EXCELSIOR for Schools

ERATOSTHENES Research Centre, under the EXCELSIOR project’s activities, supports schools participating in national and European research competitions. Our aim is to support students during their first contact with research, science and technology and encourage them to become young researchers. Students participate in research competitions by forming working groups and are guided by their teachers. In addition, researches from the ERATOSTHENES Research Centre are also involved to guide the group through meetings and communication and assist them during all stages of their research work. These include the study of relative publications (literature review), set the question/hypothesis, design the experimental methodology, observation and analysis of the results and finally, conclusions and dissemination of the outcomes of the study. Currently, we are working with three research groups. Two groups at the lyceum ‘Apostolon Petrou kai Paulou’ are assisted by our researchers, Dr Christiana Papoutsa and Dr Kyriacos Themistocleous in close collaboration with their teachers, Mrs Sofia Kazeli, Mr Michalis Ioannou, Mr Nicolas Stratis, and Mr Nikos Nikolaou. The first group will participate in the ‘Stockholm Junior Water Prize’ aiming to build a spectral library for monitoring litter pollution over coastal areas in Limassol. The second group will participate in the ‘Competition for Young Researchers 2017-2018’ organised by the Cycys aiming to study the urban heat effect using Earth Observation. The third group is at the ‘Gymnasium of Agios Neophytos Kato Polemidia’ and is supported by researcher Dr Christiana Papoutsa and teacher Mrs Alexandra Perdiou. This group aims to study the effect of microwave radiation on seed germination and will participate in the contest ‘Technology and Innovation in the Education TEKE 2017-2018’ organised by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation. All the activities fall under the umbrella of the EXCELSIOR project.