Calling all science champions
There are 30 free spots up for grabs for the upcoming European Science Engagement Association (EUSEA) Conference 2022 taking place in Cork next month.
The bursary places are open to freelancers, self-employed individuals, institutes, and postgraduates in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) discipline.
The event will offer advice and tools to help those working in the sector to become better communicators so they can share the wonders of science, or their research, with the public.
Taking place at MTU’s Bishopstown campus and Blackrock Castle Observatory, the conference will see more than 120 professionals from 15 countries come to Leeside to share their knowledge. In total, the interactive, dialogue-oriented event will present 40 sessions with 49 speakers. Keynotes will be given by Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), and Jon Chase, science communicator, author and science rapper. Dr Freeman, who has held many roles within SFI, joined the organisation in 2006 having worked as a researcher at Trinity College Dublin where she was awarded a Trinity scholarship, the Eli Lilly Chemistry Prize, and the Roberts prize for Biology.
She holds PhD and Bachelor degrees in genetics.
Jon Chase, currently working at Leiden University in the Netherlands as a project scientist on the EU Horizon 2020 GlobalSCAPE project, has spent more than a decade bringing science to audiences across Ireland and the UK.
Mr Chase has also co-authored a number of popular books, including ‘The Science of Star Wars’ and ‘The Science of Jurassic World’, as well as speaking about science and technology on numerous television and YouTube channels.
In 2017, he was awarded the UK’s Josh Award in Science Communication but is probably best known for his science raps including ‘NASA’, ‘BBC’, and ‘Chester Zoo’.
Head of Research MTU and Blackrock Castle Observatory, Dr Niall Smith said: “It is increasingly evident that solutions to the grandest of challenges facing our world will require us to work together in a way that has never been required of human civilization. Where the best ideas come from none of us can predict. Because of that, our future will only be secured if we create it together.”
The event will be attended by educational authorities, industry, science researchers, policy makers, teachers, third level and post grad students, early career research students and science communicators.
Applicants can apply with a cover email to euseacork@mtu.ie by Sunday 12 June.
For more details, the full programme is available at eusea.info/eusea2022.