Societal impacts

AMBER EPE programme effectively leverages partnerships across the education system and public-facing entities such as the Science Gallery and the ReDiscovery centre to maximise the reach and impact of our education and public engagement programmes. Through our partnerships with groups such as the Professional Development Service for Teachers and the Junior Cycle for Teachers STE(A)M team, we developed and delivered CPD workshops to hundreds of teachers. We have also developed bespoke post and primary school resources, activities and tours, which has enabled engagement with thousands children and young people.

Innovative campaigns such as The Plastics Programme have been delivered in partnership with the Science Gallery and ReDiscovery centre and represents a good example of how we have very effectively used a series of related events clustered around a specific topic of relevance to AMBER’s growing activity in sustainability, and making it highly relevant so that it resonated strongly with a broad public audience. The combined approach of an exhibition piece, public talks and TY workshops resulted in an interaction with over 95,000 people, raised awareness and stimulated debate on the importance and role of plastics in everyday life, the environmental impacts and the national situation with respect to research and policy. The audience survey taken at the end of our “Great Plastics Debate” event co-hosted with the ReDiscovery Centre highlighted the areas of concern and preference within the general public regarding the health and environmental impacts of plastic waste and the bias towards technological rather than preventative measures for remediation. This will inform future AMBER research and communication strategies in this area.