🏆 ENGAGE 2025 Grand Final 🏆
🎤On Wednesday, 16 April, the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science hosted its flagship public science communication event – ENGAGE 2025. Held in the Moore Auditorium and streamed online via Zoom, the event brought together students, staff, and the wider public for an inspiring evening of accessible science.
Final-year PhD students took to the stage to share their cutting-edge biomedical research through engaging, plain-English presentations. With topics ranging from gene editing and cancer therapies to cystic fibrosis and zebrafish models of vision disease, the evening showcased the power of clear communication and scientific impact.
The atmosphere was electric, the audience captivated, and the judges impressed. (opens in a new window)Link here to the event programme.
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🥇 Winner of ENGAGE 2025– Clodagh Murphy
Clodagh's ENGAGE final talk title was: Orchestrating a Treatment for Lung Cancer
Clodagh explores the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) as a potential "conductor" of lung cancer development—suggesting that by targeting lncRNA, we may stop cancer growth at its source.
Supervisors: Prof Liam Gallagher, Prof Rory Johnson, Asst Prof Arman Rahman
🥈 2025 Engage Runner-Up – Molly Davies
Molly's ENGAGE Final talk title was : UnPAXing DNA Structure in Ovarian Cancer
Molly investigates the role of the protein PAX8 in ovarian cancer, highlighting how it affects DNA structure and contributes to disease development—opening doors to future therapies.
Supervisor: Asst Prof Eric Conway
Poster Awards – Audience Choice
We were also thrilled to host 21 poster presentations by students from the Public Science Communication module. Voted by our audience, the following posters stood out:
🏆 Best Poster Presentation: Caoimhe Burke
🥈 Runner-Up Poster presentation: Braden Miller
🥈 Runner-Up Poster presentation: Climate Change Poster
👏 A huge congratulations to all six of our outstanding ENGAGE 2025 finalists—Felix Brooke, Ciaran Carey, Molly Davies, Emma Doyle, John Denis Fehilly, and Clodagh Murphy—who captivated us with their creativity, clarity, and commitment to making science accessible to all. The future is bright!
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