Programme of Events

On three evenings of ESOF, the Irish Science and Technology Journalists Association (ISTJA) and Alchemist Café Dublin are organising science café events which are informal, early-evening gatherings aimed at a general audience who are interested in developments in science and technology. Attendees will include both ESOF delegates and members of the general public.

The purpose of each session is to give attendees a flavour of some of the issues that are being considered at greater length during the formal conference sessions. Each café will involve three speakers, each of whom will speak for about five minutes on the topic of their presentation to ESOF. The discussion will then be widened out to include the audience and have speakers engage with each other.

The purpose of these events is to encourage open discussion in a relaxed setting (finger food and drinks will be available). The sessions are taking place in the Kudos Bar, Clarion Hotel, very close to the convention centre, and will start after the close of formal proceedings at the conference.

Alchemist Café have been organising science café events in Dublin for six years and have built up a strong following for their well-organised and lively events. ISTJA members are active in various media and three of these, Mary Mulvihill, Brian Trench, Claire O’Connell – all with extensive broadcasting experience – will be the café hosts on the three evenings.

Speakers have been invited from among contributors to ESOF on subjects such as changing human identity, the battle to feed the planet and the search for the Higgs boson.

Speakers are:

Wednesday, 11^th July

• Lone Frank, science writer (My Beautiful Genome), Denmark, on changes in human identity;
• Alaa Ibrahim, American University Cairo, on how scientists know what they know;
• Michele Garfinkel, European Molecular Biology Organisation, on tackling the policy issues in performance enhancing drugs?

Thursday, 12^th July

• Pam Roland, University of California Davis, on feeding the world;
• Melissa Anderson, University of Minnesota, on codes of conduct for scientists;
• Ellen Hazelkown, Dublin Institute of Technology, on university rankings

Friday, 13^th July

• Jean-Patrick Connerade, Imperial College London, on poetry and science;
• Sara Tegami, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, on using physics against cancer;
• Frank Close, University of Oxford, on the Higgs boson search

For further information contact: [email protected]