Session 2025-26 is the second year of the first STEP cycle. Over the coming year, members of the STEP Network will come together for a series of in-person meetings to work on the projects they developed during year one. Each of these in-person meetings will also include opportunities for CPD, reflection, and drop-in sessions for the student members of the STEP Network.

In addition to these four in-person meetings, we will run four Online Support Sessions. These sessions will be determined by the needs of project teams, but are likely to include CPD on topics such as ethical approval, communication and dissemination, evaluation, and equality, diversity and inclusion.

STEP Five: What are our next steps?

18 November 2025

STEP Six: How do we work with our students?

27 January 2026

STEP Seven: How do we collect and analyse data?

25 March 2026

Each of our projects will involve collecting and analysing data in some form. The third meeting of the Network, which will take place at Forth Valley College, will include a focus on approaches to this aspect of project work.

STEP Eight: How do we share our work?

26 May 2026

The STEP Network's final meeting of the year will take place at Glasgow Caledonian University and will include a focus on disseminating and embedding our work.

Session 2024-25 was the first year of the first STEP cycle and its Discovery phase. During the year, staff and students came together for a series of Discovery Days to establish collaborative partnerships and design projects that will form the core of the programme. Discovery Days included a mix of networking, teamworking and CPD activity.

Following each of the Discovery Days, CDN offered 2-hour online Navigation Sessions. The purpose of these sessions was to surface the key thoughts, ideas and questions that participants had had since the Discovery Days, and to identify next steps on their journeys. Participants were invited to reflect on the Discovery Day and identify topics or questions that they needed to discuss further.

In developing projects there was a focus on collaboration, clarity of outcomes and anticipated impact, and the formation of a cohesive programme of work that involves every college and university in Scotland in at least one project.

STEP One: Who are we and what are our challenges?

4 December 2024

The purpose of the first Discovery Day was to introduce STEP and its first topic. We spent some time getting to know each other and began to explore our common challenges and potential solutions.

STEP Two: How will we work together?

29 January 2025

The second Discovery Day more firmly established teams and saw us start work on project proposals. STEP Network members started to think about the rationale for what they would like to do in years 2 and 3.

STEP Three: How will we know we are making a difference?

26 March 2025

The third Discovery Day had an emphasis on impact. STEP Network members considered the outcomes, indicators and evaluation of their projects.

STEP Four: How will we deliver?

28 May 2025

By this stage, projects teams were working through the details of their project proposals: what activities they would deliver, what resources they would require, and how they would manage their project.