. Marketing materials for use in promotion.
(students to be offered the option of doing a presentation at the end of the project bringing together all of the above)

Graduate attributes:

In this project, students will be able to develop a variety of graduate attributes, especially in the areas of Entrepreneurial mindset (e.g. Recognition of opportunities, research skills - marketing, competitor and consumer research - and problem-solving) and Global outlook (e.g. commercial and business awareness, Oral and Written Communication). Students will be encouraged to consider sustainability issues in designing the curriculum and the promotional programme.

Sponsors: Dr Michelle Huang, School of Art History

Student eligibility: Open to all students.

Project description:

This project aims to improve the website on "Chinese Art and Culture in Scotland" (https://chinese-art-in-scotland.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/collections/), which was created by a group of students in the STEP 2023. It seeks to enrich the content by creating an interactive map and updating information about art collections and exhibitions in Fife, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and beyond. The enhanced website will support the teaching of Chinese art and culture at the University of St Andrews.

Students are expected to follow the University policy on digital standards and attend relevant IT training on WordPress. You will resolve IT issues on using WordPress Plugins or other affordable software to create an interactive map, showing the geographical distribution of Chinese collections in Scotland. You will also find solutions to fix the 'Search' function in order to generate accurate search results.
Students will perform statistical, visual and contextual analysis of Chinese collections scattered in different museums and libraries in Scotland, with reference to a survey report on East Asian Collections compiled by researchers and curators at the National Museum of Scotland in 2020.

It is expected that the enhanced website will further arouse interest in exploring Chinese art, artefacts and Chinese-inspired artworks in Scotland, including the art of the Chinese diaspora. If time permits, students are welcome to create and revise caption labels for Chinese objects in the Wardlaw Museum or the University Collections at St Andrews.

Project outputs:

An interactive website.

Graduate attributes:

Students will learn to appreciate multiple perspectives and see things differently through cross-cultural communication and understanding. They will also learn to manage tasks collaboratively to achieve collective goals through open communication, mutual support and accountability. The task of website enhancement will develop digital literacy, creativity as well as research and presentation skills.

Sponsors: Rebecca Wilson, CEED

Student eligibility: Open to all students.

Project description:

CEED offers multiple projects to support new students and their transition to university. This includes the Transitions Toolkit, a pre-arrival survey with the aim to enable critical self-reflection in preparation for students’ arrival at university. The toolkit is designed to provide students with an understanding of studying at Higher Education level whilst gathering information about their expectations which can be implemented in further transitions initiatives. In addition, during orientation week CEED run an interactive workshop introducing students to the fundamentals of studying and how they can enhance their potential at university.

This STEP project will look at both of these projects, exploring the use of language and how accessible language is. Specifically, students will firstly, evaluate and recommend changes regarding the outputs of the Transition Toolkit. Secondly, students will advise of effective changes to the orientation week workshop or design a new workshop.

Project outputs:

A report that outlines recommendations for the following areas:
1. How the information from the Transitions Toolkit can be used to further support learning.
2. The use of language used by CEED uses in its transitions to university activities.
3. An event CEED can run in Orientation week to support new UG students.

Graduate attributes:

• Effective team contribution
• Interpersonal skills
• Research skills and problem solving
• Organisation
• Written communication

Please note that this project is proving very popular. You are still very welcome to apply for this project, but you may be more likely to get one of your top choices if you apply for other projects. 

 

Sponsors: Ross Christie; Learning and Engagement Manager, Libraries and Museums

Student eligibility: Open to all.

Project description:

The Wardlaw Museum is home to a diverse range of objects highlighting the University collections, and we use these engage with the public to promote and discuss the world leading research carried out across the University. The Museum Learning and Engagement team work with a range of audiences, using creative approaches to showcase the museum collections in new and exciting ways.

For this project we’re looking for a team to research, develop and evaluate a range of innovative and creative learning materials, based on the permanent displays at the Wardlaw Museum, for children and young people. It will be up to the team to identify appropriate audiences and specific age ranges that would benefit most from these resources.

Through this initiative, we hope to ignite a passion for discovery, foster creative thinking, and cultivate an appreciation for the wealth of knowledge housed within the walls of the Wardlaw Museum and across the wider University.

Project outputs:

- A report on current trends in cultural, heritage and arts learning and engagement programmes for children and young people.

- A package of creative learning materials for children and young people, based around the collections on display at the Wardlaw Museum. These should include options for both online and in-person learning.

- A proposal for evaluating the effectiveness of these learning materials.

Graduate attributes:

- Research Skills and Problem Solving: Researching the exhibition themes to identify key areas to develop.
- Civic Engagement: The opportunity to work with local families and young people.
- Creativity: Creative approaches to this project encouraged.
- Reflecting on Feedback: Evaluation is a key part of this project.

Sponsors: Professor Jason König, School of Classics

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students interested in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI).

Project description:

The position of School President was introduced by the University in 2011, and the School of Classics has benefited from a succession of effective and dynamic student leaders. It is notable, however, that of the fourteen School Presidents who have held the position to date, twelve have been male. This contrasts sharply with the profile of student class and year representatives, who are predominantly female, and with the overall student profile of Classics, which is 60% female; it also appears to be a phenomenon which is peculiar to the School.

The School’s EDI Committee would like a student team to investigate this phenomenon and find out why student representation in the School presents this profile. What motivates individuals to take up representative roles? What do students see as the purpose of the roles, and are some kinds of individual seen as more suited to certain roles than others? The team should also liaise with the Students’ Association to explore their structures for ensuring diversity in student elections. Then, using the information gathered, we would like the team to produce a video and poster campaign aimed at second- and third-year students to encourage greater diversity in School representative roles.

Project outputs:

An evidence-based report on attitudes towards, and participation in, School representation among current students.

A video and posters for display in the School and on School webpages, aimed at second- and third-year students, to encourage more equal participation in representative roles.

Graduate attributes:

• Awareness of equality and diversity issues.

• Skills in gathering, analysis and application of information.

• Interpersonal skills of negotiation and persuasion.

• Skills in the organisation and presentation of visual material.

• Experience of project management, communication and teamwork.

Please note that this project is proving very popular. You are still very welcome to apply for this project, but you may be more likely to get one of your top choices if you apply for other projects. 

 

Sponsors: Liliana Chavez-Diaz, School of Modern Languages

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students interested in web design.

Project description:

Are you interested in digital media and/or web design? This project consists in creating a website from scratch that can be used to display the journalistic stories written by students for the new Honours module ‘True stories: Journalism and literature in Latin America’, in the School of Modern Languages. You will have the freedom to imagine, plan, experiment and design the media outlet environment and visual identity, including logo, title, sections, and social media accounts! You just need to have essential practical knowledge on web design, and you will learn about media and journalism on the go.

By creating this website, you will contribute to the first students' online newspaper in Spanish in the School of Modern Languages. The newspaper will be a space for creative nonfiction and interesting pieces of journalism on relevant social and cultural issues for our St Andrews community. 

Project outputs:

A website.

Graduate attributes:

Students will develop an Entrepreneurial mindset, particularly regarding creativity, recognition of opportunities, research skills and problem solving. Students will also develop Global outlook by practicing their digital literacy skills and learning on communications and networking.

Sponsors: 

Danica Pinto, School of Chemistry
Bonnie Hacking, Entrepreneurship Centre
Paul Webb, School of Chemistry

Student eligibility: This project is open to all students.

Project description:

In today's rapidly evolving world chemistry stands at the forefront of addressing critical global challenges ranging from environmental sustainability to healthcare innovations. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that students graduating from higher education institutions in fields such as chemistry must not only possess technical expertise but also cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. Students need entrepreneurial skills to navigate these challenges and bring about positive change. This project aims to emphasise the critical role of an entrepreneurial mindset in the field of chemistry by identifying the opportunities within and outwith the curriculum, and propose actionable strategies to integrate and enhance these skills.

In this project, the STEP team will carry out a mapping exercise to identify the opportunities that are already embedded in the chemistry curriculum, interview staff and students within chemistry to gather feedback and insights, and interview members of the Entrepreneurial Education Working Group, including the Entrepreneurship Centre and Careers Centre at the University to gather information on the various resources available and how these could be tailored to support the students in chemistry. Finally, produce a list of recommendations for the department and the Entrepreneurial Education Working Group and give a short presentation on their findings and recommendations.

Project outputs:

Students will produce a report of 5 – 10 pages, which includes recommendations and a 10 to 20-minute presentation, which may need to be tailored for different audiences. The STEP team is expected to give this presentation to a group within the School, and also the Entrepreneurial Education Working Group.

Graduate attributes:

Effective team contribution, interdisciplinary collaboration, research and problem-solving skills, communication skills, entrepreneurial mindset, and leadership skills.

Sponsors: Andrea Brock, School of Classics--with support from the Centre for Ancient Environmental Studies (including Ruben Post, Jason Konig, Sian Lewis)

Student eligibility: This project is open to all, but would be especially attractive to students interested in human-environment interactions in history.

Project description:

Ancient Environmental Studies is a burgeoning subdiscipline being transformed by an influx of new scientific data on past environments and past climate. A key challenge, however, is that environmental themes have not previously received a great deal of focused attention in studies of the ancient Mediterranean world. Students wishing to investigate the complexity of human-environment interactions with a deep time perspective need to be able to access a range of evidence, from paleoenvironmental data to historical texts that provide first-hand accounts of environmental phenomena. A collection of primary sources (i.e. ancient texts translated into English) that are relevant to a range of environmental themes would be a huge aid to ongoing initiatives to scale up interdisciplinary research and teaching on human-environment interactions in the ancient world. This resource would prove invaluable for environmentally-focused modules in ancient history as well as ancient literature--both of which rely heavily on analysis of primary texts and source books in general. In addition to serving as a teaching resource for colleagues and students at St Andrews, this project would also have impact applications, as the Centre for Ancient Environmental Studies aims to introduce environmental history content into secondary school curriculum.

Project outputs:

An open access online resource that serves as a searchable source book of primary texts for ancient environmental studies. The source book would be organized by topic/theme (flood, famine, plague, earthquake, etc), and would include citations and translations of select excerpts of ancient texts, as well as references to relevant secondary sources that discuss these primary texts and/or a brief blurb that offers relevant context.

Graduate attributes:

• Self-awareness and reflection: Seeking guidance and mentoring from others
• Organisation: Ability to plan and complete a task or manage a project
• Digital literacy: Use of software and web-page development
• Socially responsible: Valuing environmental sustainability
• Technical and specialist academic skills and disciplinary knowledge: Discipline-specific skills

Sponsors: Clarissa Melo Czekster

Student eligibility: Open to all

Project description:

“Antibiotics under our feet” co-produced relevant and accessible scientific outputs with the help of our local community. We combined talents and expertise of teachers and pupils, undergraduate students, research and public engagement staff in St Andrews to identify soil bacteria from near the targeted schools, and determine the extent of antimicrobial resistance in the environment.
This project will carry on translating the information we gathered to a wider audience by utilizing "Simple Wikipedia". Some of the work produced by previous year's STEP teams was recently featured in this publication
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/acmi/10.1099/acmi.0.000710.v2

Project outputs:

We want to carry on making important concepts in antimicrobial resistance, developing new antibiotics, and how current antibiotics work widely accessible to the public. Simple Wikipedia is also accessed by non-english speakers, and we would like to expand some entries to other languages, depending on the background of the team.
Besides additional languages, we will carry on explaining important concepts in antibiotics and their discovery and development, and this year will add entries on "natural products" and where antibiotics come from.

Graduate attributes:

 Students will develop self awareness and reflection, organization skills as well as leadership and mentoring skills as they need to work together and provide feedback to each other. They will also develop local and global good citizenship by making important information available to the wider public and considering the needs of others.

Sponsors: Dr Anushrut Ramakrishnan Agrwaal

Student eligibility: The project is suited for students working on or interested in film studies and art history but is open to everyone.

Project description:

This archival research project seeks to help catalogue and build a database of around a collection of unlisted magic lantern slides preserved at the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive in Glasgow. This specific collection is of lantern slides that were used in Scottish cinemas from roughly between 1930-1960, and these slides were used for projecting slides of songs for children's programmes, advertise local and national businesses, and give out public service announcements. The slides also indicate a whole set of advertising agencies that built their business around the cinema hall. Thus, this project is relevant to the history of cinema halls, magic lantern projection, and Scottish heritage. 

The project is interested in thinking about the materials used for projection and creation of the lantern slides, and what they tell us about the networks and communities built around local Scottish Cinemas. The project gives a chance to students to shape the availability and organisation of collections to future researchers as the National Library of Scotland will use our database.

Project outputs:

The students will contribute to an existing (but new) catalogue of the slides, help scan slides to make them available for the National Archive's website, and also contribute to discussions about useful categorisations of the lantern slides. Students will write a short collective report about their process of cataloguing. Alongside this organisation of the material, the students will also get to interact with the magic lantern slides and produce an individual output – and they can be as creative as they like here –  of their own based on mini research that they wish to undertake within the larger cataloguing.

NOTE: The project has trips to the Moving Image Archive planned, so some students need to be ideally available in St Andrews, Glasgow, or somewhere near to these places in Scotland, for part of June to make the archival visits. However there are plenty of other useful and interesting tasks to take within the team if you are not based in Scotland.

Graduate attributes:

Research, writing, archival work, creativity, consultancy, media literacy, teamwork, and organisation.

Sponsors

Dr Olexandr Konovalov (School of Computer Science)

Student eligibility

Due to the focus of the project, in order to be able to take part in it you have to be a native Ukrainian speaker.

Project description

The Carpentries (https://carpentries.org/) is a global volunteer-based organisation whose members teach foundational coding and data science skills to researchers worldwide. One of their projects is Glosario (https://glosario.carpentries.org/) - a multilingual glossary for computing and data science terms. Glosario is an open source project, and the rules of contributing to it are explained in the guidance linked from the "Contributing" section at https://github.com/carpentries/glosario.

I am inviting Ukrainian students at the University of St Andrews to form a team of translators to extend Glosario with a new Ukrainian section. To work on this project, you should know Ukrainian and be interested in learning more about the topic through its translation - the rest will be explained through the training. In particular, you will learn how one can contribute to non-coding projects via GitHub (training will be provided).

You do not have to be an expert in the topic to join this project: a number of Glosario terms are for non-specialists or beginners, as you can see from their English definitions at https://glosario.carpentries.org/en/. Moreover, it is not expected that the outcome of the STEP project will be translation of every term - what we want is to bootstrap the process, create a community, and establish some critical mass of terms that we can present by the completion of the project. Furthermore, we welcome proofreaders, who are familiar with 2019 version of the Ukrainian orthography. Ideally, we hope to assemble an interdisciplinary team, whose members may have skills and knowledge to cover various aspects of the project.

The project aligns with the goals of the Ukrainian National Plan for Open Science (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03583-x) and will help Ukrainian researchers to integrate into international research networks. The glossary will also help to an ongoing project to translate into Ukrainian other training materials by The Carpentries (see 2023 STEP project at https://sway.cloud.microsoft/emAWPsLaDwqx1Yb9).

Project outputs:

The output of the project will be an online resource in the form of the Ukrainian section of Glosario website https://glosario.carpentries.org/

You will: read and understand the English source; research into the topic and determine common Ukrainian terminology equivalents; translate text; submit contributions to the project via GitHub; review submissions made by others and provide feedback.

Graduate attributes:

Through understanding the content being translated students will get insights into modern computational research, applicable to anyone working with code and data. Reviewing each other's translations will give an experience of collaborating and giving feedback. Creating online resource to help Ukrainian researchers will make a societal contribution, helping them to integrate into international scientific networks.

Sponsors: Cat Wilson and Eilidh Harris (CEED)

Student eligibility: Commuter students are especially encouraged to apply for this project team, but it is open to all.

Project description

The University has an increasing number of students who live outside of St Andrews and commute into town for classes. Joining the University as a student who commutes might give rise to questions or concerns that are different to those of students who live in town. The Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development (CEED) STEP project will help to create new sections in our Transition Toolkits to give information related to the academic experience of students who commute.

CEED currently produces three Transition Toolkits – for incoming UG students, incoming PGT students, and for UG students transitioning to Honours study. A high proportion of eligible students complete these toolkits, which help students set their expectations for academic studies. The outputs of this project will be incorporated into the Transition Toolkits for summer 2025.

Project outputs

• Some research to establish the resources which already exist for commuter students at St Andrews, and the areas which commuter students would like most help with.
• Content for the three transitions toolkits (text, images, signposting to resources) that can be embedded in the UG, PGT and Honours toolkits.
• A short overview presentation for the CEED team on the project and outputs produced.

Graduate attributes

STEP project members will develop a range of graduate attributes by taking on this project. In particular, research skills, creativity, communication, organisation, resilience, and effective team contribution.