Shot from Inspirefest 2017 main entrance. Image: Conor McCabe Photography
It has been quite a week for the Irish sci-tech scene, with Inspirefest 2017 dazzling attendees and the arrival of an incredible and speedy rescue boat called Thunder Child.
1. Thunder Child’s lightning dash around Ireland ends triumphantly in Cork
Cork rescue speedboat Thunder Child, which circumnavigated Ireland by taking the long way round via Rockall Island, returned safely to Cobh on 5 July after establishing a world record for the feat.
2. The incredible life and times of Dr Anita Sands
Ahead of her talk at Inspirefest, Elaine Burke spoke to Symantec’s Dr Anita Sands about her incredible career and personal journey in leadership.
3. Ana Matronic: ‘Robots confuse the boundaries between life and death’
Robotophile and transhumanist Ana Matronic took to the Inspirefest stage, predicting a future where we’re all cyborgs and gender doesn’t matter.
4. Researchfest champ wins crowd with superb spoken-word soliloquy
The judges and Inspirefest audience crowned NUI Galway as the Researchfest champion for 2017 with his incredible spoken-word presentation in rhyme.
5. Tech giants co-design Europe’s first data centre degree
An upskilling programme to meet the needs of the data centre industry has emerged from IT Sligo and Haute École Louvain en Hainaut (HELHa) in Belgium with input from Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.
6. How long has it been since your last job interview?
Have a job interview coming up? Feeling a little rusty? Hays’ Dean Stallard is here to guide you through it, no matter how long it has been.
7. DCU renames campus buildings after trailblazing women scientists
Six buildings at Dublin City University have gotten new names, and three of them honour pioneering women in the fields of computing, crystallography and astronomy.
8. Butterfly skin effect: Highlighting the need for EB research
Prior to her appearance at Inspirefest, Claire O’Connell spoke to EB patient ambassador Emma Fogarty and scientist Dr Lara Cutlar about a rare and difficult skin condition.
9. Confused in your career path? Say ‘yes’, rather than ‘no’
From writing about heartthrobs with the LA Times to leading NASA’s scientific endeavours, Dr France A Córdova has seen it all, as she told the crowds at Inspirefest.
10. Solar star: UL researcher gets €1.5m to glean clean energy from plants
A University of Limerick (UL) researcher has been announced as the recipient of a highly prestigious European Research Council Starting Grant.
