The Leonardo Effect grew out of informal conversations between art and science lecturers in St.Mary's University College, Belfast which focused on the similarities between working as an artists or a scientist and also teaching the two subjects.

They came to the conclusion that the two subjects have so much in common that teachers could perhaps capitalise on this in the classroom by using joint learning outcomes.

As a result, lecturers Ivor Hickey, Mary Flanagan and Deirdre Robson, developed a teaching approach referred to as Synchronised Integration which works at a much deeper level than conventional cross-curricular teaching through identification of commonalities and strong emphasis on skills. What quickly followed was a succession f grants from awarding bodies giving support to the exploration of the interaction between art and science in the context of education. These included: EsCalate, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, NESTA and SCoTENS.

In 2004-2005 the team conducted a field study in four Northern Irish primary schools under the title of Rights of Imagination: Synchronised Integration of Art and Science in the Primary Curriculum. Information on this was presented at BERA in 2005.

In 2006-2007 a substantial pilot of the programme was carried out mainly in primary schools across the British Isles under the title of The Leonardo Effect. This included a small sample of schools from the Special Educational Needs sector, and one large secondary school's entire quota of 179 year 8 pupils.