Our summer public engagement activities are now getting into a lovely rhythm! Previous to the CCI project, the majority of our public engagement activities were based around science themed events, like the Cork Carnival of Science, Science Week and Dublin Maker. These events are fantastic and we always engage with huge numbers of people of all ages so we will continue them well into the future. However, we also wanted to see if we could do some some hands-on experiments at community type events. Previously, we’ve successfully employed our activities at the Ploughing Championships in 2022, the Ballina Salmon Festival in 2024 and the Boyle Arts Festival in 2024. So for 2025, we booked the CCI teams into two music and arts festivals, with plenty of success.
First, the Trinity team went down the to woods in Co. Wicklow to run our battery maker workshop at the Beyond the Pale Music and Arts festival. We met a range of people of all different ages and backgrounds who were fascinated to see some hands-on experiments at a music festival. Everyone loved the activity and had plenty of questions for our researchers. Then, the Sligo team ran a very busy tent at the Night and Day Music and Arts festival in Lough Key Forest park, Co. Roscommon. In both cases we were the only chemistry themed activity and the only Research Ireland funded project in attendance.
Together, we met 233 people across both music festivals, with the majority of the feedback received at the Night and Day Festival. Overall, the feedback we received through our smiley face stand was 93% positive, significantly more than other events we have done in the past. We were also delighted to meet and chat with Niamh Smyth TD, the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, as well as her daughter, at the Night and Day Festival. Well done to the entire CCI team for their hard work and professionalism as always, you are brilliant ambassadors and role models for chemistry. You have also proven beyond all doubt that high quality chemistry public engagement can be run anywhere!
Current Chemistry Investigators (CCI) 