Get ready for 2011’s biggest Discovery
Discovery is Cork’s own science festival. A part of Science Week Ireland, it is now in its 15th year. This year, there will be over 500 events and more than 115,000 participants.
As it is the International Year of Chemistry, the theme for this year’s Science Week is “the chemistry of life”. This was chosen to highlight the importance of chemistry in everyday lives.
Discovery, however, is one of the biggest and best elements to Science Week. It started with schools’ outreach events on Monday, and runs until November 19. There are events for different age categories from primary to each of the secondary-school cycles, as well as public events.
While Discovery involves dozens of events in Cork, all roads lead to City Hall on the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday, when an interactive exhibition is being held. Here, participants get an opportunity to explore a practical side to science, technology, engineering and maths (the “STEM” subjects) through activities, puzzles and games.
Numerous employers and their representatives in the region, including Pharmachemical Ireland, Cork Institute of Technology, University College Cork (UCC), the Tyndall National Institute, Cork Electronics Industry Association, Engineers Ireland — Cork, An Garda Siochána, Fota Wildlife Park and others will use innovative, interactive ways to demonstrate how science is used in their fields.
UCC’s college of science, engineering and food science will host Mindball — a game where you win by relaxing and letting your brainwaves do the work. Or you could try games based on forensic science, or even make a computer game using SCRATCH, with Whizz Kids.
The Tyndall’s exhibition will have demonstrations on how sensors change people’s lives, how light powers the internet, and will allow participants to explore the properties of materials by making slime.
Marcella Whelan, the co-ordinator of the Discovery Science Festival, points out that “the idea behind the festival is to show that science and technology are relevant and interesting areas, areas that can have a career focus”.
Moreover, “many of the scientists who feature during Discovery work, study and live in Cork. So we’re showing people that an interesting career in science is not unachievable. Carl Jackson of SensL, for example, his company produces sensors that are part of the technology used in the space mission.”
Discovery developed independently of Science Week Ireland.
“Discovery was developed by Cork City Learning Forum, a working group of Cork City Development Board. Members include all learning stakeholders in Cork, from early years to fourth level, informal and formal and including training and businesses interests. The group meets to share information on current issues in education, and develops projects to address these.”
Discovery falls under the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation’s discover science and engineering programme, which aims is to increase interest, productive capacity and ultimately employment in the STEM subjects among students, teachers and members of the public.
Deirdre deBhailis of Cork Electronics Industry Association said: “Companies tell me they had 4,000 vacancies in the ICT sector this year, and have to look overseas for suitably qualified staff — a disaster really when you think there are over 400,000 unemployed here.”
The ICT industry is responsible for over 25% of Ireland’s total turnover, representing one third of our exports by value, according to industry representative group IBEC. Nine of the top 10 global ICT companies having a significant presence in Ireland. The sector employs more than 74,000 people in a wide range of services and manufacturing sub-sectors.
Significantly, in 2010, 3,500 new jobs were announced in the sector, on foot of a net employment growth rate of 6% in 2009.
Cork is an international centre for major tech industries, with more than 300 ICT companies based in the county alone. Apple, EMC2, VMware, IBM, Trend Micro and McAfee are based in Cork: Apple and EMC2 employ more than 3,000 between them.
Well over 100 life sciences and biopharma companies are located in the region, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Pfizer Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson and Johnson.
Cork has 9% more highly qualified graduates than the EU average in the areas of science and technology, as well as good lineages between third level and industry. Six of the world’s 10 best-selling drugs are produced in Cork.
One of the highlights of the Discovery programme is the presence of NASA astronaut Greg Johnson. Johnson will speak at the Cosmic Careers event and also the Big Dish activation — both on November 14.
Johnson was pilot of Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2008 where he was a primary robotic arm operator, employing both the space shuttle and International Space Station robotic arms. The crew flew a record five spacewalks while docked to the station.
He also flew the space shuttle Endeavour this year. During this mission, Johnson was the lead robotic arm operator for both the shuttle and space station robotic arms. He has logged 16 days in space.
One local man who will accompany the astronaut in activation of the Big Dish is Con McCarthy, who hails from Skibbereen. Mr McCarthy, who is now retired, worked for the European Space Agency for many years.
“I went to secondary school here in Skibbereen” he says.
“Then, I worked in London with a company who sponsored me to study at University, where I did electrical engineering. This was followed by a postgrad in computer science, programming and systems engineering”.
One of the most interesting projects he worked on was the Cassini-Huygens mission to one of Saturn’s moons. He was involved in building the probe which landed on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
“It still holds record for furthest landing of a man-made objects,” he says. In fact, Huygens was the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built, and the first probe to land on a world in the outer solar system.
All told, in tough times, the STEM subjects offer real and rewarding opportunities. You could say they’re elemental.
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