Science Week 2021

The Festival of Farming and Food

Science Week 2021 took place from Sunday November 7th to Saturday November 13th. 

View recordings of relevant events at the links below:

• Monday 8th November - Creating our Future             
• Tuesday 9th November - 60 Minute Science - Benefits of Diversity for Farming        
• Wednesday 10th November - The Wonder of Horticulture   
• Thursday 11th November - Sustainable, Nutritious and Delicious – What’s New in Fruit and Veg? 
• Friday 12th November - Kid’s corner: Facts about cows, milk and grass

Creating our Future - Monday November 8th

Creating Our Future is a Government of Ireland campaign to stimulate a national conversation that generates ideas from the public to inform the direction of research in Ireland. Teagasc held this webinar to hear ideas about what scientists should be doing in agriculture, food and environmental research.

Ideas will be submitted to the Creating our Future working group.

Ideas can also be submitted via the Creating Our Future  website

This event was hosted by broadcaster Jonathan McCrea. It featured 

• Maeve Henchion and Declan Troy, Teagasc
• Shane O'Donnell, Ambassador, Creating Our Future campaign
• Seamus Carey, Public Engagement Consultant, Creating Our Future campaign.

A recording of the event can be viewed below

Multispecies Swards: Benefits of Diversity for Farming - Tuesday November 9th - 60 Minute Science 

Growing high-quality grassland swards is vital for milk and meat production in Irish agriculture. For better harvest yields, nitrogen fertiliser is typically added to grassland. However, high levels of nitrogen fertiliser is associated with high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, and there is considerable pressure to reduce fertiliser use.

At Teagasc, we are investigating more environmentally sustainable grassland swards by mixing grass with different clovers and herbs, which can bring multiple benefits to both farmers and the environment.

This 60 Minute Science event hosted by Cathal Somers, Sustainability Advisor, Teagasc featured:

• Saoirse Cummins, Research Officer, Teagasc 
• Patti Roche, Research Technician, Teagasc 
• Aidan Lawless, Dairy Farm Manager, Teagasc
• Neil O'Sullivan, Dairy Farmer, Dungarvan

View recording below

The Wonder of Horticulture - Wednesday November 10th

Teagasc and the Office of Public Works have a long history of collaboration in the National Botanic Gardens. Students get the opportunity to learn and train on the grounds and gain qualifications up to degree level. The qualifications will allow them to follow careers in a wide area of work that will involve scientific research.

This webinar gave the opportunity to meet horticultural scientists from the wonderful National Botanic Gardens and Teagasc Horticultural research site in Ashtown, Dublin.

Darach Lupton in the National Botanic Gardens shared his knowledge from his interesting career working in Ireland and abroad in the field of botany.

Colin Kelleher is a botanist in the National Herbarium. He spoke about the fascinating scientific work that goes on in the herbarium, which has a vast preserved collection of plants and seeds.

Sam Belton is Postdoctoral Researcher.

Lael Walsh works in horticultural science in Teagasc Ashtown and explained the scientific work is ongoing in food production research.

This event was hosted by broadcaster Jonathan McCrea. 

View a recording of the event below 

Sustainable, Nutritious and Delicious – What’s New in Fruit and Veg? - Thursday November 11th

Fruit and vegetables are good for us, but do you really know why? What do they do for us and what else can we find out about them? In Teagasc we’re working on finding out a lot more!

We’re investigating new approaches to:

• growing fruit and vegetables more sustainably
• processing them safely
• reducing food waste
• finding out more about why they’re good for our health.

How do the good parts of the fruit and vegetables get to where they’re needed in your body?

This online event went on the fruit and vegetable journey:

• Learning how fruits and vegetables are grown including new methods of production
• Finding out about new ways to process them and how to keep your food safe
• Learning how we can reduce food waste
• Seeing what happens to fruit and vegetables after you eat them, with our working model of your digestive system
• Take 5 - why do we need five portions of fruit and vegetables? What are five health benefits of eating them? Find out five tips to increase your intake

This event was hosted by broadcaster Jonathan McCrea and featured from Teagasc:

• Shay Hannon
• Kaye Burgess
• Leo Nunn
• Caoileann Murphy
• Conor Fitzpatrick

and 

• Lorraine Foley, Technological University Dublin

View recording of the event below

Kid’s corner: Facts about cows, milk and grass - Friday November 12th

Have you ever wondered where your glass of milk or the butter on your bread comes from? Teagasc and VistaMilk SFI Research Centre scientists answer kids’ questions all about cows, milk and grass during this fun interactive session.

Questions like, “Why is milk white if grass is green?” and “How do you know if a cow is healthy?” and many more. During this session kids in the classroom also got a chance to ask the scientists featured in the film more of their own questions.

The session was moderated by TV and radio broadcaster Jonathan McCrea and featured from Teagasc:

• Niamh Field
• Katie Sugrue
• Fionnuala McDermott
• Chris Heffernan
• Mark Timlin

View recording of the event below

View Science Week 2020 events