Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Shameless plug, but Science Week is almost upon us again. This year it runs from 9 - 16 November. On behalf of my client Discover Science & Engineering, I am organising a lecture series which is free to the public. This year the lectures take place in the Science Gallery and feature a number of interesting speakers, check out the biogs below. If you are interested in attending register for places here. There are over 400 events taking place nationwide so check out the Science Week website for more details.

Another free lectures series that might be of interest is the Legends at Lunchtime series running at the National College of Ireland. Speakers include Giovanni Trapattoni and Bill Cullen

Monday 10 November 18:30 - 20:00 - Professor Aubrey Manning – ‘Learning to Live with our Planet’

Professor Aubrey William George Manning OBE FRSE FIBiol is a distinguished zoologist and broadcaster and is recognised as one of the Britain’s leading authorities on sustainability and ecology. He features frequently on BBC television and national radio and his main research and teaching interests are on animal behaviour, development and evolution. He has been involved with environmental issues since 1966 and with the Centre for Human Ecology since its inception at the University of Edinburgh in 1970. He was Professor of Natural History at the university from 1973-1997. Manning was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1973) and received an OBE in 1998.

Tuesday 11 November 18:30 - 20:00 - Gerry Johnston – ‘The Science Behind Hollywood Special Effects’

Gerry Johnston, affectionately known as ‘boom-boom Johnston’, the director of Special Effects Ireland, based in Ardmore Studios in County Wicklow. He started working in film in the 1960s, and effects he has created have featured in hundreds of film and television productions including ‘Braveheart’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Michael Collins’; he has special expertise in aerial and underwater rigging. Despite various offers to relocate to sunnier climes, Gerry is based in Ireland, and continues to work on major productions both here and around the world.

Wednesday 12 November 18:30 - 20:00 - Dr. Cynthia Breazeal – ‘The Personal Side Of Robots’

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she founded and directs the Personal Robots Group at the Media Lab. She is a pioneer of Social Robotics and Human Robot Interaction (HRI). Her research program focuses on developing personal robots that interact with humans in human-centric terms, work with humans as partners, and learn from people via tutelage. She has authored the book “Designing Sociable Robots” and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in journals and conferences in autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence, human robot interaction, and robot learning. She has been awarded an ONR Young Investigator Award, honored as finalist in the National Design Awards in Communication, and recognized as a prominent young innovator by the National Academy of Engineering’s Gilbreth Lecture Award.

Thursday 13 November 18:30 - 20:00 - Stephen Attenborough – ‘The Future of Space Tourism’

Stephen Attenborough is the Commercial Director for Virgin Galactic, a company wholly owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group which is on track to become the world’s first passenger carrying commercial spaceline. Stephen joined Virgin Galactic as the company’s first full time employee in 2004 to put in place the commercial foundations of the business. He now leads a team in London that covers sales, marketing, customer care, PR and communications. He also is responsible for workstreams that are developing and managing the astronaut experience as well as the liability, insurance and regulatory framework. Stephen joined Virgin Galactic having escaped a career in investment management in the City of London.

Friday 14 November 13:00 - 14:30 - Patrick Collison – ‘How Two Teenagers Built And Sold A Company For Millions’

Patrick was born in Limerick in 1988, and currently spends most of his life programming (with Lisp and Smalltalk). When he was 15, Patrick wrote his own programming language, which won him the Irish Young Scientist of the Year award in 2005. Later in 2005, he came second in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. He began college at MIT in 2006, but deferred to found Auctomatic in early 2007. Ten months later, Auctomatic was acquired by Live Current Media for several million dollars. He now works in Vancouver as Director of Engineering with the new owners. In his spare time Patrick also runs marathons and is a keen long-distance cyclist.