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Our project

According to the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (see RCPCH, 2025), the number of children with type 2 diabetes has increased by 72 per cent between 2019–20 and 2023–24. This is considered a very fast rise for a chronic disease. Many existing interventions are adult-led, limiting children’s engagement and overlooking broader factors such as stress, mental wellbeing and cultural context. In this blog post we focus on girls’ agency and participation in our diabetes prevention project. We are a group of women scientists co-researching with children and integrating the arts.

STEP-IN (Schools Tackling and Empowering Prevention: Investigating Diabetes) is a consortium that prevents type 2 diabetes (T2D) through a child-led, co-produced STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) approach. It empowers children aged 9–11 to investigate and advocate for prevention in families and communities. By strengthening children’s knowledge, confidence and wellbeing, STEP-IN aims to reduce health inequalities and long-term pressure on the national health service (NHS).

We work with all children; however, we have identified three ways to encourage girls’ sustained engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM): (1) anchoring STEM in family and community health through YPAR (Young Participatory Action Research), where children’s questions drive inquiry; (2) providing authentic role models, through sustained contact with women researchers, who model scientific practice and belonging; and (3) integrating the arts (moving STEM to STEAM).

1. STEM for family and community health

We use YPAR, positioning children as co‑researchers who generate questions, collect data, analyse results and drive action. YPAR is feasible, ethical and strengthens implementation and policy by centring youth expertise (Hashemi et al., 2026). Co‑designed diabetes interventions show promising outcomes (Pike et al., 2023). In our project, girls have played a particularly active role in creating a mixed‑format interview design and conducting its systematic analysis. This community‑focused approach has supported girls’ engagement in STEM.

2. Role models

Women researchers serve as visible role models for girls’ participation in STEM (González-Pérez, 2020). In our project, six women researchers ran bi-weekly YPAR sessions with two year 6 classes (10-to-11-year-olds) in 2025–26, creating dialogical spaces to explore science and research and reflect on participation and belonging. Children observed how we framed problems and made decisions based on their ideas. We observed that many girls were particularly active in organising interview responses for analysis. Discussions surfaced gendered norms about who belongs in science, challenging stereotypes of scientists as White, middle-aged men.

3. Infusing the ‘A’ in STEAM

STEAM integrates visual arts, music, language, design, drama and new media to deepen engagement and broaden problem solving. These forms of reflection and communication build knowledge and skills by fostering agency (Yim et al., 2025). Arts make STEM creative and socially meaningful, and foster system thinking, linking behaviours to health (Grace et al., 2021). In our project, children draw, write/perform raps, move and ‘dance’, and engage in visual narratives. Children understood T2D prevention, and girls were particularly active in producing rhymes for the raps about healthy eating.

Final thoughts

‘[Our project has] nurtured curiosity, supported girls’ identities as young investigators and contributed to a more gender-inclusive science culture in which all children can see themselves thriving.’

Although our project is not centred solely on girls’ participation, participatory approaches have created rich opportunities for girls to engage meaningfully with STEM. The creation of an impact-oriented horizontal structure, facilitated by women scientists, integrating arts into the project has strengthened girls’ agency and participation, promoted systems thinking about health, and implicitly challenged sexism in science. These elements have nurtured curiosity, supported girls’ identities as young investigators and contributed to a more gender-inclusive science culture in which all children can see themselves thriving.

References

González‑Pérez, S., Mateos de Cabo, R., & Sáinz, M. (2020). Girls in STEM: Is it a female role‑model thing? Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2204.

Grace, E., Kelton, M. L., Owen, J. P., Diaz Martinez, A., White, A., Danielson, R. W., Butterfield, P., Fallon, M., & Schafer Medina, G. (2021). Integrating arts with STEM to foster systems thinking. Afterschool Matters, 34, 11–19.

Hashemi, S., Taylor, J., Contractor, F., Guzman, B., Garland, J., & Mathieu, I. (2026). The necessity of youth participatory action research in pediatric health science. Pediatrics, 157(2), Article e2024067403. ÌýÌýÌý

Pike, J. M., HaberlinPittz, K. M., Alharbi, B. S., Perkins, S. M., & Hannon, T. S. (2023). A codesigned, community based intensive health behavior intervention promotes participation and engagement in youth with risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Frontiers in Clinical Diabetes and Healthcare, 4, Article 1264312. ÌýÌý

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health [RCPCH]. (2025). National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) 2025 report on care and outcomes 2023/24.

Yim, I. H. Y., Su, J., & Wegerif, R. (2025). STEAM in practice and research in primary schools: A systematic literature review. Research in Science & Technological Education, 43(4), 1065–1089. ÌýÌý