In this episode of the EPI·STEM podcast, Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD welcome Dr. Martin Mc Hugh as their special guest. Dr Martin Mc Hugh works as the Public Engagement Officer in the SSPC laboratory in The Bernal Institute at the University of Limerick. SSPC is a Pharmaceuticals Research Centre working closely with pharmaceutical industries in Ireland in designing and delivering academic-enterprise partnerships in research, innovation and public engagement.
In the podcast today, Dr McHugh shares his journey into this career pathway, beginning with an undergraduate degree and a master’s study in environmental science followed by completion of the diploma in education that qualified his as a science teacher. After teaching young people science Martin returned to take up the Hardiman Scholarship at the University of Galway with the science educator Dr Veronica McAuley and completed his PhD in Science Education. Dr Mc Hugh’s study was an investigation into ways of attracting young people to take an interest in science and resulted in the design of pedagogical resources that science teachers tried in class.
Nowadays as the Public Engagement Officer with the SSPC Laboratory Martin works with different groups to promote the dissemination of medical and pharmaceutical research conducted in Ireland, to groups, such as pupils in primary and secondary schools and to active retirement groups. The SSPC Laboratory has over 200 PhD students who reach out to schools and bring all aspects of science to life for young people in schools, with packages, such as Medicine Maker, How the Brain Works, and Citizen Science projects. Martin stresses the need to negotiate the learning with the student, to lower power and to include spaces for pastoral care as well as improving scientific literacy.
For this year’s SCIENCE WEEK, The SSPC Laboratory will be engaged in 100s of activities, taking place across the country and here in the mid-west. As well as science shows the festival will bring many students onto campus for the first time. You can find out more by looking up the SSPC website.
The music selection today is from Caoimhe Fitzpatrick, a first-year student in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Here Caoimhe plays her acoustic guitar and sings Alone Again by Gilbert O’Sullivan.
