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The Irish Research Council is proud to be a sponsor of Inspirefest, a unique international festival of technology, science, design and the arts, which also places diversity and inclusion at its heart.
Over 2,000 participants will gather at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre later this week to hear more than 50 leading international thinkers address a range of key science, tech and arts issues facing the world today.
The event will examine issues as diverse as the potential of philosophy to improve health services, the opportunities presented by the convergence of arts and technology, the changing nature of the media landscape, the rapidly evolving world of work and how the collaborative economy is changing our lives quite dramatically.
The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, will open the festival which offers Irish innovators and creators the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the world’s premier thinkers, leaders, founders and investors in a relaxed atmosphere.
A number of Irish Research Council awardees and alumni will be mainstage speakers at the event, including:
Lisa Helen, a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar based at Tyndall Institute, who will speak about her desire to bring feasible solutions to real clinical problems for the benefit of both the user and the patient.
Charlotte Blease, a former Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, who will speak about her passion for education (including Philosophy for Children) and the public understanding of medicine and healthcare.
Inspirefest 2016 will be accompanied by a fringe event in Merrion Square Park East where attendees can expect live music, storytelling, international theatre premiers, art exhibitions, family coding workshops and a lot more besides.
As part of the Inspirefest fringe, the final of ResearchFest will take place on Thursday evening, which offers the opportunity for some of Ireland’s top PhD researchers to present their work to an illustrious sci-tech audience. Of the eight finalists, two are currently funded by the Irish Research Council:
Shauna Flynn is an Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postgraduate Scholar who is exploring how computing power might keep up with Moore’s Law by finding a faster and cheaper method to make transistors even smaller.
Claire O’Connell is a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar who is tired of trying to spot cancer cells hidden amongst other similar-looking cells and instead wants to simplify this game of ‘Where’s Wally?’ by dressing them up in some bold colours.
The fringe event also includes a host of Irish Research Council-funded awardees showcasing projects that bridge the arts and STEM, or STEAM, as this new area of research and creativity is also known. The potential variety of STEAM projects is as diverse as our collective imagination, including everything from art to music to the digital humanities.
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