Dr Peter Childs taught Chemistry at UL from 1978 until 2009 when he retired. He started the magazine Chemistry in Action! for Irish chemistry teachers in 1980 and the annual ChemEd-Ireland conferences in 1982. He is a past President of the Irish Science Teachers' Association and the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland. He was chair of the EuCheMS Division of Chemical Education 2002-2008. Since retirement he has supervised a number of PhDs and Master's theses in chemical education, been involved in three EU projects (SALiS, TEMI and ARTIST), made Erasmus+ visits to Georgia and Israel, ran the annual Chemistry Demonstration Workshop, and directed the Chemistry Education Research Group. He is interested in the history of science education (see the Pioneers of Science Education series in the ISTA's Science magazine) and in the history of the Irish seaweed industry.
