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AccesScience 04 promised to unravel the mystery behind scientific
research and delivered in spectacular fashion on Tuesday 4 May in O'Reilly Hall, University College Dublin. The mission of the six finalists to explain their research in everyday language was proven not to be impossible. In fact, the audience came away thinking it was all quite elementary.
AccesScience 04 prizewinners:
L-R Brid Ryan(3rd), Niamh Tuite (1st), Eavan Daly (2nd)
Brid Ryan - Dept. of Biochemistry SVUH & Conway Molecular Medicine
Niamh Tuite - Dept. of Pharmacology & Conway Integrative Biology
Eavan Daly - Dept. of Medicine & Therapeutics & Conway Molecular Medicine.
First prize went to Niamh Tuite for explaining her alternative approach to toxicity testing. Eavan Daly and Brid Ryan received second and third
prizes respectively for their research on neutrophil locomotion and "survivin"
breast cancer. The prize for best visual representation of science went to Lorcan Allan for his poster on biomaterial.
After making presentations to the prizewinners, An Tanaiste, Mary Harney T.D commended the efforts of the Conway Institute to address the issue of
making science accessible to everybody. "This Government is committed to Ireland's development as
knowledge-based society. To achieve this I believe that there is an obligation on scientists, technologists and engineers to
lead the debate and inform us all about what is happening in science. It is
not enough for scientists to be competent in their chosen field, they must
carry their enthusiasm for science to the public and to do this they must be
able to communicate their ideas and discoveries in clear terms and non-scientific language, a goal which I am happy to see echoed in the AccesScience
competition."
AccesScience 04 judges with Dr. Philip Nolan & An Tanaiste,
Mary
Harney T.D.
L-R Emma O'Kelly, education & science correspondent, RTE; Ronan Wilmot,
actor & director of New Theatre; Geraldine Kennedy, editor of The Irish
Times;An Tanaiste, Mary Harney T.D.; Dr. Philip Nolan, director of the Conway
Institute; Michael Keating, Tipperary All-Ireland hurling medal winner.
The judging panel, chaired by Pat Kenny was made up of Emma O'Kelly, Education & Science Correspondent, RTE; Geraldine Kennedy, Editor, The
Irish Times; Michael Keating, former Tipperary All-Ireland medal winner and
coach; Ronan Wilmot, actor and director of the New Theatre.
The Merville Lay Seminars were the foremost public information forum for science in Ireland for the last seven years. Now being run by Ireland's
premier research institute, UCD's Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, the competition is bigger than ever and has been
rebranded as AccesScience. From over 200 postgraduate research students, six finalists were chosen in an open competition.
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