Partners & organisations

The HandmadeWithSTEAM network was established in 2022 by four individuals, who are listed below in alphabetical order.

Stephen Byrne is a trained nuclear engineer and currently a nuclear researcher in the topics of nuclear chemistry, nuclear physics, nuclear materials science, nuclear waste management and electrochemistry at Lancaster University School of Engineering. He has previously worked on nuclear physics and energy projects affiliated with CERN, The Paul Scherrer Institute [PSI], SwissNuclear, Framatome, TCL Cumbria, Enturi Ltd and his own nuclear research company Green Uranium Ltd. Stephen has been recognised with awards from the IET and IMechE for outstanding achievement as an engineering student and the institutions best project of 2021/22 on Uranium detection and extraction from seawater.

Cristina Lazzeroni graduated in 1992 from the University of Pisa in Italy with a research in particle physics on beauty meson decays. She did a PhD at the same University on beauty production at an experiment at CERN. She then moved to UK where she has worked on kaon and beauty physics ever since. In 2007 she joined the University of Birmingham and she is currently a professor in particle physics. She is also an enthusiastic communicator and has been holding a STFC public engagement fellowship. She has been the Spokesperson of the NA62 CERN experiment in 2019-2022 and she has won the Institute of Physics Meitner Medal and Prize in 2019 for her work on public engagement.

Maria Pavlidou graduated in 1988 from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece with a research in space physics. She did a PhD at Cardiff University on the acoustics of the classical guitar. She has been a secondary school teacher in Greece and in UK for many decades and an Ogden Trust Teacher Fellow at the University of Birmingham, focussing on outreach and public engagement. In 2020 Maria established Galileo’s Voyage, a science education company that specialises in physics and astronomy.

Ian Stephenson is a mechanical engineer and inventor. Throughout his career he has established many business-to-education partnerships and has mentored many student projects. Ian has been working with the Engineering and Physics Departments at Lancaster University since 2014, initially on a fluid dynamics concept supported by the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation and more recently on a novel compact hydro-energy device, with funding from Innovate UK. With a passion for the outdoors and environmental issues, Ian aims at developing projects in line with the Envision 2030 ambitions towards Affordable Energy, Zero Hunger, Good Health & Wellbeing, Sustainable Cities & Communities, Responsible Consumption & Production, Climate Action and Life On Land. Ian is the director of TCL-CUMBRIA.