Information

The CSTS actively supports projects and initiatives in the local centres of education, providing funding and expertise to encourage the teaching of Science, Engineering and Technology in many forms.

Here are some of the support packages we've offered to local schools and to the Royal Agricultural University: 

From 2011 onwards: The Society provides £100 each year for the RAU Student Science project prize.  The RAU judges the applications, and presents the prize at its annual ceremony

In 2014 - £150 to Cirencester College, £50 for each of three years, for Commitment in the Scientific Field.

In 2014 - £100 to South Glos and Stroud College for their Hovercraft project.

In 2016  £300 to Stroud High School for their membership of the HiSPARC project. 

The grant will allow the Year 10 girls undertaking a British Science Association Silver CREST to receive direct support from scientists at Birmingham University.  They will also get accesss to a large amount of real-time Cosmic Ray detector data being collected by the many schools and colleges taking part in HiSPARC.  This type of project is important in developing a taste for real science and also delivers a number of other educational benefits (including experience of team working to deliver results against hard deadlines).

In 2019 - A grant to Sheepscombe School, here's what Chloe Turner said: "I just wanted to let you know that we had a very successful first term of our STEM club at Sheepscombe, thanks to the grant you kindly gave us. We enjoyed being physicists, chemists, structural engineers, architects, biologists, pharmacists and mathematicians, amongst other things. We finished the term with a great session making our own bath bombs and decorating 3D cubes to store them in. Attached are a few photos from some of the sessions, and we're looking forward to this coming term already."

:-   We're keen to hear from any local school with an idea for making science real!  Get in touch and we'll try to find a way to support you. 

Download our simple grant application form and send it to us, or get in touch using the message sender below:

Why not help to support the noble aims of the Science Society by offering a little time to help run the Society? Perhaps you are concerned that it will be a heavy workload, or that committee members have to be career scientists with an academic background - I can assure you that neither of those is the case! 

The committee meets every couple of months (currently by virtual meeting) to review the position and plan for the future - and to catch up with each other's news! The Covid crisis has brought out the best in so many people, giving time and effort to keep people safe and ensure organisations continue to function.  That same energy and social involvement is what we need now to ensure the continuation of the CSTS.

So here I'm listing all the roles, so you can see which the CSTS currently desperately needs to fill, with a description of what they involve and how little time they occupy.  According to the Constitution the committee roles are for three years, after which the holder should stand down, although they can offer themselves for re-election.

If you think you might be able to help with any of the roles, please get in touch with The Committee Secretary

1. Members who wish to post occasional papers should send their submissions as email attachments in Word doc or rtf format to the Editor of the Bulletin, Dr Tony Moody at .
2. The paper should be of general interest to the wider membership. They could be a review of one or more seminal books (although there is a separate web page for these), or a non-technical review or commentary of a novel or important scientific or technological development. Polemics and original research papers, however, would not be considered appropriate.
3. The paper should normally not exceed 3000 words and contain not more than 4 figures (graphs or illustrations) and be limited to a file size of 1MB.
4. The Editor will send the submission to one or more members for a confidential opinion of its relevance, literary construction, and freedom from offensive comment and plagiarised content, but such referees would not be expected to provide a detailed report on the technical content as would be appropriate for a research paper submitted to a learned journal.
5. The paper should be accompanied by a synopsis of between 20 and 40 words, which can be used on the website page.
6. The Editor’s decision to accept or decline a submission is final.
7. The Editor has the right to correct errors of syntax and spelling, but will agree with the author any significant revisions or changes to the text and illustrations.
8. Accepted submissions will be converted to pdf format and posted on the designated web page by the website manager. The posting will normally remain for about 12 months but may be removed at any time thereafter by the website manager at his or her discretion. The Committee has the right to remove postings at any shorter time if substantiated evidence emerges of plagiarism, incorrect or inappropriate content.
9. The website page will be accessible to the wider public.
10. The Society does not accept responsibility for the view or content of papers posted on the Society’s website.

These Rules may be varied without notice by the Committee.

The Committee and myself strongly commend to members the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) scheme for Gloucestershire Schools.  Two members, Chris Wood and Ed White, have summarised the main features of the scheme in the attached note.  If you would like to help with this admirable scheme, please contact Ed White at Ed.White(at)gloucestershire.gov.uk.

We also encourage members who would like to bring motivated school pupils to any of the Society’s lectures to contact Ed White.  It is possible that there may be CRB issues here and so this may have to be done by Ambassadors only.

Peter Stoward, Chair CSTS, January 2010 

STEM AMBASSADORS

• STEM is looking for Ambassadors with experience of applied science and technology to support the education of 5 – 18 year olds.
• Primary and secondary school organisers are permanently employed by STEM and they organise workshops (usually half day). Ambassadors help with these workshops. There is no pressure and the workshops represent a good starting point for Ambassadors.
• Schools welcome support from Ambassadors for:
  • debates
  • talks
  • mentoring pupils towards career paths
• Ambassadors have to 
  • register on line at www.stemnet.org.uk
  • complete a CRB check which is free of charge
  • attend training (90 mins in Hucclecote or could be arranged in Cirencester)
  • support at least one activity per year
• Insurance cover is provided for Ambassadors
• Communication is via
  • a monthly e-mail detailing workshops and specific school requests
  • weekly amended websites www.gloucestershireseas.co.uk and www.stemworks.co.uk

STEM organise an annual primary challenge with broad themes; six pupils are invited to showcase their project in front of 40 or so invited adults. Ambassadors could help with mentoring pupils during projects.

Chris Wood, Ed White

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Supporting Teachers - Science is Important!

The CSTS actively supports projects and initiatives in the local centres of education, providing funding and expertise to encourage the teaching of Science, Engineering and Technology in many forms.

Here are some of the support packages we've offered to local schools and to the Royal Agricultural University:

From 2011 onwards: The Society provides £100 each year for the RAU Student Science project prize.  The RAU judges the applications, and presents the prize at its annual ceremony

In 2014 - £150 to Cirencester College, £50 for each of three years, for Commitment in the Scientific Field.

In 2014 - £100 to South Glos and Stroud College for their Hovercraft project.

In 2016  £300 to Stroud High School for their membership of the HiSPARC project. 

The grant will allow the Year 10 girls undertaking a British Science Association Silver CREST to receive direct support from scientists at Birmingham University.  They will also get accesss to a large amount of real-time Cosmic Ray detector data being collected by the many schools and colleges taking part in HiSPARC.  This type of project is important in developing a taste for real science and also delivers a number of other educational benefits (including experience of team working to deliver results against hard deadlines).

But:-

We're keen to hear from any local school with an idea for making science real!  Get in touch and we'll try to find a way to support you.

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The annual membership subscription is £15 for the period September to July.  New members are welcome, and those joining after December may be offered a discounted rate for the first year of membership, at the discretion of the Membership Secretary.

Visitors to this website who wish to join the Society should download the Membership Application Form, which is available as a Word DOC file or a PDF file. 

Complete the Form and send it to the Membership Secretary (address is given on the form).

The most convenient way to pay your subscription is by Standing Order; you can download the Standing Order form, or you can generally set it up via your internet banking website using

account name 'Cirencester Science and Technology Society',
sort code 40-52-40,
account no. 00016646

and including 'sub' and your name as the payment reference.   

Alternatively your subscription can be paid by cheque for the appropriate amount made payable to CSTS and sent with your application to the Membership Secretary, or handed in at the next talk.

The Constitution of the Society can be downloaded by clicking here.  The Society's programme for the year is available as a link here and as an ics file here. This allows you to add it to your e-calendar application.

How to access our lectures using Zoom:

PLEASE NOTE, AT THE REQUEST OF THE SPEAKER THIS EVENING'S  TALK WILL NOT BE STREAMED OR RECORDED

Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/91207236181?pwd=d2h6MFJhN1NoTEFaRm9saVBxbHR3Zz09

MMeeting ID: 912 0723 6181
Passcode: cester

Please note that we are currently working on the basis of an 'Honesty Box'; if you use this link but you are not a member then we ask you to donate £3 to help us with our efforts to provide high-quality scientific lectures to Cirencester.

If you enjoy our talks regularly, please consider becoming a member - it's only £15 a whole year!   Details of membership and our bank account are shown above.

Got a Suggestion?

We welcome suggestions for talks or visits. 

If you think a particular topic would interest you or other members, or if you hear a good speaker who you think might be available to come to Cirencester, please email us here.

If you have an idea for a visit, send the details here.

Below you will find an archive of newsletters to 2014.  To view the current newsletter click here.  To view the archive from 2014 onwards, click here.

When three scientifically-minded Cirencester friends thought of forming a small group to enjoy talks on a range of scientific subjects, little could they have foreseen that twenty-one years later it would be flourishing with over 200 members.

Its name belies the wide area from which members come, stretching from Stroud in the West, northwards to Cheltenham and Malmesbury in the South. 

Each year the society holds a series of ten lectures on a varied selection of topics intended to appeal to a wide variety of interests and levels of scientific background. 

Members include not only scientists, doctors and engineers but also many who have a general interest in science and technology.

Our friendly meetings are held at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of each month, usually at the Royal Agricultural University. 

We also stream our lectures online. Our Zoom ID is 912 0723 6181, and an invitation e-mail is sent to members regularly. 

A contribution of £3 is requested from non-members, which is waived for students. All are welcome to join either audience. Students are admitted free. 

If you are not a member but wish to attend a Zoom lecture, please contact us at .

Exhibitions have been arranged in the past and visits are made regularly to places of scientific and technological interest, including wildlife reserves and museums.

We also offer small educational grants to local schools and colleges for suitable projects, so far this year disbursing approximately £1,500 to three schools in the region.

This website also lists external events of note in its events calendar.

Details of the membership fees and directions to the main venues used by the Society can be found on the Members area of this website.

The society supports the local community including: