Outreach and public engagement

We run an exciting programme for schools (KS2-KS5) and children’s community groups (Brownies, Scouts, etc.) at the University of Hertfordshire Observatory at Bayfordbury, near Hertford.
Teachers and children’s group leaders can book evening visits lasting 2 hrs which include:

• a planetarium session
• an astronomy talk developed specifically for young audiences
• a tour of the telescopes with time for observing if the weather permits.

Brownies, Scouts and similar groups can be supported in achieving their astronomy badges through these sessions.

Book your visit or find out more about visiting the Observatory

In 2020, the school of Physics Maths and Astronomy introduced a new strategic schools outreach programme, focusing our schools’ outreach (KS2-4) on working with three partner secondary schools and their feeder primary schools. This is to provide a programme of events and activities that school pupils will participate in throughout their school career, with the goal of repeat engagements with the same pupils.

This unfortunately means that we have limited capacity to work with other schools however, we are still able to offer Cosmos in the Classroom which you can read about below.

Cosmos in the Classroom is our planetarium experience for schools. We offer day and half day sessions that cater for KS2 – KS4. Please take a look at our planetarium booking information and if you have any questions the please email programme lead Mily Riley

To express interest, please fill out the booking form.

We regret that we are unable to accommodate work experience requests.

This is due to the advanced nature of the research work undertaken, and the many years of training required of the scientists undertaking it. Experience has taught us that it is exceedingly rare for us to be able to provide realistic work experience for KS4 and KS5 students in these disciplines.

We hope that this won't put students off the pursuit of a career in science and mathematics as a result, and that they will encourage their teachers to engage with the University via one of the programmes set out on this page. In particular, students who are currently undertaking Year 12/Lower Sixth/AS levels may wish to investigate the Nuffield Research Placements (please see the Nuffield Research Placements menu on this page).

This is different to the traditional Work Experience programme and offers science students a deeper insight into scientific research.

In partnership with SETPoint Hertfordshire, the School occasionally hosts Nuffield Research Placements for students for 4-6 weeks in the summer.

Nuffield Research Placements offer the chance for science students those who have completed Year 12/lower sixth form/AS to gain first-hand experience of scientific research by working alongside a practising scientist over the summer.

If you are interested in applying for a physics/astrophysics-related place, please email an expression of interest including a CV to Professor David Pinfield, and apply via the SETPoint Hertfordshire website.

Our department are experienced deliverers of CPD having run sessions in collaboration with the Centre for STEM Education and STEM Learning since 2006 hosting over 170 teachers providing support for teachers of physics, particularly “non-specialist” teachers those whose first degrees are in other disciplines.

We have updated our long-running secondary CPD training to include primary schools for the 2020/21 school year. We will continue our collaboration with the Centre for STEM Education with the addition of the South East Physics Network. CPD for teachers will focus on:

• A science capital teaching approach as recommended by the ASPIRES study.
• Embedding careers in lessons as recommended by the The Gatsby STEM Careers Review.
• Unconscious bias and stereotyping training as recommended by the Institute of Physics.
• Engaging teachers with active physics and astronomy research from the University of Hertfordshire.

Please contact Nuala O’Flynn for further information.

During the winter months, staff and students of the University host regular open nights at the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory, near Hertford, to showcase our astrophysics research and open our facilities to the local community.

Activities vary from month to month, but are suitable for a very wide range of ages and typically includes:

• planetarium shows.
• talks and displays on current developments in astrophysics.
• guided access to photographic and digital resources.
• lab experiments.
• observing with the optical and radio telescopes (weather permitting).
• good conversation with friendly scientists!

Book you place and find out more via the Bayfordbury website

Scientists from the School have fairly frequently given evening talks to interested community groups such as astronomy clubs, Rotary, Probus, and others.

Invitations may be directed to particular scientists, based on the match between staff expertise and the topic your group is interested in hearing about.

Please note that while staff do support a wide range of outreach and public engagement activities, family and professional commitments (which also frequently extend into the evenings) will mean that we cannot meet all requests for speakers.

We are committed to sharing our enthusiasm about all things space-related with as many people as possible. This desire has led to putting on numerous shows at festivals with the largest inflatable planetarium the UK has to offer as well as our ‘Coney Henge’ which aims to link our modern telescopes to the ancient observers via an homage to Stonehenge.

After successful appearances guiding stargazers at festivals such as Burning Man in (NV, USA; 2015,2016) and Lightning in a Bottle (CA, USA; 2016) in collaboration with Black Rock Observatory, we have expanded our festival range to include Noisily (2017,2018,2019), Shambala (2018) and WOMAD (2019) reaching audiences of over 2500 people.

If you would like us to come to your festival please get in touch with Ben Burningham for further information.

Cosmic Curiosity is a collaborative public engagement project with Hertfordshire Libraries aimed at children ages 4-7 and their parents and carers. Cosmic Curiosity has four astronomy story time sessions with linked astronomy craft activities.

Learn more about our Cosmic Curiosity sessions and activities

If you have any questions about the physics and astronomy outreach and public engagement or our strategy then please contact the PAM Outreach and Public Engagement Officer, Nuala O’Flynn.

The annual Hertfordshire Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses are our longest-running public engagement programme - we have been offering them for over 30 years.

We run a masterclass series each autumn term on Saturday mornings, and have about 80 young people attending each time.

Attendance is via school nomination only.

Contact Dr Diane Crann (d.crann@herts.ac.uk) for further information.

Through our partnership with Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), we have a member of staff dedicated to supporting schools in our region deliver the A-level course Further Mathematics.

Email Val Pritchard (v.pritchard@herts.ac.uk) for more information.

We regret that we are unable to accommodate work experience requests.

This is due to the advanced nature of the research work undertaken, and the many years of training required of the scientists undertaking it. Experience has taught us that it is exceedingly rare for us to be able to provide realistic work experience for KS4 and KS5 students in these disciplines.

We hope that this won't put students off the pursuit of a career in science and mathematics as a result, and that they will encourage their teachers to engage with the University via one of the programmes set out on this page. In particular, students who are currently undertaking Year 12/Lower Sixth/AS levels may wish to investigate the Nuffield Research Placements (please see the Nuffield Research Placements menu on this page). This is different to the traditional Work Experience programme, and offers science students a deeper insight into scientific research.

In partnership with SETPoint Hertfordshire, the School occasionally hosts Nuffield Research Placements for students for 4-6 weeks in the summer.

Nuffield Research Placements offer the chance for science students those who have completed Year 12/lower sixth form/AS to gain first-hand experience of scientific research by working alongside a practising scientist over the summer.

If you are interested in applying for a mathematics-related place, please email an expression of interest including a CV to Dr Stephen Kane (s.j.kane@herts.ac.uk), and apply via the SETPoint Hertfordshire website.

Scientists from the School have fairly frequently given evening talks to interested community groups such as astronomy clubs, Rotary, Probus, and others.

Invitations may be directed to particular scientists, based on the match between staff expertise and the topic your group is interested in hearing about.

Please note that while staff do support a wide range of outreach and public engagement activities, family and professional commitments (which also frequently extend into the evenings) will mean that we cannot meet all requests for speakers.