DkIT are part of the Strategic Partnership: Agents for Change in Education which is an Erasmus+ funded project with partners from across Europe including Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal and Wales. Led by Dr Adèle Commins, researchers from the Department and the Creative Arts Research Centre have been collaborating with colleagues from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences for over six years on Erasmus+ funded projects and the partnership has been extremely rewarding. 

For the Intensive Programme in Porto, six students from the BA (Hons) Applied Music programme in the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music will participate in and lead workshops with fellow students from Belgium and Norway and prepare workshops as part of transnational teams that will be delivered in a number of Primary Schools in Porto. The workshops will become part of a resource for teachers internationally who are developing STEAM approaches in their teaching.  

STEAM seeks to integrate learning and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics and researchers from DkIT have been working on specific intellectual outputs that will inform and enhance future educational practices in this area. For International STEAM week hosted by AP University in Antwerp in 2018, a group of lecturers from DkIT utilised research developed as part of Summer Undergraduate Research Projects funded by the DkIT Research Office in 2017 and 2018. These projects provide valuable experiences for young researchers to engage with research during the summer months that may inform their future careers or provide a stepping stone to postgraduate research. 

The group will be led by Dr Daithí Kearney, Co-Director of the Creative Arts Research Centre at DKIT, who will chair an international panel of STEAM researchers at the conference in Porto. The role and importance of the arts and creativity in education is a cornerstone of DkIT's European projects and informs learning, teaching and research at DkIT. 

Relevant Links:
BA (Hons) Applied Music