STEAM Northants
STEAM Northants at UON
Wednesday 11 June 2025, 9:30am – 3pm
STEAM Northants combines a huge range of free activities, workshops, drop-in areas, and exciting shows to inspire and enthuse children and young people in all areas of STEAM at the University of Northampton.
This huge careers event for Northamptonshire Schools takes over our Waterside Campus and attracts in excess of over 3,000 visitors, from year 6 to year 13, with 70+ exhibitors and companies inspiring and promoting all things science, technology, engineering, arts and maths!
For any queries, email schools.engagement@northampton.ac.uk.
If you are a business or employer and would like to speak to us regarding exhibiting or running an activity or workshop, please contact the team on steamnorthants@northampton.ac.uk
What happened at STEAM Northants 2024?
There were a wide range of exhibitions, workshops and shows taking place during the day.
See below for information about exciting exhibitions, shows, talks and more that happened in June 2024.
Exhibition areas:
The exhibition areas are free to everyone and run from 9.30am – 3pm.
From 9.30am to 10.15am, it will be open to Primary and SEND schools only, from 10.15am onwards these are open to all schools.
Experiences Zone
Taking over the Sports Dome, Immersive Experiences bring three of their fantastic 3D immersive domes.
Experience one of these breathtaking shows:
- Space (all ages)
- Dinosaurs (all ages)
- Fractals (Key Stages 3 & 4)
Drop-in to the Experiences Zone and you can also have-a-go with virtual reality and augmented reality headsets!
Outside the Experience Zone, visit the UON Sports Team in the MUGA courts, learn about our sports courses, find out about careers in sports and have a go at fun team building activities. The amazing interactive aerial show Highly Sprung is also in this area.
Waterside Place & outside spaces
Our outdoor exhibition features:
- Bloodhound land speed record car
- Drive a large piece of construction machinery with the EKFB ‘plant’ simulator!
- Explore being a police officer and see the inside of a police car with Northants Police
- Climb aboard a lorry cab and learn more about the transport industry with Panther Logistics
- Have a go at a variety of team building and challenges to challenge yourself! British Army
- Look up this year! Science on Stilts will be walking around the exhibitions areas inspiring you with science on the go
- Grab your friends and test yourselves in our event Trapp’d escape room! 20 minute challenges to try out your problem solving, listening, resilience and leadership skills.
- Visit the Army and test your resilience and have a go on their climbing wall! Also test your speed at the Batak sports wall.
- Get hands on with a range of vehicles from VW Volkswagen
STEAM Marquee
The Performing Room will be taking over the STEAM Marquee this year. There will be have-a-go music activities and gaming multimedia sing and play music with different instruments. Step back in time using our VR headset to experience what Northampton’s Cultural Quarter used to be like 150 years ago!
Learning Hub and Creative Hub
Visit over 70 different companies and UON subjects exhibiting at STEAM Northants; meet Apprentices and trainees, find out more about volunteering, be curious about the skills needed and find out how to get that dream job! The exhibition areas are hands on and interactive to spark your imagination and leave you buzzing with ideas for different jobs and careers.
24 different subject areas from the University of Northampton will be represented on the day, with hands on activities and specialist rooms open for you to visit. Find out about the range of subjects you could study in higher education.
Find our more about our A to Z of exhibitors.
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There are pre-bookable opportunities taking place during STEAM Northants, to compliment the many, many free activities.
Schools are recommended to book ONE show from section A and ONE workshop/activity from section B. These are all offered on a first-come-first-served basis. The booking link will be sent to all schools registered for the event and will go live later in the Spring.
A. Bookable shows and speakers (headline acts):
Schools can book ONE of the following shows from section A.
Atomic Science with Atomic Tom
Inspiring all primary aged scientists with live and exciting experiments! The focus of this fun and engaging show is to think about the air that’s all around us and the amazing science we can learn from it. Making it move in cool ways with vortices, thinking about the composition of air by releasing oxygen from elephant’s toothpaste to learning about the science of flight and even making a person fly!Find out more about Atomic Science and Atomic Tom’s experiments
- Show times: 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1.15pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 150
- Location: Engine Shed
- Age group: Year 6
Birdman – Bringing Science Alive
Guest Presenter: Alan Ames
Meet Sparky, the Barn Owl, Alaska, the Bald Eagle and Sybil, the Harris Hawk.Watch these beautiful birds in flight and through their eyes learn about the natural world and how it functions. Life cycles, food chains and population dynamics.
Find out more about Birdman Displays
NB: Please be aware that the birds will be flying freely during the session, please keep food securely inside bags.
- Show times: 10.10am, 11.10am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 100
- Location: Learning Hub LH017
- Age group: All ages
Highly Sprung: CastAway live aerial performance
A stunning aerial theatre outdoor performance. The audience is immersed in an underwater world where performers dive, twist and float in the air in a show exploring the impact of today’s throwaway society on our waterways.
This is an outdoor show and will run in all weather.
Find out more about Highly Sprung.
- Show times: 10.00am, 12.00pm and 2.00pm
- Duration: 30 minutes
- Capacity: 200+ (standing outdoors)
- Location: Experiences Zone
- Age group: All ages
Experience a Planetarium Dome Cinema
Discover the joy of 3D cinema through a 30 min science show in these fantastic planetariums. There are different themes to book this year, with one dome as a ‘drop in’.Find out more about Immersive Experiences
- Duration: 30mins
- Location: Experiences Zone
- Age group: All ages
1. Planetarium A (pre-booked shows only) 90 capacity max
‘Flight Adventure’
Suitable for all ages
Discover the science of flight through the eyes of a young girl and her grandfather as they explore how birds, kites, planes and models fly. Learn about the history and future plans of flight and how NASA is discovering new and safer ways to travel with the help of future engineers and aviators – like YOU!
- 9.30am, 10.15am, 11am, 11.45am, 12.30pm, 1.15pm, 2pm
2. Planetarium B (pre-booked shows only) 90 capacity max
‘Fractals’
Suitable for Key Stages 3-5
Fractals are never-ending patterns representing algebraic equations. When animated and projected in 360˚ they take audiences on dazzling journeys in and out of infinity. All ages will love the dramatic immersive experience of zooming into patterns smaller than atoms or bigger than the Universe!
- 9.45am, 10.30am, 11.15am, 12pm, 12.45pm, 1.30pm, 2.15pm
3. Planetarium C (drop in – be prepared to wait) 45 capacity max
‘Dinosaurs at Dusk’
Suitable for all ages
Travel back in time through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous geological periods in search of the ancestors of modern-day birds, the feathered dinosaurs.
Join a father and his teenage daughter Lucy, who share a fascination for all things that fly, as they travel back in time navigating from continent to continent, exploring an Earth teeming with dinosaurs in search for clues on the origins of flight. Educational content includes continental drift, proper motion of stars, asteroids and impacts, mass extinctions and the convergent development of flight amongst species.
- Times: This planetarium will be a ‘drop-in’ on the day, between 9.30am to 3pm
Medical Mavericks: The Human Guinea Pig Show
This amazing show takes students on a journey to discover the unsung heroes of the NHS that perform 85% of all the diagnostic tests in a hospital.Highlights include Tom scanning the heart and blood vessels in his neck with ultrasound, and taking a photo of the inside of his eye!
Find out more about Medical Mavericks
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 130
- Location: Learning Hub LH013
Show times:
- 10am – 10.40am – Y6/Y7
- 10.50am – 11.30am – Y6/Y7
- 11.40am – 12.20pm – Y8 to Y13
- 1pm – 1.40pm – Y6 to Y13
- 1.50pm – 2.30pm – Y6 – Y9
Science Made Simple
Science Made Simple are passionate about science and bring us two different inspiring shows to STEAM Northants. Find our more about Science Made Simple.
Science of Sport
How do we balance, and what makes us fall over? What is happening when a ball bounces? What part does friction play in sport, and how can we protect ourselves from injury? Are you brave enough to sit on a chair of nails? Can you spot why things that spin are so important in sport? Limber up and get involved!
- Times: 10.30am and 12pm
- Duration: 1 hour
- Capacity: 100
- Location: TPod AB (2nd floor Learning Hub)
- Age group: Year 6, Year 7 & Year 8
The X-Tra Factor
Join us on a journey to meet 6 amazing women in STEAM who are mostly unheard of despite their achievements. Engineers, inventors, volcanologists and more!
Discover what ground-breaking work they did and meet the modern-day equivalents they inspired along the way.
- Time: 1.30pm
- Duration: 1 hour
- Capacity: 100
- Location: TPod AB (2nd floor Learning Hub)
- Age group: Year 9 to Year 13
B. Bookable workshops and activities for schools:
Schools may book one of these activities in addition to one show/speaker in section A.
Dental Health and working in the NHS (UON)
Students will have a chance to have a go at some of the science behind being a dentist in this fun and interactive workshop! They will mix alginate impression material and load a tray. Students will be able to explore toothbrushing techniques using the models and look at oral health aids. They will learn more about careers in the NHS, particularly around dental health.
- Times: 11.00am or 1.00pm
- Duration: 1 hour
- Capacity: 30
- Location: Learning Hub LH344
- Age group: Year 6
Environmental Law and Justice – How law shapes everything, everywhere, all at once (UON)
This 45-minute, highly interactive session will start with an outline of how the law influences science and technology and balances the risks and benefits.
We look at how pollution from day-to-day activities links to air quality, rising sea levels and increased extreme weather. We look at ‘environmental injustices’ (allowing the participants to say what they think it is), with global examples (floods in Pakistan, fires in Australia, increasing sea levels, etc) and more local (air quality in Northampton breaking WHO limits). Participants decide which parts of Northampton will have the worst air pollution, and why. The session will close with a discussion of what opportunities exist at University level to take these ideas further, and also flag up the types of employment which are likely to be around in five to ten years.
- Times: 11.15am, 12.15pm, 1.15pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 30
- Location: Learning Hub LH126
- Age group: Year 9 to Year 13
Fuze Coding and Games Workshop
FUZE specializes in making real coding accessible and engaging for people of all ages and ability levels. Fuze focus on the fundamental concepts of coding, strengthening and broadening any understanding the students have acquired in their computing lessons.Using the application ‘FUZE4 Nintendo Switch’ – a program they designed to make coding accessible for beginners, they utilise Video Game mechanics to contextualise computer science learning in an engaging and exciting way. This is not to be confused as playing games. Students are shown real world video game examples of the techniques they learn in action, maximising enthusiasm and receptiveness to more complex concepts.
- Times: 9.45am, 10.45am, 11.45am, 1pm, 2pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 30
- Location: Learning Hub LH125
- Age group: All
Gaming, virtual reality and simulation
Visit our Gaming Studios and experience virtual reality (VR) with student created content and have a go in one of our esports racing rigs!
- Times: 9.45am, 10.15am, 10.45am, 11.15am, 11.45am, 12.15pm, 12.45pm, 1.15pm, 1.45pm, 2.15pm
- Duration: 30 mins
- Capacity: 20
- Location: Creative Hub 1st floor
- Age group: all ages
Environmental Geography workshop (UON)
In common with the rest of Central and Southern England, the Nene Valley has witnessed major shifts in climate over the Quaternary Period (~2.6 million years ago to the present day) from conditions as warm or warmer than today to full glaciation on at least one occasion. This interactive workshop will introduce students to some of the evidence used to reconstruct and to date these climate changes and will offer give opportunities for hands-on examination of some of the Quaternary fossils owned by the University of Northampton and the Northampton Wildlife Trust.
- Times: 12.45pm and 1.45pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 30
- Location: Learning Hub LH115
- Age group: Year 9 to Year 13
Gothic Monsters with English (UON)
The Monsters We Love and Fear
What is a monster? Do you have a favourite one in a book or a film? Why do monsters scare us and why do we seem to enjoy being just a little bit scared? If you’re interested in these questions – or just love monsters! – come and explore some famous monsters from books with us and find out what they really tell us about ourselves and our world.
Age group: Year 6, Year 7, Year 8 & Year 9
- Time: 12pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 30 students
- Location: Learning Hub LH128
Gothic Monsters and the Literature of Terror
What is a monster? Wy do we keep inventing new monsters? What do monsters tell us about what we fear and also what we desire? How do monsters make us confront the things we would rather stay hidden? If you’re intrigued by these questions, come and explore some of the great monsters of Gothic literature with us, from laboratory creations to uncanny doubles and vampires, and find out what monsters really tell us about ourselves and our world.
Age group: Year 10, Year 11 & Year 12
- Times: 1pm
- Duration: 45 mins
- Capacity: 30 students
- Location: Learning Hub LH128
Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics for Stage & Screen (UON)
During your visit to our practical spaces, you will be able to view the high-end facilities and custom studios. You will see some of the processes and practices of a working makeup artist and be able to have a go at being a prosthetic artist! Pop up stations will be set up to enable you to view equipment, professional tools and practical outcomes from hair, make-up, and special effects disciplines.
Staff will be on hand to answer and questions about becoming a Hair, Makeup and Prosthetic Artist and opportunities within the creative industry.
- Times: 10am,10.20am, 10.40am, 11am, 11.20am, 11.40am, 12pm, 12.20pm, 12.40pm, 1pm, 1.20pm, 1.40pm, 2.00pm, 2.20pm
- Duration: 15 mins
- Capacity: 20 plus staff
- Location: Creative Hub CH305 studio
- Age group: All ages
Photography: Hold That Pose – Becoming a Portrait Photographer (UON)
Fashion and celebrities are nothing without the photographs that promote them. Students will experience what is like to be a professional photographer by using cameras and lighting that are used for magazines and advertisements. The lights in the studio will be set up for students to create portraits of each other using a top-of-the-line digital camera. Staff will work with students to adjust the lights to achieve the desired effect.
- Times: 9.45am, 10.15am, 10.45am, 11.15am, 11.45am, 12.15pm, 12.45pm, 1.15pm, 1.45pm, 2.15pm
- Duration: 30mins
- Capacity: 15 students plus staff
- Location: Creative Hub CH321 Studio
- Age group: All ages
Sport Rehabilitation and Conditioning (UON)
Visit the UON sports rehab clinic and gain an insight into technologies used to help test athletes following injury and treatment strategies with the Sport Injury Assessment and Treatment team.
- Times: 9.30am (room open to explore but no workshop), 10am, 10.30am, 11am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1pm, 1.30pm, 2pm, 2.30pm – 3pm (room open to explore but no bookings)
- Duration: 30 mins
- Capacity: 15 students plus staff
- Location: Creative Hub CH210.2
- Age group: All ages
Sustainability in Fashion – t-shirt printing workshop (UON)
From a source of supplied imagery visitors will be able to print their own t-shirt, using the sublimation process to come up with their own designs focusing on pattern and colour.
- Times: 11.15am and 1pm
- Duration: 60 mins
- Capacity: 12 students plus 1 staff member
- Location: Creative Hub CH203
- Age group: Year 9 to Year 13
Trapp’d: Escape Room
Embark on an Unforgettable Adventure with Trapp’d Mobile Escape Room “Amazonia” Blending entertainment and learning. Through this interactive experience, students learn about the significance of the rainforest to our planet, instilling a sense of environmental consciousness and responsibility in the minds of our future leaders.
Small groups of students will have the opportunity of seeing first hand an alternative career the passion of games design or engineering could lead with this innovative mobile escape room.
- Times: 12pm, 12.40pm, 1.20pm & 2pm
- Duration: 30mins
- Capacity: 8 students plus staff
- Age group: Year 12 & Year 13
Note: ‘drop in’ times for all age groups are 9.30am – 11.30am and 2pm – 3pm.
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In addition to the exhibition, there are a range of spaces to explore and drop-in activities taking place at the University of Northampton. No booking required, suitable for all ages!
Learning Hub
CPR and Defibrillator Training with Heartwize
Location: Learning Hub LH121
Learn how to deal with a cardiac arrest. Train to use CPR and a defibrillator; both life skills that can be appealing to employers.By providing young people with support and training in basic resuscitation skills, Heartwize hopes to ensure that everyone knows how to recognise ad respond to a cardiac arrest and increase the chance of survival.
Find out more about Heartwize
Paramedic Science Ambulance Suite with UON
Location: Learning Hub LH328
Drop into this immersive area to practice knowledge and discuss skills. An opportunity to see and use some of the equipment that assists in preparing Paramedic students for placement and patient care. See our mock-up of an ambulance and experience the space and equipment used by paramedics.
Popular Music with UON
Location: Learning Hub LH124
Try out a variety of high calibre music and music technology instruments. Experience how to make beats, sounds, timbres and sequences with our state-of-the-art music technology hardware instruments. This is a hands-on / ears-on activity. Please bring your own headphones if you like.
Wildlife Displays
Location: Learning Hub exhibition
Interactive, educational animal encounter with lots of hands-on opportunities with a variety of exotic animals, including snakes, lizards, meerkats, spiers and pygmy hedgehogs.Find out more about Wildlife Displays
Psychology with UON
Location: Learning Hub LH122
Staff and students will be sharing many fun activities with pupils who are curious about how our mind works. There will be activities that test your hand-eye coordination to its limit. We will also demonstrate how noises in our everyday life might get in the way of our conversations or learning. From the activities, we want to find out who has got the best method to stay focused.
Do you think you are good enough to get to the top of the leader board?
Amazing Interactive ISportsWall
Location: CH118
Interactive sports wall ISportsWall is an innovative new development that converts a wall into an interactive & exciting learning space for visitors to use. Test your maths and spatial skills using the balls to hit the answers on this fun activity.
Find out more about Amazing Interactive.
Circus 250: Science Stilt Walkers!
Do you look up to scientists? Well now you really can! Science on Stilts is a walkabout performance where real-life scientists – who are also accomplished stilt walkers – do simple science experiments with you! They’ll stop on their stilts to have scientific chats with anyone who has high ambitions to learn more about science. Our scientists on stilts elevate how atoms are made or why bubbles reflect colours to a new height – and huge fun.
Human Resource Management (HRM) with UON
Location: Learning Hub LH120
Human Resource Management (HRM) is attractive to those who wish to understand a business-related career with a focus on developing the skills of a HR practitioner.
Human resources integrates business issues with the management of people. This drop-in activity will give you the opportunity to participate in wellbeing related activities.
Creative Hub
Creative Film with UON
Location: Creative Hub CH119 TV studios
Explore our TV studios, use the green screen and experience being in the production gallery used for producing TV and film at the university.
Exploring Engineering with UON
Location: Creative Hub CH011
Mini-light keyring electronics activity
Drop in sessions of 20 minutes. The aim of this drop-in activity is to design and create a fully working mini light that can be used as a keyring. You will learn about design principles, basic electronics, and simple manufacturing during the session, and will be able to take your completed mini-light keyring home once completed.
Engineering – Mini-light keyring electronics project
Location: Creative Hub CH011
The aim of this drop-in activity is to design and create a fully working mini light that can be used as a keyring. You will learn about design principles, basic electronics, and simple manufacturing during the session, and will be able to take your completed mini-light keyring home once completed.
LemonPop graphic art
Location: Creative Hub exhibition
The Importance of Creative Arts Practice in STEAM
Imagination or ‘creative exploration’ plays an important role in STEAM, from planning to preparation to understanding processes, it is often overlooked as an art or skill however we would not be where we are in human development without it. Discover, Define, Develop and Express who you are through creative arts so you can live a fulfilling lifestyle focused on your wellbeing, happiness and success. Participants are lead through a creative visualisation process that is aimed at identifying skills and attributes so to make better decisions that will enable their progression or recognise and benefit their community. A process of solving problems and visualising ideas as a way to gain more awareness of self and recognising solutions.
Becoming a Designer : Fashion, Textiles, Footwear & Accessories Design with UON
Location: Creative Hub CH201
Be inspired by our students work in Fashion. The Fashion learning spaces are open for you to visit, seeing students’ work from original sketches to final pieces. UON Fashion, Textiles, Footwear & Accessory students will also be available for visitors to ask questions and understand more about studying and careers in the Fashion industry.
Gaming Studios and esports
Location: Creative Hub CH120 & CH122
Have a go at our student created gaming content in our Gaming Lab. Students create the work from original concept, coding to digital design. Meet current students and ask them about their experiences!
- Drop in: 10 mins per group, max 12 visitors at a time
Sports Journalism with UON
Location: Creative Hub
Work with students and staff from the Multimedia Sports Journalism specialism to understand more about careers in Sports Journalism. Visit the studio area, listen to students work and have a go with the equipment.
Working alongside the many sports clubs, bodies and media companies based in Northamptonshire, students studying a Sports Journalism degree will learn and apply audio and video production skills. They also learn how to write sports stories and understand laws and ethics which apply to sports reporting.
Experiences Zone (Sports Dome)
Immersive Experiences take over the Sports Dome!
Virtual Reality Headsets (Oculus Quest VR)
Step into space and float around the International Space Station. Find the answers to some of the common questions, such as where do astronauts sleep? How do they eat and how do they wash?
Augmented Reality Games (AR)
Work in pairs or small groups, and answer as many questions correctly as you can using AR technology! Exploring themes of innovation, art and creativity, our Augmented Reality curriculum games bring the topics to life with our 3D augmented visuals.
Experience ‘Dinosaurs at Dusk’ in planetarium C
This is a drop-in activity, be prepared to wait. While you are waiting, have a go at the other exciting activities in the Experiences Zone!
- Duration: 30mins
- Age group: All ages
- Capacity: 45
- Timings: 9.30am to 3pm
Note: there are two additional planetariums with bookable slots prior to the day
Trapp’d: Escape Room
Embark on an Unforgettable Adventure with Trapp’d Mobile Escape Room “Amazonia”, blending entertainment and learning. Through this interactive experience, students learn about the significance of the rainforest to our planet, instilling a sense of environmental consciousness and responsibility in the minds of our future leaders.
Small groups of students will have the opportunity of seeing first hand an alternative career the passion of games design or engineering could lead with this innovative mobile escape room.
- Drop in times: 9.30am – 11.30am and 2pm – 3pm.
- Duration: 30mins
- Capacity: 8 students plus staff
- Age group: All ages
Note: Pre bookable slots are available for Y12&Y13: 12pm, 12.40pm, 1.20pm & 2pm