February Coffee Morning Programme
Our coffee mornings on Thursdays are an important part of our week, bringing our members together over coffee and cake (and more recently, Zoom) to discuss their research in a friendly, informal format. Here's what's happening in February.
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin "Ireland's Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss: Sharing Learnings and Recommendations | Thursday 2 February in-person: 4th floor kitchen, Science East, from 10.45 | on Zoom from 11.00
Last year, Aoibhinn was appointed by An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Mícheál Martin to chair the national Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. The Citizens' Assembly was convened to examine how the State can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss, and to bring forward proposals in that regard. In this week's coffee morning, Aoibhinn will explore the learnings from the exercise of the Citizens' Assembly as it concludes its work and share some of the key recommendations which will be presented to the Oireachtas.
Kevin Roche "Teaching robots to identify soft plastics" | in-person: 4th floor kitchen, Science East, from 10.45 | Thursday 9 February on Zoom from 11.00
We're joined for this week's coffee morning by Kevin Roche from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering who will be talking about his research recycling technologies. If we pick up a plastic bag, we can probably identify what type of plastic it is made from quite quickly through some combination of sight, sound, and touch. Automated sorting and recycling tends to rely more heavily on optical techniques. Kevin’s research explores automated tools that use the other features, particularly sound, in the hopes of improving recycling capabilities for some particularly challenging plastics.
Saoirse Tracy "A love letter to soil” | in-person: 4th floor kitchen, Science East, from 10.45 | Thursday 16 February on Zoom from 11.00
We're joined for this week's coffee morning by Saoirse Tracy from the School of Agriculture and Food Science who will be highlighting the need to fall in love with soil this Valentines week. She is hoping to start a conversation about soils and use the opportunity to connect researchers in the Earth Institute interested in soils research. She will be highlighting some soil related events coming up and other ways those interested or in love with soil can get involved in initiatives.
Jonny Dillon "The National Folklore Collection - Tobar an dúchais" | in-person: 4th floor kitchen, Science East, from 10.45 | Thursday 23 February on Zoom from 11.00
Archivist Jonny Dillon will provide an overview of the work of the National Folklore Collection; its history, collections and current digitisation and outreach projects.
Find out more about all our upcoming events here.
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