Eager young students will have plenty of treats in store with the 13th Galway Science and Technology Festival kicks off next month.
Chairman and CEO of Medtronic Inc, William A Hawkins, helped officially launch the festival at a function in the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway on Tuesday.
The festival, which was founded to increase the uptake and popularity of science, technology, engineering, and maths subjects among young people, runs from November 8 to 21 and will culminate with the festival exhibition at the new location in the Bailey Allen Hall at NUI, Galway.
This year’s finale exhibition, which will be formally opened by the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation, and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, will feature up to 60 interactive stands representing areas including research, education, industry, and the environment. The 20,000 tickets for the event will be distributed to schools throughout Galway city and county in the weeks prior to November 21.
The festival is made up of a number of exciting events including Robert Hill’s Cosmic Explorers which uses the latest 3D stereo technology to explore the possibility of life on other planets. Mr Bug returns bringing snakes, cockroaches, and tarantulas with him while Sue McGrath turns science into magic with her show based around negatively charged particles and magnets with the help of Sponge Bog Square Pants’ pet Gary. James Soper features with his show Galileo’s Greatest Mistake and Galway’s very own mad scientist Craig Stevens will conjure up foggy ice storms and make giant smoke rings.
During the two-week festival, NUI Galway and GMIT will open their doors to all the primary and second level students. At NUI Galway there are many interesting shows and events to stimulate the mind including the True Physics Rocket Workshop. There are museums to explore including Ireland's only Computer and Communications Museum showcasing the development of technology, where original computer games like Space Invaders are available. Guided tours of the NUIG research institutes will take place as well as a series of informal talks at the Open Your Mind seminar series each Wednesday at lunchtime from November 10.
GMIT has various workshops to choose from including Medicines and how they work and Engineering and Energy Technologies. The regional finals of the ISTA PharmaChem Ireland Science Quiz for Leaving Certificate students will take place in GMIT on November 11.
There is also on offer the popular tour of Galway Bay FM and Dr Thompson's Laboratory will be available in the Galway Civic Museum.
The 2010 programme of events is available at www.galwayscience.ie and the exhibition will open at 11am on Sunday November 21.
