iCRAG and partners to host EGU Geoscience Day
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[Source: iCRAG]
iCRAG, along with a consortium of partners in Ireland, has been selected to host EGU Geoscience Day this November. EGU Geoscience Days are events organised around Europe that aim to raise awareness of the Earth, planetary and space sciences to students, the wider public and national policymakers.
Under the theme of “Marine Geoscience for All” the project brings together a consortium of geoscience public engagement groupings in Ireland to deliver a nationwide exploration of geoscience for inactive adult audiences, and under-represented school children.
The project team includes iCRAG, award-winning artist Alan James Burns, Geological Survey Ireland, Ireland’s Fossil Heritage educational programme and the Get into Geoscience educational programme. Together the group will deliver four events on the same day that explore the relationship between people and Ireland’s marine geoscience through the mediums of art, dialogue, storytelling and education. The events will be held simultaneously in four regions (North, South, East and West) on Thursday November 14th.
Project lead and winner of the EGU Geoscience Day award Dr Fergus McAuliffe of iCRAG commented on the programme: “During Geoscience Day members of the public will have the opportunity to explore marine geoscience in a number of ways, and in forms that will take into account their interests and desires. For those into visual art, we will have an exhibition in Dublin that will focus on Forams – tiny marine creatures – that are often overlooked but contribute greatly to our understanding of the planet.
“Storytelling is a method of communication with a strong tradition in Ireland and in Mayo we will have an Irish “meitheal” (ancient tradition of a group coming together for a common purpose) which will span generations, bringing school children, teachers and retired people together to share stories of the local geological landscape, placenames, links to the sea and myths. In Cork, school students will experience the wonder of marine fossils and what they can tell us about palaeontology through time. And in the north east, Get into Geoscience will run workshops with second level school students focussed on careers in marine geoscience and links between their locality and the ancient tropical sea conditions in which the rocks were created.
“Through these four activities we will allow a wide diversity of audience to attend and experience marine geoscience in ways that are different and meaningful.”
To learn more about Geoscience Day in Ireland read the full interview with Dr Fergus McAuliffe on GeoLog, EGU’s blog platform.