2018

Read the full report This event was quieter than expected due to bad weather causing many schools across Ireland to close during the first week of the event. The disruption meant that teachers had to cancel lessons they had planned to run on I’m an Engineer. In total, sixteen chats had to be cancelled across the event with many teachers unable to rearrange. This caused our averages across the event to be a lot lower than in previous years. The Health Zone was a themed zone supported by Wellcome. Pattie is a PhD researcher looking at how stretching stem cells in blood vessels can keep them Karl works for MSD creating new medicines for patients Ivor studies how bone cells sense when we are walking and what happens in conditions such as osteoporosis Fiona, the winner of this zone, is a postdoctoral researcher using 3D printing to design new bone … Continue reading →

Read the full report The Space Zone was funded by Science Foundation Ireland. Willi is a professor in mechanical and materials engineering who has been working on the first Irish satellite Lána is a PhD student also working on the satellite as well as studying dying stars Jonathan is a teaching associate at the International Space University James designs spacecraft for the European Space Agency Eimear, the winner of this zone, is a satellite data researcher studying the coastal environment Thirteen students and three engineers logged in for an evening chat on the last Thursday of the event where students could show their parents the event and ask questions. This was the first time we had run this evening session and most of the students stayed online chatting with the engineers for the full hour.

Read the full report The Robotics Zone was funded by Science Foundation Ireland, with five engineers working in different areas of robotics engineering. Patrick is a PhD student researching robot manipulation Graham, the winner of this zone, is an oceanographic engineer looking at data from buoys in the ocean Dino is working on robots that can be controlled by voice commands and virtual reality Cara is developing a robot companion to keep children calm when they have to go into hospital Aisling is studying how computers work and how we create and translate what they have to say This was the quietest zone in this event with the lowest number of students logging in and questions in Ask. We assigned places to 14 schools, but only were six able to take part because of the weather disruption. Some teachers did hand out login cards so interested students could log in … Continue reading →