Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research
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AMBER Centre were delighted to take part in the Dublin Learning City festival at TCD Unit18, where we were privileged to hear from incredible panelists who shared their stories about pursuing & persevering with learning & education. Our own amazing women in STEM Anastasiia Shandra, Megan Canavan, Sadhbh Crean, & Natalia Garcia Domenech chatted with attendees from the local community & demonstrated how to create & connect their own mini pocket torch
We spoke with Senator Aubrey McCarthy about our education & engagement programme, which aims to democratise science and ensure everyone’s voice is heard, respected and valued within the conversation. Shout out to Collie Ennis who showed us how to set up a micropond to support biodiversity & Eimear R Hegarty who filled us in on some of the secrets of historic Pearse St library & to Kathleen O’Toole-Brennan & Holly Ritchie & Liz Watson for leading panel discussions. Thank you to Emily Maskas for leading a very timely mindfulness practice & finally, big thanks to Mary Colclough for including us in this wonderful event which we hope will become an annual fixture.
Smalltalk aimed to make complex STEM concepts more accessible to the public through the medium of creative writing. Through a series of workshops facilitated by Fighting Words, AMBER researchers created two science storybooks for children and families: ‘Quantum Quest’ (focused on quantum thermodynamics) and ‘Something’s Missing’ (focused on the intersection between regenerative medicine and ICT). Each story shares scientific ideas, principles and concepts in a playful way. Stories are suitable for all ages and are accompanied by striking illustrations by professional illustrators to maximise engagement. A STEM glossary is included with each story to further support accessibility. With support from Screen Ireland’s National Talent in Animation Academy, both Quantum Quest’ and ‘Something’s Missing’ are currently in production as two animated short movies. These will be premiered as part of Science Week 2025 and will be translated into Irish, Portuguese, Italian and Gujarati, the local home languages of our author teams.
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AMBER has a strong emphasis on collaboration. Central to AMBER’s research remit are collaborative projects performed with industry partners, and working with academic, industry and wider stakeholder on international and national research programmes.
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