Project title | Project Description | Lead Organisation | Award Value |
Awarded for 2019 |
ReelLIFE SCIENCE Video Competition | ReelLIFE SCIENCE is a nationwide STEM engagement programme, which encourages the public to discover more about STEM and its impact on individuals, society and the environment, while demystifying and promoting cutting-edge Irish research. Participants of all ages from schools and community groups are challenged to research a scientific topic and communicate it for the public via an engaging and educational three minute video, while at the same time developing the critical thinking, communication and digital skills necessary for the 21st Century. The best videos are awarded prizes of up to €1000 and are screened for the public at the Galway Science and Technology Festival, other public events and online. | National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) | €12,000.00 |
Science on Stage | Science on Stage is a European initiative designed to encourage teachers from across Europe to share best practice in science teaching. The primary aims of Science on Stage are to provide a forum for teachers to exchange teaching ideas for the sciences; inspire and enthuse science teachers and provide teachers with access to quality science teaching resources and ideas. The primary impact of this project will be on teachers of science - at both senior and junior cycle and at primary level. However, the extended impact of this project will be on the pupils and students in the science classrooms. | Dublin City University (DCU) | €15,200.00 |
dlr Teen Entrepreneur STEM Camp and TY STEM Day 2019 | The Teen Entrepreneur Stem Camp is an 8-week program of STEM workshops with 60 TY students from 16 schools across DúnLaoghaire- Rathdown, County Dublin. The weekly workshops include CAD design, Electronics, Coding computer programming, 3d Printing and design and will include a guest entrepreneur talk. | DunLaoghaire Rathdown County Council | €19,996.00 |
Exploring Computer Science and Career Choices in IT | This project aims to engage mature and second level students as well as parents and guidance counsellors in the exploration of future careers and further education options within the IT Sector. | Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) | €20,700.00 |
Sligo Engineering Fair | The Sligo Engineering Fair Day will engage and illuminate the community in the North West on the fun, excitement, challenge and positive societal impact associated with engineering. It will target primarily young people, particularly girls, and their parents. The one-day event will include: hands-on workshops aimed at a variety of levels and using a range of technologies (robotics; coding; structures; 3-Printing); shows and talks. There will be a particular focus on the positive impact that engineering has on society and also on the creative aspect of engineering. | Institute of Technology Sligo (ITS) | €22,000.00 |
Science Hub at Learning Hub Limerick | Initially piloted in 2011, the central goal of the Science Hub is to increase engagement and participation in STEM subjects among children, young people and the general public in Limerick City and County. This project aims to design, develop and implement a new set of programmes (based around a STEAM focused curriculum) which will be rolled out to schools all over the City and County in 2019., particularly our main industry partner Regeneron. | Learning Hub Limerick Ltd | €25,000.00 |
Planeteers | Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wexford, Wicklow | Centre for Climate Change t/a Cool Planet Experience | €30,500.00 |
SOPHia: Science Outreach to Promote Physics to Female Students | This project aims to encourage female students to take up physics as a Leaving Certificate Subject through an ambitious school visit programme with training for undergraduate facilitators and improved workshop design, a student competition for projects researching famous physicists/important physics discoveries/local physics, a showcase event to inform teachers of the issues with regards to gender in physics, an interactive website for parents, teachers and students, to supplement the school visit programme, with curriculum-linked activities. | University of Limerick (UL) | €31,561.00 |
STEMChAT – Women as catalysts for change in STEM education | This project develops innovative approaches to address the serious under-representation of women in the STEM workforce in Ireland. By creating new, engaging approaches to providing career information for school students and parents, the project will address barriers to STEM careers experienced by females. | University of Limerick (UL) | €35,880.00 |
Shaping Your Future: 3D Printing and Augmented Reality | This initiative aims to harness the use of new advanced manufacturing technologies, as an approach to make careers in manufacturing and STEM more appealing to students. ‘Shaping Your Future’ is a joint pilot project between the I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR). The programme combines hands-on making, design thinking and innovation challenges for students, using high-tech tools; while teachers through lesson plans will be supported to bring 3D printing back to the classroom. | University College Dublin (UCD) | €38,120.00 |
Young Modellers | Young Modellers will empower students to identify and apply the mathematics and statistics (mathematical sciences) that they learn in class to solve real-world problems, giving participants a first-hand experience of mathematical and statistical modelling. | University of Limerick (UL) | €39,125.00 |
Music and Science: Quavers to Quadratics | Quavers to Quadratics is a workshop programme that explores the significant overlap between physics, maths and music. The project will deliver a fully interactive and immersive learning experience for the children attending, breaking down barriers and building connections between music and science. It will encourage further engagement with STEM by the students and schools involved, which are from predominantly disadvantaged areas. | The National Concert Hall | €39,800.00 |
I'm a Scientist and I'm an Engineer Ireland | I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer are online events where school students and their families connect with STEM professionals. The unique online format enables all kinds of students to engage with STEM, regardless of confidence levels or location. Students challenge STEM professionals through text-based live CHATs, and ASK questions relevant to them, helping them understand the role of STEM in their lives. Students discover scientists are real human beings and become more enthused about science. They start to see it's something ‘for them’, encouraging them to consider STEM careers. | Gallomanor Communications | €39,900.00 |
Science Foundation Ireland at the Big Day Out | St. Patrick's Festival, Ireland's national festival, will deliver a dedicated 'Science Foundation Ireland Science Zone' at Big Day Out, one of the Festival’s Flagship Family events as part of their national holiday celebrations in March 2019 | Feilte Dhuibh Linne Teoranta t/a St Patrick’s Day Festival | €41,236.00 |
Community Maths Challenge | Community Challenge is designed for primary-school children in areas of educational disadvantage. Working with a mathematician, an illustrator, and their class teacher, the children will create mathematical challenges which will be displayed in their local community. The children will evaluate the community’s responses and construct their own solutions to the mathematical challenges. Based on this, the children will participate in the RDS Primary Science Fair Dublin, where they will display their work on behalf of their local community. This initiative aims to challenge the entire community's perceptions of mathematics, showing it to be creative, social, and relevant to real-world questions. | University College Dublin (UCD) | €42,138.00 |
Brigit's Garden Family STEM Trail | Brigit’s Garden will develop an interactive Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Trail to engage with families visiting Brigit's Garden. The Trail will encourage playful engagement and interaction among visiting family members and will also be incorporated into the existing Nature’s Power education programmes for primary and post-primary schools. It will incorporate scientific activities including observation, recording, classifying and prediction of the natural world, and an exploration of the technologies underpinning new installations on the Trail. | Brigit's Garden CLG | €43,740.00 |
Motherhood, empowerment, sustainable self-help: addressing gaps in education with science | This project creates self-help educational videos on UI, in partnership with women, explaining how to self-assess the factors or activities that trigger leakage, and includes tips on PFMT, taking some of the confusion away. The target audience is mothers aged 18-45 years, and maternity care professionals, reaching women attending the 19 maternal hospitals in Ireland, by offering the videos free to all, placing them on various websites. | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | €44,692.00 |
Suite Science | Suite Science takes primary school children from low socio-economic areas and transports them to University College Dublin to explore exciting science through inquiry-based learning in a specifically designed outreach laboratory. The unique selling point of Suite Science is that the children decide what topic they are going to learn about. This process engages children in a truly impactful way because it values and listens to the interests of the children involved. | University College Dublin (UCD) | €46,990.00 |
Strength in Science | This project aims to develop lesson plan resources for PE teachers that are linked with the Leaving Certificate (LC) Biology, Physics and PE curricula that will increase students' interest in both learning science and participating in exercise. | National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) | €47,650.00 |
Let's talk about STEM: supports for girls' early science engagement | This project is a collaboration between STEM education and psychology to deliver a pilot programme to address the underrepresentation of women in STEM by targeting girls' early engagement with science. Drawing on twenty years of robust international research and initiatives, this project will deliver a STEM education programme for parents and educators of young children which highlights the potential impact of language on children’s perception of, and motivation to engage with, science. | Dublin City University (DCU) | €49,130.50 |
Bright Club | Bright Club, the ‘variety night for lateral minds’, uses comedy to bring academic research to the public. Academic speakers give short humorous talks about their work alongside professional comedians and musicians in an informal pub setting. Speakers receive professional training on communicating their research using humour. Bright Club shows that science is integrated with the rest of human knowledge, and raises the confidence of those who attend to discuss science informally. | National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) | €49,797.00 |
FameLab Ireland 2019 | FameLab is the world’s leading competition to discover the best new voices in science, providing them with the skills, confidence and opportunities to engage audiences on STEM in fun, innovative ways. Since 2005, FameLab has cultivated 11000+ communicators from 35+ countries. Now in its fifth year, FameLab Ireland is firmly respected as a top quality science engagement initiative with its unique programme of competition, training and public outreach. | British Council Ireland | €49,800.00 |
OurKidsCode: Phase 2 Supporting families’ continued engagement in computing | 'OurKidsCode: Phase 2 Supporting families’ continued engagement in computing' is a joint project between Trinity College Dublin and the National Parents' Council which aims to promote and support parents/guardians who wish to engage their primary-school children's interest and activity in coding and Computational Thinking. It will extend the single-workshop model of the OurKidsCode project to encourage more sustained and deeper involvement through a 4-part workshop series and a community of practice. | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | €49,883.00 |
Engaging Girls in CS - Code Plus | This initiative builds on the existing CodePlus initiative and will involve teaching computer science content in week-long, female only, coding workshops, facilitating a cohort of female speakers working in computing to deliver career talks in girls schools, collaborating with tech companies to host visits by teenage girls to their offices and systematically tracking the impact of the interventions on participants. | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | €49,919.00 |
Mathematics Teaching Practices Toolkit | The Mathematics Teaching Practices Toolkit will support teachers in implementing practices associated with effective mathematics teaching, in particular, the use of cognitively-challenging tasks and the promotion of math talk (children’s talk about their mathematical thinking). This website will provide both directly actionable resources such as lesson plans and a suite of other professional development resources which prompt teachers to analyse and reflect on mathematics teaching practices, and will act as a developmental toolkit for teachers’ reflection on effective mathematics teaching practices. | Dublin City University (DCU) | €49,998.00 |
Girls in DEIS Schools: Changing Attitudes /Impacting Futures in STEM | This project aims to develop and strengthen the interest and attitudes of young girls in post-primary schools designated as disadvantaged (DEIS) in STEM. Teachers will be provided with a narrative overview of key STEM women, with parallel tasks and activities for students to partake in as part of their exploration of the person and the impact of their work. These narratives will be anchored in the junior cycle specifications in Science, History and English and aim to foster an emotional connection with STEM women leaders through the mechanism of story-telling. | University College Dublin (UCD) | €50,000.00 |
Ireland's Secret Past: Unlocking Our Fossil Heritage | This pioneering project will reach out to thousands of Irish children and adults via innovative hands-on, digital and interpersonal formats that encourage hypothesis-testing and active kinaesthetic learning. It will feature bespoke resources tailored to nationally important fossils found in specific locations around the country will complement a novel national network of urban fossil trails. By raising the profile of palaeontology, this project will inspire curiosity in our ancient past at a national scale, ultimately reforming national science curricula and stimulating pursuit of STEM careers. | University College Cork (UCC) | €50,000.00 |
Irish Sign Language Glossary Project Phase 2: Environmental Science | For those Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people to be fully engaged and scientifically informed, there must first be an agreed lexicon in Irish Sign Language for STEM terms. This initiative, aiming to promote and support STEM education for DHH learners, is building on a pilot project funded by SFI last year to remedy this problem. The pilot project (currently underway) concentrates on terms in maths and will create an open-access online ISL glossary of these terms. This year it will extend this glossary to include environment science. | Dublin City University (DCU) | €50,000.00 |
Stupid Things | Part play, part human experiment, Stupid Things is a unique and interactive theatrical experience which will be developed through ‘Public Engagement Workshops’ during Science Week 2018 and finally staged as part of the Festival of Curiosity in 2019 with high potential to tour nationally and internationally thereafter. Stupid Things is a piece of theatre about the human brain; about how cognitive biases lead us to make poor decisions in the face of uncertainty. Staged with technologically bold and brilliant AV work, this will be an interactive, entertaining, educational and engaging night at the theatre like no other. | The Festival of Curiosity Ltd | €50,000.00 |
The IMT National Integration of Mathematics Outreach | The Irish Mathematical Trust will provide a complex, integrated system of activities aimed at young people aged 9-18, designed to ignite their enthusiasm for mathematics and to nurture their development through long-term engagement, in a supportive atmosphere among like-minded peers. | National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM) | €50,000.00 |
Tyndall MakerDojo: Festivals and Workshops | MakerDojo encourages active learning and engagement with STEM through hands on demonstrations and workshops which seek participants’ direct involvement, including initiating their own Maker projects. This project will access an audience who do not self-identify with science and technology, by taking hands-on demonstrations to Family festivals and by holding workshops at a local schools activity centre (Lifetime Lab). | Tyndall National Institute (TNI) | € 50,000.00 |
Awarded for 2019 and 2020 |
Tech Week | Tech Week celebrates new technology and envisages the power of digitisation to transform lives as the motivation for engaging with, learning to leverage and control innovation. A nationwide festival of technology, Tech Week is a brand for a wide range of activities, workshops, competitions, challenges and fun, to inspire the next generation of STEM pioneers. | ECDL Ireland Ltd T/A ICS Skills | €50,000.00 |
SCI:COM | SCI:COM is a two-day, multi-event all-island science communication conference. It is run by Whipsmart Media, a communications and events company in partnership with UCD. As in previous years, the conference will feature keynote speakers, breakout sessions on key issues, skills sessions and an exhibition of exemplar science communication programmes. SCI:COM aims to inspire, engage, and question delegates from the broad science communication spectrum. | Whipsmart Media | €64,000.00 |
The Astronomical Midlands: Engaging Rural Communities with I-LOFAR | The Astronomical Midlands uses the recently constructed Irish Low Frequency Array and Education Centre at Birr Castle to connect with students, teachers and members of the public in rural communities in the Midlands. Astronomical Midlands will open new conversations with groups that have had little involvement with STEM using a unique astronomical facility and heritage at Birr, allowing people in the Midlands to discover opportunities for further education and careers in STEM and inspiring the next generation of scientific explorers. | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | €195,502.00 |
Introducing the Science of Problem-solving through Education in Computational Thinking | Universities in Ireland are currently preparing to recognise Leaving Certificate Computer Science as a science subject for entry into 3rd level science programs. This initiative will engage secondary school students with computational thinking through teaching resources (lesson plans, workbooks, teacher portal), and activities (workshops, school visits, and regional meetups) with the aim to increase teacher, student, and parent interest and enhance involvement in STEM subjects. | National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM) | €272,895.00 |
Cork Carnival of Science | Cork Carnival of Science sets about creating and delivering a large public engagement event that will intertwine science, technology, engineering and maths with playful learning in a fun, open and easily accessible environment. | Cork City Council t/a Lifetime Lab | €283,000.00 |
Science Gallery | Science Gallery Dublin is part of the Global Science Gallery Network pioneered by Trinity College Dublin. Science Gallery Dublin develops an ever-changing programme of exhibitions and events fuelled by the expertise of scientists, researchers, students, artists, designers, inventors, creative thinkers and entrepreneurs. The focus is on providing programmes and experiences that allow visitors to participate and facilitate social connections, always providing an element of surprise. | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | €298,000.00 |
Cell EXPLORERS | Cell EXPLORERS is a successful science education and public engagement programme delivering STEM activities regionally and nationally. It uses a unique model for sustainable science public engagement in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) where undergraduate and postgraduate student volunteers from local HEIs, deliver outreach activities to school children and the Irish public. | National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) | €298,778.00 |
STEAM in Youth Work | This initiative aims to transform the capacity of the youth sector to deliver engaging, experiential, inspiring STEAM education and engagement projects on a wide-scale across Ireland. Working through the youth sector will ensure the project targets disadvantaged young people. Through training, ‘scientist in youth work residency’ schemes, resources and equipment grants, youth workers will be enabled to communicate STEAM concepts covering light, energy, electricity, circuits and environmental science. They will develop their youth work repertoire to include scientific method. They will develop innovative learning models based on ‘physics through art’, ‘development education & environmental science through gaming’ and the ‘maker movement’. | National Youth Council of Ireland | €299,999.00 |
Curiosity Studio - Ireland's Science Communications Accelerator | A complementary initiative to The Festival of Curiosity, the Curiosity Studio will build capacity in the Irish science communications sector by scaling the quantity and quality of STEM public engagement events and activities across Ireland. | The Festival of Curiosity Ltd | €300,000.00 |
Maker Advocacy in Dublin for Everyone (MADE) | The MADE project has as its objective the better embedding of maker culture thinking at all levels in Irish society and making it available to all, starting with the greater Dublin region. The project will build on the successful maker fair and introduce a Maker Advocate role – a person who will foster and support makers where ever they are and for the benefit of many, placing emphasis on targeting socially disadvantaged regions of the city. The mobile maker space will be used to facilitate making events with other key target groups including people with disabilities, older people and the Irish Traveller Community – all of which are underpinned by identified and committed community partners. | Dublin City University (DCU) | €300,000.00 |
Awarded for 2018 and 2019 |
CoderDojo Ireland Foundation Community and Events Co-Ordination | CoderDojo is a child centric movement of community led free coding clubs (Dojos) for young people aged between 7 and 17. At Dojos around Ireland almost 6,000 young people regularly learn how to; code, build websites, interact with hardware, electronics and much more. Within a Dojo there is a focus on community, peer learning, collaboration, mentoring and an emphasis on openness. Most importantly CoderDojo is about encouraging creativity and having fun in a social environment. | CoderDojo Ireland Foundation | €123,000 |
SciFest | The SciFest STEM fairs programme is a national initiative designed to foster a love of STEM in second-level students through active, collaborative, inquiry-based learning. The programme consists of a series of one-day STEM fairs for second-level students hosted at local level in schools and at regional level in the Institutes of Technology (IoTs) and Dublin City University (DCU), culminating in a national competition for the overall winners from the colleges, with winners from this competition going on to participate in international competitions. | Scifest Limited | €340,000 |
Engaging Space | ‘Engaging Space’ is a multifaceted proposal employing the inspirational theme of “SPACE” to support initiatives which strengthen STEM education amongst primary, post-primary and third level students, teachers and parents, and catalysing science capital amongst the general public. The proposal involves a mix of initiatives with national impact (STEM Weeks, Space Week, STEM Career events, CPD training for | Cosmos Education Ltd T/A Blackrock Castle Observatory | €286,769 |
Computer Science at Leaving Certificate CPD Programme | Lero, in conjunction with education and advisory partners, proposes to support the introduction of Computer Science on the Leaving Certificate by providing input from computer science international best practice and through the evaluation of teacher CPD. Lero is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in software research, located across nine HEIs, and currently provides similar support in conjunction with JCT (Junior Cycle for Teachers), industry and educational partners for the Junior Cycle Short Course in Coding. | University of Limerick (UL) | €291,264 |
VEX Robotics | VEX Robotics is a programme that promotes STEM involving over a million participants worldwide and operates to a global standard, organised by the non-profit Robotics Education and Competition Foundation. Participants design, build and program their own robot to compete in an exciting teamwork based competition. | Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) | €298,053 |
Engineers Ireland STEPS programme - 2018 & 2019: Engineering Futures | The Engineers Ireland STEPS programme aims to grow understanding of and enthusiasm for engineering among young people and to drive the uptake of engineering at third level and as a career. To achieve this, we facilitate direct engagement between engineer role models and young people (and their influencers), helping our target audience to see engineering in a new light: as a creative, dynamic, rewarding way to make a difference to people's lives. | The Institution of Engineers of Ireland | €300,000 |
Futurewize | Futurewize teaches STEM skills to junior cycle (12-14 years) and senior cycle (16 years) second level students. It combines a five-module, in-class, programme for 1st years with Smart Futures delivered to 2nd and 4th year students, all industry volunteer-led. | Junior Achievement Ire Ltd | €299,184 |
Spectroscopy in a Suitcase | Spectroscopy in a Suitcase (SIAS) brings portable analytical technology into the classroom as part of a hands-on practical workshop. Making ‘real’ science accessible to students, our programme has developed into a key part of our offering to schools in Ireland as an enrichment activity, meeting its aims of inspiring and engaging students with chemistry and related careers. | Royal Society of Chemistry | €193,600 |
RDS Primary Science Fair - Dublin and Limerick 2018/2019 | The RDS Primary Science Fair is a non-competitive exhibition forum for primary schools in Ireland that promotes and supports the development of STEM skills in children aged 8 – 12. The Fair takes place annually in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast. The Primary Science Fair encourages teachers and pupils to undertake STEM investigations during the school year in a unique, whole-class, child-led approach. The RDS STEM Learning programme, developed in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), underpins the Fair by providing continuing professional development opportunities for teachers through workshops and a National Conference. | Royal Dublin Society (RDS) | €150,000 |
The Festival of Curiosity 2018 & 2019 - Reconnecting | The Festival of Curiosity is an international festival of science, arts, design and technology. From Playful days (family programme) to Curious Nights (Adult Programme) The Festival of Curiosity is a cultural feast of unique, visual and interactive experiences, installations and creative events that merge cutting edge science, technology, design and the arts in playful, immersive and curious ways. The Festival of Curiosity takes an innovative and research led approach to audience development, participation and engagement in science, arts, design and technology for all ages and has sold out every year since its inception. | The Festival of Curiosity Ltd | €300,000 |
Maths Ireland incorporating Maths Week Ireland | Maths Week Ireland is an all island festival celebrating Maths and its applications. It raises awareness, appreciation and understanding of mathematics for all. The major activity takes place in October, the week containing Hamilton day, but increasingly activities do run throughout the year. | Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) | €290,163 |