Resources by Research Councils UK - UKRI

Developing ideas

James Briscoe studies the highly structured development of the central nervous systems in embryos. For James, personal drive and self-motivation are key to success in science. A better understanding of the development of the spinal cord will shed light on diseased and damaged nervous systems, and the hope is that...

ESA Gaia Mission - Background and Teacher's Guide

The Gaia spacecraft is a European Space Agency mission to map one billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

This resource includes a teacher’s guide, with suggested teaching sequence for the resource, and background information for both the teacher and student on the Gaia mission.  It also includes an...

ESA Gaia Mission - Intermediate and Advanced activities

The Gaia spacecraft is a European Space Agency mission to map one billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

‘Using the LCO and ESA Gaia data archives to find Type Ia supernovae targets – Student Guide’ – this guides the students through the process of data-mining the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) and Gaia...

ESA Gaia Mission - Introductory activities

The Gaia spacecraft is a European Space Agency mission to map one billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

‘Introductory Activity – Hubble expansion’ – Students use spreadsheets and sample data from historical supernovae to produce lightcurves and calculate the distances to the supernovae, leading to a...

Experiments on Coralline Algae as a Model to Examine the Effects of Climate Change and Environmental Variation

There are teacher notes and student materials which describe the research into the potential effects of climate change on a Coralline algae species. Curriculum links include biodiversity, sampling techniques, student t test, Simpson’s Index, photosynthesis, climate...

Fire and ice

This resource presents some real seismic data recorded before a volcanic eruption and allows students to locate some of the resulting earthquakes by use of graphs and maps.

...

Genetic Modification of Plants and Food Security

Produced in 2015, these resources look specifically at how genes can be altered in plants and how bacteria are central to genetic engineering techniques. Genetically modified (GM) crops offer the potential to help improve food security though this still remains...

Head in the clouds

This case study describes David Topping’s career path in environmental research, investigating how tiny atmospheric particles influence our climate and air quality. Some research can take place almost entirely in a laboratory, whilst other studies look at complicated interactions that are vast in scale or that take...

Lasers empowering lives

This case study describes Dr Ceri Brenner’s research at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories into high power laser-plasma interactions, with a particular interest in laser-driven particle acceleration. Ceri explains why she enjoys her job, what qualifications she needed, what motivates her and what skills she has...

Lowering anxiety

Emotional and behavioural disorders affect many millions of people across the world. Behavioural psychologists, like Dr Tom McAdams, are trying to identify family environmental factors that lead to anxiety disorders and depression. This case study describes how his research may help children whose parents...