The Smart Data Zone is a themed zone funded by Science Foundation Ireland. Mike works for a plant science journal where he uses data to work out how to get new audiences, Julio works with data to understand how materials work and to design new materials and Jaine looks at big data to uncover patterns which tell us why some patients react well to treatment and others don’t. Dave, the winner of this zone, creates real-time data visualisations to help deliver HIV care in rural South Africa and Annette looks at data from devices used in a hospital to see what could be changed or improved. .
This was one of the busier zones of the event, with a higher than average number of questions asked by students and the highest number of comments. Almost 90% of comments from students were from students at S N Naomh Colmain. Annette and Jaine were the most active scientists, making up almost 75% of activity between them.
Category Archives: Zone Reports
Smart Data Zone Report – November 2016
modmichaela in Oxygen Zone Report – November 2016
This was a general science zone funded by Wellcome, and included five scientists working in a variety of areas. Roisin is a PhD student making tiny amounts of illegal drugs in order to track how criminals are making them, Michel studies the behaviour of soft solids like skin and the brain to find out things like how to avoid scarring when we get cut, and Mark (the winner of this zone) is a physics PhD student researching what happens when things like black holes get too close to stars. Karen is a haematologist who tests people’s blood after it gets taken at the doctors and Gavin is a PhD student researching the different interactions that happen between nanoparticles and the environment.
All of the scientists in this zone were really active in both ASK and the live chats and were fun and interesting when engaging with the students. This zone had the highest number of answers out of all the zones in this event, with 779 given by all the scientists in the ASK section.
New Materials Zone Report – November 2016
This was a themed zone funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry of which Louise, Brian and Aoife are members and included five scientists working in a variety of areas. Matthew is a lecturer in chemistry who is working on creating tartan paint through chemical reactions, Louise is a PhD student trying to build a powerful, environmentally friendly and safe battery less than 1mm in size and Conor is a PhD student studying two dimensional materials less than a few atoms thick. Brian researches how cancer cells react with nanoparticles and Aoife, who was the winner of this zone, investigates how new materials can be used for clean energy production.
Aoife, Matthew and Louise were the most active scientists throughout the event, providing detailed and helpful answers within both ASK and the live chats. This was the quietest zone of the whole event, with some students unable to take part due to the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland strike action at their schools during the first week of the event.
Mutation Zone Report – November 2016
The Mutation Zone was a themed zone funded by Wellcome. Thomas is responsible for regulating the use of GMOs in laboratories and for clinical trials, Sinead is an analytical science lecturer and cancer researcher and Sebastian, who was the winner in this zone, is a researcher trying to find out why some animals can heal and regrow their bodies after an injury better than we can. Monica works in a teaching hospital working out which bacteria or virus has caused an infection and Emma is a PhD student looking at whether someone with tuberculosis has developed mutations making them immune to treatment.
Much of the zone was on topic with students asking lots of thoughtful questions, and scientists providing detailed answers. There was a lower percentage of active students than in the other zones in this event, as some students were unable to take part due to the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland strike action at their schools during the first week of the event.
Light Zone Report – November 2016
This was a themed zone specifically for primary schools, funded by Science Foundation Ireland. Stephen was the winner in this zone, and is a PhD student who uses lasers to create explosions, and then studies the light given off to find out which atoms it’s made. Saoirse is an Optometrist researching short-sightedness so that fewer children will need to wear glasses and Pramod is trying to understand what super-fast lasers do on a very small scale. Moises is a PhD student studying electrons and protons and Dervil makes holograms which can be used for things like gas detection and solar power.
This was one of the busier zones in the event, with the highest amount of questions asked by students. There was also an above average amount of active students in the zone – 90% of students who had logged in engaged with the site. Stephen was extremely active during the event making up almost half of all activity from scientists.
Drug Synthesis Zone Report – November 2015
The Drug Synthesis Zone was funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry for schools in Ireland and, of the scientists, Sinead, Mark, Florence and Neil were members of the Society. It was a themed zone where the scientists had a link to the processes of producing and synthesising pharmaceuticals, for example researching catalyses to improve drug synthesis, leading a team that analyses drugs during their production, or lecturing in Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
Discussion in the Zone was overall broader than the theme of synthesis, and questions from students covered many areas relating to drugs. Most of the scientists engaged well with students, especially when asked about complex issues. The final two, Florence and Sinead, accounted for two-thirds of lines of live chat and answers in ASK between them.
Food Science Zone Report – November 2015
The Food Science Zone was a themed zone funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry for schools in Ireland, and Andrew, Emma and John were members of the Society. Ruth and Dilip work at Teagasc, the agriculture and food authority, John and Emma are researchers at the Institute of Food and Health and Andrew is studying the vitamins and fatty acids in milk for his PhD.
It was a busy zone where many questions focused on the theme of food research, and the scientists were engaging in live chats. Emma, the zone winner, was particularly active in live chats, contributing nearly half of the total chat by scientists.
Nanoscience Zone Report – November 2015
The Nanoscience Zone was funded by the Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover programme and involved five scientists whose research involved science done at the nanoscale. For example, Anil researches tiny transistors and Micki is using nanotechnology to develop new tests for infectious diseases.
Discussion in live chats was busy, especially in the many where 3 or 4 scientists attended. Overall, the zone was quiet in ASK, and most questions from students asked generally about working as a scientist, rather than the theme of nanoscience. In ASK there was a very even spread of answers from the scientists, while in the live chats Anil and Claire contributed the majority.
Nitrogen Zone Report – November 2015
The Nitrogen Zone was a general science zone for primary schools funded by the Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover programme. It included five scientists from a variety of backgrounds: laser imaging, genetic statistics, marine research, haematology, and microbiology. Questions from students ranged from covering these areas of research, to questions about the scientists’ lives, to more general science topics like space and cancer.
Some live chats were fast-paced and lively and some were slower when conducted through a teacher account. This zone saw the highest number of submitted questions, comments and votes from students, and the most answers from scientists in ASK, reflecting a diverse and engaged zone.
Beryllium Zone Report – November 2014
The Beryllium Zone was the busiest zone in I’m a Scientist Ireland 2014. Over 560 students took part (our target is 330 students per zone), 24 chats were booked and more than 1,200 questions were asked. After removing duplicates and spam, 350 of them were approved and sent to the scientists. Shikha really earned her position as winner, by being responsible of 42% of the scientists’ answers in this zone.
Download the complete report here.
I’m a Scientist
‘I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here’ is a free online event where school students get to meet and interact with scientists. It’s a free X Factor-style competition between scientists, where the students are the judges. Students challenge the scientists over intense, fast-paced, online live CHATs. Then they ASK the scientists all the questions they want to, and VOTE for their favourite scientist to win a prize of €500 to communicate their work with the public.