CAPERS – Children And Parents Enjoying Reading and Science

18 July 2025

CAPERS – Children And Parents Enjoying Reading and Science, is an initiative run by AMBER, the Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research, Fighting Words, and Dublin City Libraries. CAPERS aims to foster positive dispositions to reading, creative writing and science whilst strengthening educational links between scientists, school communities and local libraries.

CAPERS evolved from AMBER’s Smalltalk project-a science communication initiative which sought to share AMBER’s research through creative writing. In workshops facilitated by Fighting Words, AMBER researchers created the Smalltalk story series: ‘Quantum Quest’ focused on quantum thermodynamics; and ‘Something’s Missing’, focused on regenerative medicine and ICT. Stories are suitable for all ages with a STEM glossary included to help support understanding.

The Smalltalk storybooks were launched during Science Week in November 2024 at “Smalltalk: Big ideas”, an intergenerational local community event held in TCD. Following encouragement from attendees at the launch, CAPERS takes ‘Smalltalk’ further, embracing science, literacy and the arts. Led by AMBER, CAPERS enjoyed support from wonderful partners in Fighting Words (Nóra Nic Con Ultaigh, Pierina Campbell & Philip Elliott), Dublin City Library-Pearse Street (Eimear Hegarty), Literacy Association of Ireland (Emma Farragher) and Children’s Books Ireland (Becky Long). Inspired by the Smalltalk stories, students of 5th class in Scoil Chaitríona Baggot Street created ‘Science World’, a special place readers can enter through stories, drawings, AI- images, comic strips, handmade props and Braille. The Five Kingdoms of Science World reflect the inclusive spirit of this class, where diversity and creativity are celebrated.

The inaugural Story Share Day was held in the Fitzgerald Library, Trinity College Dublin on Wednesday 11^th June where students of 5^th class Scoil Chaitríona, Baggot St shared stories from ‘Science World’ which was created in partnership with Fighting Words, AMBER & Dublin City Libraries.

Speaking at the inaugural event, MC Dr Becky Long of Children’s Books Ireland said “When it comes to storytelling, you need imagination and creativity, and the students of Scoil Chaitriona Baggot Street have both in spades. Listening to them share the stories they created together through the CAPERS programme, I found myself completely transported to the Kingdoms of Nature, Light, Youth, Atoms, and Caves, places I’d never even dreamed could exist. Amazing worldbuilding, important themes – and some excellent laughs, too! – these stories had everything, and left every listener wanting more!”

Dr Mairead Holden AMBER’s Education and Training Manager said following the event, “When we started working with Fighting Words back in early 2024, our aim was to harness creative writing to support our scientists to communicate their experiences of ‘doing science’. Since then, their storybooks have been translated into 6 different languages and shared with communities across the world as far afield as Brazil and India. We are especially grateful to have two beautiful Braille versions of each story book, handmade for us by Anna Llorens-Grau in Scoil Chaitríona, Baggot Street.

We were so delighted to see these children take the stories written by AMBER scientists and transform them into their own science worlds. Imagination, curiosity and creativity are such an important part of science. Who better to remind us of that than the scientists of the future? The students of Scoil Chaitríona will be the first group to see the animated short film adaptations of the original stories, which will be premiered at the RCSI Humanarium during Science Week 2025.”

CAPERS will run again across 2025-2026, scaling up the initiative to a larger Dublin-based group, plus a further two CAPERS events taking place, one in Munster and one in Ulster, making it a national event in 2026.

AMBER researchers were involved as both authors and reading buddies, working with the class prior to the children writing their own stories, and included: Sadhbh Crean, Natalia Garcia Domenech, Eleanor Cripwell, Caroline O’Sullivan, with Niamh O’Shea, Becky Hackett, Giulio Brunetti, presenting Education and Public Engagement Scientific Posters to an international panel during a recent AMBER Centre Review.