The annual Galway Science and Technology Festival Exhibition Day is a calendar highlight for Galway students and families. Last Sundays event drew thousands of people of all ages as they marvelled at a range of activities including the Medtronic Junior Hospital, the ever-popular Teddy Bear Hospital, exotic animals with The Bug Doctor plus primary and secondary school exhibition stands.
Festival Manager Anne Murray was thrilled with the number of people who engaged with the events which were held on the University of Galway campus. “It is wonderful to see such an amazing turnout each year. For many families, our Exhibition Day is the absolute highlight of their year, encouraging young people to get more involved with STEM subjects in schools and to be more curious about exploring the world around us.”
The event celebrates the beginning of the annual national Science Week celebrations with Galway’s Exhibition Day being the largest event in the country. The event is free to attend and includes a range of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ) demonstrations, maths buskers, interactive workshops and innovative displays, encouraging scientists of the future to follow their curiosity about the world around them and pursue careers in STEM.
With the support of sponsors and partners, including main sponsor Medtronic, this popular family event brings a collaboration of local industry, educators, support agencies and Science Foundation Ireland.
Celebrating 26 years of STEM Education, the Exhibition was the opening event for the two week annual Galway Science and Technology Festival, which runs right through the 29th of November. The Festival showcases Galway as the MedTech capital of Europe and a growing IT Hub, bringing science and technology to tens of thousands of students in schools across Galway city and county. This year there will be over 200 STEM demonstrations, shows and workshops in 140 primary schools and 40 post-primary schools across the city and county.
The Festival would like to acknowledge the generous support of all partners and sponsors including Medtronic, University of Galway, Science Foundation Ireland, Atlantic Technical University (ATU ), Boston Scientific, Cisco, TE Connectivity, Fidelity, Merit Medical, ATU, Marine Institute, SAP, Trane Technologies/Thermo King, Valeo, Aerogen, IDA Ireland, Galway City Council and Galway County Council.
Awards and prizes
More than 400 short science films were entered into the the ReelLIFE Science competition by more than 3,000 young science enthusiasts. Winning videos were selected by a panel of guest judges including aeronautical engineer and author Dr Norah Patten; ‘Superhero Scientist’ and author Dr. Barry Fitzgerald; and the 2022 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition winners, Aditya Kumar and Aditya Joshi from Synge Street CBS in Dublin.
The fantastic school exhibits are always a highlight of the Exhibition, where schools get to demonstrate their school projects to the public, learning to become science communicators from a young age. The winners of this year’s School Exhibits were Clarinbridge National School (for the second year running ) and in the secondary school category, Dominican College Taylors Hill.
Galway Science and Technology Person of the Year 2023
The 2023 Galway Science & Technology Person of the Year Award was presented to Geraldine Whelan, Coolarne National School by Brendan Smith of Insight and University of Galway. Geraldine Whelan, who is deputy principal of St. Vincent’s National School Coolarne has ensured that her school has been a permanent part of the Sunday Fair for over a decade. The school has always had a fantastic range of hands-on science activities on show at their stand every year with a large number of pupils participating. In fact the number of children participating on a rota basis at the Coolarne stand is probably the highest of any Galway school exhibiting at the annual Exhibition Day.
The Festival is a very unique event for both families and the public and strives to make a real difference to young people as they continue their studies often making the STEM subjects an easy choice for their third level studies. The Galway Science and Technology Committee would like to express great gratitude to all the volunteers from companies, colleges, schools and the public who give their time so generously and participate both during the Festival and at the Exhibition.
Check out the highlights of the festival on social media @galwayscience or follow #GalwayScience
