Children enjoying the LEGO challenge, which requires people to build prototypes under strict time pressure, and which will be a feature of Discover Research Dublin.
Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) will be hosting Discover Research Dublin, an exhibition featuring 50 free and interactive events for all ages.
The event is aiming to get both adults and children alike to interact with those at the front of some of the colleges’ leading scientific research and explain some of the work they are doing.
Spread across and around TCD’s campus in the centre of Dublin, Discover Research Dublin is aiming to explore abstract and practical questions through a variety of unique digital and traditional formats including interactive installations, apps and social media, debates, digital archives, tours, presentations and photography.
The event is part of a wider European event called European Researchers’ Night held on the last Friday of September in over 30 countries and 300 cities to connect the scientific community with the general public.
Researcher Deirdre McClean gets up close and personal with a crocodile skeleton in Trinity College Dublin’s Zoology Museum.
Chance to engage with public
Some events that have been highlighted by the event’s organisers include giving participants the chance to immerse themselves in 3D visualisations of the brain, understand how we mend broken hearts, take on their peers in the Lego challenge to build abstract prototypes under time pressure and even help astrophysicists rank solar eruptions seen in the sun.
Cliona O’Farrelly, as professor of Comparative Immunology at TCD, is leader of the college’s bid to front Ireland’s contribution to the Europe-wide discover Research initiative is delighted by the rich variety of events on offer.
“This event is a wonderful opportunity to engage the public in all of the amazing research that takes place at Trinity,” said O’Farrelly, “and to demonstrate how that research creates careers and companies as well as discoveries.”
