Soapbox Science will build on the Galway tradition of public discourse from soapboxes, this time with a scientific twist! Our event will be held by the Spanish Arch on July 7th, bringing the general public and scientists together, while also highlighting the work of female scientists in the region. It is organised by Jessamyn Fairfield and Dara Stanley. Jessamyn is a nanoscientist and comedian, whose research is focused on building electronics like the brain. She is a lecturer in the School of Physics and CÚRAM (Centre for Research in Medical Devices) at NUI Galway. Dara is a scientist interested in ecology and biodiversity, and in particular in plants and the insects that pollinate them! She is a lecturer in Botany and Plant Science, in the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway. This is the second year Soapbox Science has come to Galway, and the event is free and open to all.
You can read Dara’s blog about her research and bringing Soapbox Science to Galway here. If you’d like to see what Soapbox Science looks like in action, have a look at the Soapbox Science 2015 video
Details of the location and timing of the event
Date: Saturday 7th July 2018
Address: The Spanish Arch, Galway
Time: 11am – 2pm
Sponsors
Soapbox Science Galway 2018 is supported by the NUI Galway Office of the Vice-President for Research.
Speakers
Selected from a competitive pool of Irish researchers, our 12 speakers will be sharing their work in technology, science, medicine and engineering. The speakers and their discussion topics are:
Miss Alice Selby (@A_Selby_Phys), NUI Galway “Human-Machine memory”
Ms Cécile Robin (@RobinCecile), Insight Centre, NUI Galway “How do computers read fairytales?”
Dr Kathryn Schoenrock (@katesrock), NUI Galway “Kelp me! What does kelp do for its community?”
Dr. Claire Conway (@claireconwayphd), NUI Galway “Engineering a virtual beating heart: testing medical implants using computer simulation”
Dr Jean O’Dwyer (@DrJeanODwyer ), University College Cork “What lies beneath? Assessing groundwater quality in Ireland”
Dr Karen Molloy, NUI Galway “Fossil pollen – nature’s own time machine!””
Ms La Daana Kanhai (@LaDaanaKanhai), Galway Mayo Institute of Technology “Microplastics in the oceans: Why the fuss?”
Ms Dibyangana Dana Bhattacharyya (@dana_dibyangana), NUI Galway
“Battling evolution: Our DNA and it’s role in Breast Cancer”
Ms Alison Connolly (@AliConnolly18), NUI Galway “When you use pesticides at work, do you absorb the chemical into your body? ”
Ms Eimear O’Hara (@Eimear_Ohara), NUI Galway “Developing new materials for cleaner, greener and cheaper power generation”
Miss Laura Cutugno (@LauraCutugno), NUI Galway “The brains of microbes!”
Ms Morag Taite (@moragtaite), NUI Galway “The evolution of octopuses and their relatives from ancient to present day oceans”