Very important guests at the Galway Science and Technology festival!

Over 120 people, including adults and young people, from families accross the West of Ireland were hosted as Very Important People during the Galway and Science Technology Festival (GSTF) exhibition day in November 2023 and 2024.

These 40 families were invited in collaboration with Megan Depinna from Foróige, to explore the wonders of science as part of the Medtronic foundation funded GROWS project.

This video highlights the GROWS project experiential visits where, in collaboration with Foróige, families were invited to participate in the activities at the Galway Science and Technology Festival.

We welcomed the VIP families with Foróige, the Galway Science and Technology Festival, the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Medtronic Galway and the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Galway. The day was organised that families had everything they needed to spend an amazing day at the University of Galway campus. This covered transportation if needed and a full programme optimised for science discovery and family time.

Provided with their own VIP Headquarter, each family was given with a taylored schedule of events including tickets to one CE workshop and one exciting show at the festival as well as family time for exploration and a lunch break in their specific VIP zone of the An Bhialann canteen, while being guided by Cell Explorers Ambassadors. And of course, no VIP experience is complete without a little something extra: goodie bags for all the children and young people involved.

Explore our carroussell of picture: Young VIP visitors and their ambassador, Cell EXPLORERS VIP science goodie bags, Content of one of the bag, Feedback left by our VIP visitors. Photos by MG & TA

Our Cell Explorers University Ambassadors guided the families contributing to make the festival more enjoyable. They represented Cell Explorers and the university of Galway as example of students or staff sturdyong or working as scientists. They each looked after 2 to 4 families being their point of contact, adn physical guide ensuring they are able to move through their schedule and find the right location in time. They answered many questions on the day from young people and their guardians, This organisation allowed to minimize stress so the families could have fun exploring eveything GSTF has to offer and enrinched the experience through miningful interaction with our ambassadors.

University of Galway Cell EXPLORERS ambassadors at Galway Science & Technology Festival in 2024 & 2023. Ambassador's map for the day. Photos by MG

We had wonderful feedback from many families. One mom shared, "Shows were awesome, Spiderman show was such a light way to introduce science into everyday life”. One of her children was afraid of spiders, and told her mum she's not afraid anymore: “I’m curious how they make their web and I want to make webs for the spiders”. A young person aged 14 told the Youth Integration Project Youth Worker during lunch break: "Wow that is real life science, in school science is boring, not interesting and hard to understand. Here I have opportunities to try science and attend workshops. I see that there is an interesting life after school in the university, before I thought universities were boring".

The Cell EXPLORERS GROWS (Giving Real Opportunities to Widening participation in Science) project, was launched in 2022 and is supported by the Medtronic Foundation. It aims to increase youth participation in science, targeting disadvantaged and minority groups through innovative activities in collaboration with community partners. The VIP family visits were organised by GROWS project manager Dr Kristin Anderson in November 2023 and by Dr Talia Arcari in November 2024.

Thanks again to all the families and to our wonderful team of Cell Explorers ambassadors who volunteered their time to assist the visiting families!

A note about the funders:

The VIP family visits were supported by the Galway University Foundation / Medtronic Foundation Grant Award 2022-1115, under the Giving Real Opportunities to Widen Participation in STEM (GROWS) project.

The Cell EXPLORERS workshops delivered at GSTF were supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the Medtronic Foundation GROWS project. The operation of the National Network, development and dissemination of Fantastic DNA and Little Cells, and the development of the CE Escape Room and Science Club are supported by Science Foundation Ireland. The dissemination of the CE Escape Room and Science Club are supported by the Medtronic Foundation, under the Giving Real Opportunities to Widen participation in STEM (GROWS) project.

About Medtronic Foundation:

The Medtronic Foundation partners to improve lives for underserved and underrepresented populations worldwide, and support communities where Medtronic employees live and give. For more information, please viisit the Medtronic foundation website.