Science Week Ireland is an annual week-long event in Ireland each November, celebrating science. It is the largest science festival in the country, involving tens of thousands of members of the general public in workshops, talks, laboratory demonstrations, science walks and other science-related events.
Another highlight of Science Week in recent years has been the series of guest lectures by prominent scientists, researchers and inventors.
Science Week is an initiative of the Irish Government's Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) awareness programme.[1] DSE is managed by Forfás on behalf of the Office of Science and Technology at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.[2] DSE runs numerous other initiatives, including My Science Career, Science.ie and Discover Primary Science.
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Science Week 2007 took place between 11–18 November and the theme was "Surrounded by Science".[3] The programme of events set out to illustrate that behind the everyday objects in our lives is a great inventor, scientist or engineer. This included a series of lectures[4] which featured: Craig Johnston, inventor of the Adidas Predator; Joe F. Edwards, Jr., a former NASA astronaut and Dr. Sheila Willis, Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory.[5]
2007 was the eleventh year of Science Week and saw an estimated 95,000 people attended lectures, exhibitions and workshops throughout the country.[6][7][8]
The 2008 Science Week took place between 11–16 November. The theme was 'Science – Shaping Our World' which celebrates the International Year of Planet Earth.
The guest lecturers include Professor Aubrey Manning, a distinguished zoologist and broadcaster, Gerry Johnston, director of Special Effects Ireland, Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, Associate Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stephen Attenborough of Virgin Galactic and Patrick Collison, Irish Young Scientist of the Year winner 2005. These can be viewed on YouTube.
Science Week 2009 took place between 8–15 November. The theme was 'Science – Inspiring Creativity and Innovation’ which links to the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.
In the summer of 2009, DSE launched a Twitter page for the latest news on Science Week.
During Science Week 2009 there was a lecture series which included speakers from the Tyndall National Institute, Cork and Sustainable Energy Ireland. These can be viewed on YouTube.