Art and Science Combined

End of September, the conference STEAM Transfer 2023 took place at the Atelierhaus of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. The conference discussed how the arts, humanities, and natural sciences can be combined to meet challenges faced by society.

Linking disciplines and perspectives

Today, the world is confronted with complex and multifaceted challenges – from ecological changes through the digital transition to social upheavals. Tackling these challenges requires an integrative approach that brings together different disciplines and perspectives.

Four topic areas were at the centre of the event: artistic-creative future viabilities, ecological transformations, effective knowledge transfer for sustainable development goals, and the role of the Austrian higher education institutions in the societal change.

Credit: St. Pölten UAS, Irene Auffret

Contribution of St. Pölten UAS to the conference

The St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences was the co-organiser of the event and was represented with a number of contributions:

• UAS CEO Hannes Raffaseder joined the panel discussion on “STEAM Skills. STEAM und die Förderung von Empowerment & Entrepreneurship”. Within the framework of a workshop,
• researcher Christian Munk presented the project “Ein Appartement auf dem Uranus” as a showcase example of STEAM projects in a higher education context. In this project, St. Pölten UAS students from the degree programmes Media Technology and Digital Design with a focus on experimental media designed the virtual stage space for a performance at the Landestheater Niederösterreich.
• Irene Auffret from the service unit Research and Knowledge Transfer at the St. Pölten UAS took the workshop’s results as the basis for the topic’s discussion and further development.

The conference was organised by the Knowledge Transfer Centre of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in collaboration with the St. Pölten UAS and further higher education institutions.

• Conference webpage