Tag Archives: community

Stoking Curiosity: call for contributions

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Staffordshire University is the Connected University and public engagement in research is just one way in which we can build great connections through sharing and creating knowledge with local people, other academics and organisations in Staffordshire. Stoking Curiosity, now in its second year, is co-organised in a partnership between Keele and Staffordshire Universities, the communities of Stoke-on-Trent and Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The festival takes place at the historic Spode Works in the town of Stoke, and this year we would like you to take part.

Stoking Curiosity Logo

Get involved

Stoking Curiosity is a festival that builds and nurtures a community of curious people in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. We celebrate being inquisitive, spark ideas and get involved in research together in our communities. The festival is free to attend and last year exhibitors included academics, artists, creative thinkers and curious people from the local area, all passionate about exploring and sharing knowledge more widely.

The festival presents a great opportunity for academic researchers, local people and organisations to share or create knowledge. You can do this in a variety of ways that have audience participation at the heart of the activity. If you already are an engaged researcher or considering engaging with a public group in research, the festival offers a chance to make new partnerships or build on previous ones. The networking opportunities and use of curiosity as a lever to engage people in research are particular strengths of the festival.

Stoking Curiosity poster exhibit

Contributions

The call-out for contributions to the 2019 Stoking Curiosity Festival is now open. Please respond now if you would like to contribute to the festival, even if you only have a very basic idea of your contribution at this stage.

To offer an expression of interest please complete the Call for Entries form. The deadline for registering your interest is Wednesday 31st July 2019.

To find out more, visit the Stoking Curiosity website. There you can find information about:

  • Stoking Curiosity 2018 (evaluation, images, overview)
  • Stoking Curiosity 2019 – current overview and announcement of this year’s dates
  • Taking Part 2019 – information about why and how to get involved including the activity submission form
  • FAQs

Follow Stoking Curiosity at @stokingcurios on Twitter and @stokingcuriosity on Instagram. Like our Facebook page.

Signage to curiosities at the Stoking Curiosity event 2018

Please share! 

Please feel free to pass on this invitation to lead an activity to anyone you know who may be interested.

Get in touch

If you’d like to discuss how to get involved please contact Nic Gratton at N.Gratton@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0)1782 292751.

Free event – Sustainability for SMEs

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Programme updated 10th June 2019

Are you interested in making your business more sustainable?

Staffordshire Business School is currently leading a project to develop a free online training tool on sustainability for businesses that could help. The training tool is now at an advanced stage of development and we are inviting businesses along to a demonstration and an opportunity to sign up to it at a free conference on Tuesday 11th June.

Professor Jon Fairburn introduces the course featured in the training tool

In summary, the conference, being held at the Moat House Hotel in Stoke-on-Trent, will feature:

  • Demonstrations of a free online tool for businesses to help with sustainability.
  • Workshops on different aspects of business sustainability delivered by experts.
  • Talks on where to get more help, e.g. networks, grants, loans or other business assistance.
  • Talks from businesses already implementing sustainability.
  • Great networking opportunities.

Presenter Viv Bradford of the Lymestone Brewery explains what she’ll be talking about at the event

Presenter Diane Brassington of Westbury Ironing talks about the business, sustainability and community work

The draft programme is as follows:

09.15-10.00 – Registration and networking – coffee and tea (Room: Bentley)

10.00 – Opening and Welcome – Prof Jon Fairburn, Staffordshire University – Twitter @ProfJonFairburn

10.30 – Keynote speech – Diane Brassington, Westbury Ironing Ltd and Westbury Workshops C.I.C. – “Outside The Box” – https://www.westburyironing.co.uk – Twitter @dibrassington

11.00 – Christina Marshall, Steve Stones, and Diane Roberts, Staffordshire Business Environment Network (SBEN) – “SBEN and support for your energy management” – https://sben.co.uk – Twitter @LowCarbonStaffs

12.00-13.00 Lunch

13.00 – Viv Bradford, Lymestone Brewery Staffordshire – “Sustainability the Lymestone Way!” – https://www.lymestonebrewery.co.uk – Twitter @lymestonebrewer

13.30 Parallel workshops

  Stream 1 Room: Bentley Stream 2 Room: Executive
13.30 Tom Hendy, Sustainability West Midlands – “The Future of Sustainability” – www.swm.org.uk – Twitter @SWMtweet

Dr Souad Moufty, Staffordshire University – “New free online tool and some practical examples of environmental actions”
14.30 Judith Dix, Environmental Trainer ESP Ltd – “Upskilling your Workforce: Increasing Environmental Competency” –  https://www.esp.uk.net – Twitter @ESP_Ltd Stephanie Hacker, The Carbon Trust’s Green Business Fund – “Cutting Energy Costs: Top Tips for SMEs to Improve Energy Efficiency” – www.carbontrust.com/greenbusiness – Twitter @thecarbontrust

3.30 – Panel of speakers to take questions from the room, plus an opportunity to promote any other upcoming events and opportunities

4.00 – Close

You are encouraged to bring flyers and other publicity material. A booking form is available through Eventbrite at https://sustainability-smes.eventbrite.co.uk.

Parking is free but you must input your registration number into a terminal upon arrival. Terminals will be available at the hotel reception and in the bar and meeting room (Bentley). Failure to provide car registration details will result in a fine.

More information about the project can be found at https://report-asapproject.eu.

Logo for the Report ASAP Adoption of Sustainable Accounting Practices for Reporting projectErasmus+ logo - Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union