SERVICES
Welcome to the Cavan Monaghan Science Festival 2019 – an award winning regional festival celebrating, exploring and promoting the wonders of science, technology, engineering, arts and maths in our everyday lives. This year the festival will take place from the 9th – 23rd November across the two counties.
The festival is a Monaghan County Council and Cavan County Council initiative in partnership with Cavan Monaghan ETB, and generously funded by Science Foundation Ireland. We work in partnership with several local, regional and national agencies, organisations and companies.
Our Science Festival is organised as part of the national Science Week and this year it will focus on climate action, seeking to help people understand climate change, how science and technology can help us create a positive climate future and the impact we as individuals can have on climate change. While one person may feel unable to make a difference on their own, a collective effort to offset our carbon emissions will have a positive impact – Think Global, Act Local!
With events from astronomy to zoology, this year’s festival wants everyone to come out again to discover more wonders of science in our everyday lives. Science is very important in our lives. We all benefit from scientific knowledge from the food we eat, the air we breathe to how we sleep. Science and technology power our world, improves our health and can even entertain us. Everywhere you look, there is science!
We are delighted to welcome some of the best national and international scientists, researchers, speakers, creators and artists to our counties who will take you on a new road of discovery from the science of cider, to forensics, gluten free baking to the story of the night sky, what is a plant-based diet or want to make a solar night light!
We hope you enjoy our festival of discovery, learning and fun!
We appreciate your feedback and you do so by emailing us at sciencefestival@monaghancoco.ie
Discover! Be inspired!
Science Festival Steering Committee
#BelieveInScience
So Why A Science Festival?
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths are of key importance in our everyday lives. Take for instance Agri-science – this is core to the lives and livelihoods of a significant majority of both counties’ populations. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that the whole range of STEAM skills are key to industrial and entrepreneurial innovation in this border area. Monaghan town for example hosts the Global Headquarters of Combilift, the acknowledged global leader in the long-load handling market which exports its products to 75 countries throughout the world. “Innovation creates jobs, jobs create prosperity, the development of new business opportunities and the sustainability of our local communities”, comments Deirdriú McQuaid, Coordinator of Cavan Monaghan Science Festival.
“To nurture and exploit such opportunities, and to preserve the integrity of the rural environment, we must promote relevant skills” adds Karen McCague. One of the objectives of the Cavan Monaghan Science Festival is to create awareness among the young, and not so young, of the reality and importance of STEAM in our lives in a relaxed, informal way. “Through a series of fun, educational and entertaining events we hope to encourage children to engage in the STEAM subjects from an early age. Participation in the Festival will inform and whet young appetites for learning, enrich their lives and open up significant career and business options for them at a later stage”, comments Deirdriú.
The Programme:
With future STEAM specialists in mind, the Festival programme includes lots of events for young inquisitive hands and minds. We are delighted to welcome some of the best national and international scientists, researchers, speakers, creators, artists to our festival who will take you on a new road of discovery from the science of singing, gluten free baking to the story of sepsis, autism, why babies cry or have you wondered about going into space or how to solve the worse-case zombie epidemic!
We have developed a dedicated school programme of around 160 workshops are on offer to schools to participate in across the two counties and this extensive broad programme has been devised to support the school’s curriculum, the Discover Primary Programme and to support career decision making for secondary school students. All schools have received copies of schools programme brochure.
Outside of the schools, we have an afterschool’s programme in the libraries with activities based on the theme of climate action.
Over the three Saturdays of the Festival, we have workshops and shows for the family or young people to engage in commencing on Saturday 9th with Science Magic Shows, printing workshops, the touring mad professor or how to save the planet in 45 minutes or perhaps you are fascinated by dinosaurs!
We will have two family fun days across the two counties – we start the festival with a family day on Saturday 9th November in the Comprehensive Secondary School in Cootehill County Cavan from 11-4pm and we finish the festival on a big bang at Monaghan Institute on Saturday 23rd 12-5pm which is a spectacular event with hands on activities, demos, shows, workshops and this year we have a few surprises up our sleeves for you all!!
This Festival is a Monaghan County Council and Cavan County Council initiative in partnership with Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board. The programme is generously funded by the Science Foundation of Ireland. We work in partnership with a number of local, regional and national agencies, organisations and companies, of which we are gratefully appreciative of their support.
How to Book:
Bookings are required for all events except the Family Fun Days.
To book a place, contact the telephone number on the event.
Queries in relation to any events in County Monaghan email sciencefestival@monaghancoco.ie and County Cavan email sciencefestival@cavancoco.ie
Don’t miss out on these unique opportunities to mingle, have fun and experience the enjoyment of learning.