Zone Reports

Drug Discovery Zone Report – November 2019

Read the report: Drug Discovery Zone Report – November 2019 [PDF] The Drug Discovery Zone was a themed zone supported by Wellcome. It featured six scientists: Sudhin Thampi is a gastroenterologist researching new implant materials with different shapes/structures to help suit individual patient conditions. Sergio Saldana is an immunology researcher trying to develop a device to help treat MS. Katie Fala investigates how bacteria communicate through chemical signals, and how drug treatments can interrupt this communication. Frances Shiely is an epidemiologist looking at ways to improve the way we conduct and communicate about clinical trials. Diarmuid Kenny works with proteins to see how medicines work and try to find new ones. Aoife Campbell, who won this zone, researches how different parts of the brain connect with each other, and what happens when it goes wrong.

Posted on January 15, 2020 by modemily in 2019, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Drug Discovery Zone Report – November 2019

Neon Zone Report – November 2018

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The Neon Zone was a general zone supported by Wellcome and involved five scientists:

  • Tiernan Henry is researching how water and the Earth interact, particularly the water just below the Earth’s surface
  • Sonia Lenehan, the zone winner, studies how the brain grows in the first two years of life
  • Mossy Kelly studies how students learn physics and is also a lecturer at the University of Hull
  • Maureen Williams studies the parasites that controls the behaviour of their hosts; fish, corals and other animals
  • Bernard Leddy is a drug information pharmacist and consultant in toxicology, writing reports on drugs for lawyers

This zone was very busy in ASK with over 700 questions sent to scientists, who between them gave over 1,000 answers. Sonia and Maureen were the most active scientists, making up 90% of all chat lines between them. Continue reading →

Posted on January 14, 2019 by modemily in 2018, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Neon Zone Report – November 2018

Smart Data Zone Report – November 2018

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The Smart Data Zone was a themed zone supported by Science Foundation Ireland and involved five scientists:

  • Sheila Castilho, the winner of the zone, is a postdoctoral researcher, teaching computers how to translate
  • Piyush Arora is also a postdoctoral researcher, trying to make learning and searching through the internet more convenient and easy
  • Natalia Resende is looking at translation systems such as Google translate and analysis data to discover ways in which they can be improved
  • Gary Munnelly teaches computers how to read books and other text-based resources to help historians study the past
  • Dimitar Shterionov is a postdoctoral researcher at ADAPT Centre working on machine translation between different languages

Students in this zone showed a general interest in the zone’s theme, asking questions about data but also discussing more widely computers, languages and coding. Nearly a third of the questions put to scientists in ASK concerned careers and education. Continue reading →

Posted on January 14, 2019 by modemily in 2018, SFI, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Smart Data Zone Report – November 2018

New Materials Zone Report – November 2018

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The New Materials Zone was a themed zone supported by Science Foundation Ireland and involved six scientists:

  • Triona Kennedy works for Stryker, a 3D-printing factory making hips, knees and parts of the spine
  • Simone Iadanza designs and build small structures that trap or reflect light so they can work as small lasers
  • Kieran Joyce is making new materials that can be used in spinal surgery for people with lower back pain
  • Julia Savioli is a computational chemist who uses simulations to understand the behaviour and chemistry of different materials
  • The zone winner, Hugh Manning, researches nanomaterials, particularly nanowires to conduct electricity for display screens and touch screens
  • Emily Growney Kalaf is a biomedical engineer working on nanowires that an act like neurons to understand neurogenic and neuropathic pain

Students in this zone were particularly interested in finding out what it was like being a scientist, and over 40% of the questions in ASK were on careers and/or education topics. Hugh, the zone winner, was very active in the live chats, with his chat lines making up nearly half of all those sent by the scientists over the activity. Continue reading →

Posted on January 14, 2019 by modemily in 2018, SFI, Zone Reports | Comments Off on New Materials Zone Report – November 2018

Genes Zone Report – November 2018

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Read the full report

The Genes Zone was a themed zone supported by Wellcome and involved six scientists:

  • Remsha Afzal studies how to control our immune cells to fight disease
  • Oliver Feeney is a researcher and lecturer in bioethics, interested in the ethical, legal and social implications of new biotechnologies
  • Lisa Dwane is researching breast cancer and searching for new ways to treat this disease
  • Kieran Meade runs a research group at Teagasc aiming to study the immune system
  • Fiana Ní Ghrálaigh, the zone winner, is a PhD student aiming to understand how DNA makes our brains work differently
  • David O’Neill, who was unfortunately unable to take part, researches into how the DNA of different organisms can make an impact on water quality and wildlife conservation

Students in this zone showed an interest in the zone’s theme, asking the scientists about their research and more general biology and DNA questions. Nearly half of all questions put to the scientists in ASK were about science topics, mostly human biology. One scientist, Remsha, was very active in ASK and CHAT, making up over 40% of all answers/chat lines. Continue reading →

Posted on January 14, 2019 by modemily in 2018, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Genes Zone Report – November 2018

Environmental Care Zone Report – November 2018

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The Environmental Care Zone was a themed zone for primary schools, supported by Science Foundation Ireland.

  • William McCarthy is a PhD student researching how contamination gets into food and how we can stop that from happening
  • Roberto Ferrari studies how honeybees communicate with each other
  • Karen O’Neill works with freshwater pearl mussels aiming to understand the quality of the rivers they live in
  • Jasmine Headlam, this zone’s winner, studies jellyfish venom and uses computers to identify the different components
  • Chinna Devarapu builds circuits for light to find bugs in water

This was the busiest zone in November’s I’m a Scientist Ireland, with over 2,000 questions sent to the scientists in ASK. More students joined the Environmental Care Zone evening live chat than any other zone, across all I’m a Scientist zones this November. Continue reading →

Posted on January 14, 2019 by modemily in 2018, SFI, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Environmental Care Zone Report – November 2018

Diagnosis Zone Report – November 2017

Read the full report The Diagnosis Zone was a themed Zone supported by Wellcome. Shannon, the winner of this Zone, is a PhD student researching fungal pathogens, Matthew is a biomedical engineering student researching the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and Katie is a geneticist at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. James is working to understand why people get breast cancer and Hugh works with nanoparticle cell interactions at the Dublin Institute of Technology. This Zone was busy and on topic, with twenty Live Chats across the two weeks and the highest number of students logged in out of the four Zones in November’s event. All the scientists were great at engaging with the students within both Live Chats and Ask, and students were interested in both their work and personal lives.

Posted on December 15, 2017 by modemily in 2017, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Diagnosis Zone Report – November 2017

Energy Zone Report – November 2017

Read the full report The Energy Zone was a themed Zone funded by Science Foundation Ireland, with five scientists for students to meet. Yang is a PhD student studying combustion chemistry, Stephen is working with materials that can convert solar energy into fuel and Shane is researching ways to store more renewable energy from wind turbines and solar panels. Karla is a postdoctoral researcher trying to find ways to produce energy from organic wastes and biomass and Emma, who was the winner in the Energy Zone, uses computer simulations to find out what Ireland’s energy system will look like in the future. The Zone was largely on topic, with students asking about ways to save energy at home, as well as interest in different energy sources and the scientists’ own research areas. This was the quietest Zone in November’s I’m a Scientist event, with a lower than average number of … Continue reading →

Posted on December 15, 2017 by modemily in 2017, SFI, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Energy Zone Report – November 2017

Food Zone Report – November 2017

Read the full report The Food Zone was a themed Zone specifically for primary schools, and supported by Wellcome. Yvonne is a PhD student researching whether grass-fed beef is healthier than grain-fed beef, Yannis is a chemist researching how food lipids can affect cardiovascular diseases and Gonzalo works as a meat scientist at Teagasc. Golnaz is trying to find out the source of pollution in water drains at dairy farms, in order to prevent further pollution, Elaine is researching whether milk proteins can help people, in particular those with diabetes, control their blood sugar levels and Ciara, the winner of the Food Zone, is studying the gut microbes of athletes. The Food Zone was the busiest Zone in this event, with the highest amount of votes and questions in Ask. Students engaged brilliantly with the theme and could relate to the work of the scientists through conversations about their favourite … Continue reading →

Posted on December 15, 2017 by modemily in 2017, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Food Zone Report – November 2017

Fluorine Zone Report – November 2017

Read the full report The Fluorine Zone was a general science zone, funded by Science Foundation Ireland. Sarah, the winner of this Zone, is a PhD student who is finding ways to generate energy from amino acids, Kieran is a PhD student working on ways to personalise our experience using different digital technologies and Kathryn is a Marine Botanist studying seaweeds such as kelp. Joanne is a microbiologist working with barnacle DNA and Chris is a computational scientist looking at climate change. As this was a general zone, conversations were varied, and students were interested in the scientists’ individual research areas, as well as making the most of the opportunity to ask about a variety of different science topics. The scientists were all good at explaining their work in a way that students could understand and relate to, as well as answering lots of questions outside of their research areas.

Posted on December 15, 2017 by modemily in 2017, SFI, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Fluorine Zone Report – November 2017

What can you do?

I want to take part with my class ❯
I want to take part as a scientist ❯
I want to find out about funding I’m a Scientist ❯

What is I’m a Scientist?

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an online activity where school students get to meet and interact with scientists.

It’s a competition between scientists, where the students are the judges.

Students challenge the scientists over intense, online Chats. Then they Ask follow up questions to all the Scientists, and Vote for their favourite scientist to win a prize of €500 to communicate their work with the public.