Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, has announced €847,820 in funding to support 36 projects taking place nationwide as part of Science Week 2025.
Marking its 30th anniversary this year, Science Week is coordinated by Research Ireland and celebrates science in our everyday lives. Running from 9th–16th November, with 14 festivals and hundreds of events taking place nationwide, the theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Then. Today. Tomorrow’.
For Science Week 2025, Research Ireland is encouraging people to explore how science and research have shaped and improved the lives we live today, while also looking at the questions and challenges of tomorrow, and how insights from the past can influence our future decisions.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Lawless said: “Science Week is now a key event across Ireland, connecting people with science through engaging activities. I am delighted to announce my department’s support for this year’s programme with over €847,000 in funding for 36 projects. Science shapes every minute of our daily lives, from protecting the environment to driving healthcare and technological innovation, and so much more besides. This year’s theme, ‘Then. Today. Tomorrow.’, invites us to reflect on past progress and future possibilities, and, above all, enjoy the experiences. I encourage everyone to get involved and attend one of the many events happening around the country this Science Week.”
Welcoming the launch of Science Week 2025, Director of Research for Society at Research Ireland, Dr Ruth Freeman, said: “For 30 years, Science Week has been sparking curiosity and bringing people together through science. Our anniversary theme of ‘Then. Today. Tomorrow.’ is a chance to both celebrate the endeavours of yesteryear that have brought us to where we are today, and to consider what may lie ahead for individuals, families, communities, Ireland, and the entire planet. We’re delighted to see such a wide range of events taking place across the country again this year. The success and appeal of Science Week is due primarily to the creativity and tireless work of local organisers and volunteers. I want to sincerely thank them for making Science Week such a vibrant, nationwide celebration.”
Science Week 2025 Festival highlights include:
DUBLIN: Luke Jerram’s spectacular Museum of the Moon – a seven-metre diameter sphere featuring detailed imagery of the lunar surface – is coming to Dublin’s Merrion Square from 13th-15th November. A specially-curated programme of performances will accompany the installation, offering audiences an exciting and thought-provoking experience in celebration of 30 years of Science Week. The event is free to attend and will open to the public on Thursday, 13th November. (booking information will be accessible on scienceweek.ie closer to the time);
CORK: Renowned spectacle theatre company, Macnas, makes its Cork premiere at Marina Market, Cork, for Science Week 2025.?On Sunday, 9th November, Macnas will bring its vibrant troupe of drummers, stilt walkers, and puppets to Cork city to tell a powerful story about biodiversity loss and the gradual disappearance of the corncrake across Ireland. Known for its distinctive and recognisable call, the corncrake’s decline serves as a poignant reminder of the urgent need to protect habitats and biodiversity. An installation inspired by the performance will remain at Marina Market, alongside the Science Week-funded?SpaceFest, until Thursday, 13th November.
Full list of Festivals and Events awarded funding:
Sligo Science Festival (€50,000) – The Sligo Science Festival is a 10-day event that takes place during Science Week. The festival highlights STEM engagement throughout the week by delivering a Science Fair Day at ATU Sligo, hosting science shows, workshops, demonstrations and displays, together with a comprehensive programme of talks, road shows, exhibitions and debates for all ages and backgrounds during science week.
Midlands Science Festival; Offaly, Laois, Longford, Westmeath (€50,000) – The Midlands Science Festival in 2025 is providing a range of ways for people to engage with science in their communities. From a music concert to an event exploring the science of nature to a teddy bears hospital, you are sure to find something of interest. We will be exploring Artificial Intelligence, skin care, the menopause, health, the environment, astronomy, the weather, baking and much more.
Limerick Festival of Science (€50,000) – Limerick Festival of Science unlocks new possibilities by stimulating curiosity and fostering dialogue among the public and STEM experts. The festival will explore topics of societal importance and everyday life, where STEM plays a crucial role, creating an engaging and accessible event that attracts new and returning audiences.
Wexford Science Festival (€50,000) – The Wexford Science Festival brings Science Week to locations and communities across County Wexford, with exciting, stimulating events designed to inspire curiosity and discussions amongst the public on hot topics in science of societal importance, in novel and exciting venues (National Opera House, Wexford Arts Centre, etc.).
Kerry Science Festival (€36,000) – Now in its 10th year, the Kerry Science Festival is a vibrant and inclusive celebration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), designed to ignite curiosity, stimulate dialogue, and connect communities with science that matters to everyday life. The 2025 programme builds on a decade of impact, blending cutting-edge innovation with local priorities, creativity, and accessible formats.
Cavan Monaghan Science Festival (€50,000) – The Cavan Monaghan Science Festival (CMSF) returns for its 10th year in 2025. Our aim is to build upon the strong community connections forged during our successful 2024 festival and develop our programme outside of school settings.
Tipperary Festival of Science (€50,000) – Tipperary Festival of Science (TFS) has been delivering a diverse range of high-quality science activities to the people of Tipperary since 2017. The science roadshows, workshops, STEM maker activities, talks, walks and webinars, all bring science alive and stimulate curiosity, with relevance to everyday life.
Kilkenny Science Festival (€50,000) – The Kilkenny Science Festival aims to spark curiosity and engagement in STEM among the public, fostering meaningful dialogue between communities and STEM experts. Evening events for adults will explore the Science Week 2025 theme of ‘Then. Today. Tomorrow.’, covering topics such as agriculture, climate action, sustainability, and environmental issues, alongside other relevant themes like health and the intersection of science and art.
South East Science Festival, Waterford (€50,000) – The South East Science Festival will deliver an exciting, entertaining and inspiring festival, with events that entertain, engage and stimulate discussion about Science on the theme of ‘Then. Today. Tomorrow.’ The festival is delivered by Calmast, SETU’sSTEM Engagement centre, in partnership with the STEM clusters established by Calmast.
SpaceFest 2025; Cork (€50,000) – SpaceFest 2025 is a celebration of ‘the art and science of space’, bringing exhibitions, performances, tours and workshops to Cork City and beyond. This year marks a major expansion, with the central exhibition relocating from the National Space Centre to the vibrant Marina Market. From Nov 8–15, the festival offers a packed programme for curious adults, art lovers, science enthusiasts, and curious space explorers.
Circus Science by the Sea Festival; Mayo (€31,555) – ‘Circus Science by the Sea Festival’ is a three-day, public-facing festival in four rural coastal Mayo communities – Achill Island (various community venues and outdoors), Curraun (community hall and outdoors), Westport Town Hall (theatre and outdoors) and Mulranny (arts centre and outdoors). With interaction, discussion, performance and relevance (eg marine conservation, plastic pollution, agricultural methods) at its heart, it uses circus to involve audiences in scientific activities.
C’mere Til I Tell Ye; Dublin (€50,000) – ‘C’mere Til I Tell Ye’ is a Dublin-based, science engagement festival that connects audiences of all ages with science through accessible, culturally resonant formats. The festival has been designed to combine artistic creativity, social relevance and scientific integrity to position science as an essential part of public and cultural life.
Galway Science and Technology Festival (€43,000) – Galway Science & Technology Festival aims to inspire curiosity and engagement with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics across Galway city and county. The programme, centred around the theme ‘Then. Today. Tomorrow,’ celebrates the past, explores the present, and envisions the future of STEM in our lives.
Louth Science Festival 2025 (€50,000) – Supported by Louth County Council and Research Ireland, Louth Science Festival (LSF) has become a focal point in Louth Library Service’s annual events calendar. Since its inception in 2018, the festival has grown year-on-year to become a fortnight of fun,learning and innovation for the entire community.
Let’s Talk Science Festival 2025; Dublin (€10,000) – The ‘Let’s Talk Science Festival 2025′, organised by the Rediscovery Centre, will revolve around the theme of ’10 Years of the Let’s Talk Science Festival’: giving the general public the opportunity to explore and engage with science and STEM in a hands-on,fun way. On Saturday 8th November 2025, it will host an in-person, all-day event which will consist of science shows and exhibits, and which will be open to members of the public.
Festival of Sport and Health Sciences: Looking Back, Jumping Forwards; Westmeath (€10,000) -Through a diverse range of events, the Festival of Sport and Health Science aims to showcase cutting-edge research, innovative methodologies, and physiological, biomechanical, and psychological aspects that impact health and athletic ability.
Light Laboratory: Optical Science past, present, future; Cork (€9,855) – ‘Light Laboratory: Optical Science past, present, future’ is a Citizen Science event bringing STEM and Theatre together – and we need you! Join us during Science Week for a novel and illuminating Science of Light journey with an in-person event where optical science principles of the past will be demonstrated with dramatic effect at The Granary Theatre, repurposed for Science Week as a Light Laboratory.
Applied Psychology: From Lab to Life; Westmeath (€5,000) – Hosted by the BSc in Applied Psychology team at TUS Midlands (Athlone), this Science Week 2025 event runs from November 9th to 16th. The aim is to stimulate curiosity amongst the public about psychological science and showcase the wide reach of Psychological Science in broad topic areas.
Back for the Future: A Sustainable Escape Room; Dublin (€10,000) – ‘Back for the Future’ is an exciting, immersive escape room experience run with a live actor. The year is 2060, and the world has been devastated by the effects of overconsumption and climate change.
Generating Futures: Using AI to Imagine Sustainable Places; Galway (€7,520) – ‘Generating Futures’ brings together communities, artists, geographers and climate scientists to co-create visions of a sustainable future, using the power of AI. Through interactive workshops, exhibitions, and creative installations, Galway residents will explore the potential of cutting-edge AI creative tools to reimagine the places where we live.
Climate Creation: Collage, Poetry and Zines in a Changing World; Louth (€7,711) – The cold facts of climate change can be paralysing, the figures too abstract. We need also to engage our emotions and to find creative ways to navigate these uncertain waters. These creative workshops are an opportunity to do just that: together, we will break down the dry, factual texts of climate change into fragments. Then we will reimagine them artistically: we will create poetry, zines, and collages that allow us to find alternative ways to engage with environmental change beyond only the intellectual.
Coastal Cartographies – Place-Based Science from Ireland’s Coastal Communities; Waterford (€9,900) – This Science Week, SEA School Studios & Labs presents ‘Coastal Cartographies’ – a short series of place-based science events in Waterford’s coastal communities, celebrating the science embedded in our everyday environments—through maps, memory, and coastal knowledge. This event places STEM at the centre of local life, using geospatial mapping, environmental data, and ecological storytelling to illuminate how science lives in the landscapes we call home.
Science at the Marina; Cork (€10,000) – ‘Science at the Marina’ is a one-day, free public event celebrating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). Taking place in Cork, this collaborative initiative brings together leading Research Ireland Centres (APC Microbiome Irelandand VistaMilk), Teagasc, the Agriculture and Food Development Authority of Ireland and University College Cork.
Rainbow Lab: Bringing the science of colour to your home; Galway (€5,000) – The Rainbow Lab is an exciting educational initiative designed to bring the vibrant world of colours and rainbows into homes and classrooms across Ireland. As part of Research Ireland’s Science Week, it offers young scientists aged 4 to 8 a hands-on experience with scientific principles through engaging experiments and activities.
BIAS – Inequality in Women’s Health and Research; Dublin (€10,000) – BIAS – Inequalities in Women’s Health and Research is a Research Ireland-funded Science Week project. Winner of the Irish Healthcare Awards 2023 – Equality Initiative of the Year, BIAS aims to encourage a dialogue around the biases that still prevent women from receiving adequate healthcare, benefiting from research findings, and feeling valued and understood in society.
Otter Spotters: A Citizen Science Roadshow for Science Week; Cork (€10,000) – The Otter Spotters Roadshow brings citizen science to individuals across Cork City during Science Week 2025. This proposal focuses on Ireland’s native otter (Lutra lutra) as a gateway to encourage broader conversations about ecology, biodiversity conservation, and public participation in scientific research.
Dublin Book Festival 2025 (€10,000) – As part of Dublin Book Festival 2025, November 5th – 9th, we will bring audiences informative and inspiring literary events as part of Science Week 2025. Events will focus on themes of ecology, biodiversity, sustainability and how we need to develop new ways of approaching the challenges that lie ahead and work together to help the world around us.
Un-Natural Frequency: A musical performance showcasing our changing world; Clare (€9,948) -Un-Natural Frequency is a unique musical performance exploring our changing world Then, Today and Tomorrow. Set in the breathtaking Aillwee Caves in County Clare, the event offers a powerful fusion of music, art, and science.
Biodiversity in our Backyards: Mapping our Local Environment; Galway (€3,400) – Baboró will collaborate with art & science facilitator Lindsay Deely, to deliver workshops exploring ‘Biodiversity in our Backyard’ with groups of young people (8-12yrs) from community organisations based in multiple areas of Galway City (8 workshops total) with groups from Ballinfoyle Youth Activities Project, ARD Resource Centre, Ballybane After Classroom Education Club & Dominick Street Direct Provision Centre.
Science Week at The Ark 2025; Dublin (€4,541) – Visit The Ark for an inspiring, hands-on workshop where children aged 5 to 12 will explore the small corners and crevices of wild nature in Dublin City with artists Duffy Mooney Sheppard and Jane Groves.
Juggling Quadratics for Queens; Leitrim (€6,000) – Over the course of Science Week, Mr Math Weeney will deliver in-person workshops in all-girls schools, where students can learn the skills of juggling, and study some of the science involved.
Baking in Space 2025 – Journey Beyond the Crust!; Louth (€10,000) – Join aerospace engineer and Great British Bake Off finalist, Andrew Smyth; scientist and space explorer, Dr Niamh Shaw; and special guests, Dr Lisa McNamee (space medicine specialist) and Dr Neil Murray (lead engineer for ESA’s Argonaut lunar lander) as they whisk audiences away with live baking experiments, surprising science, and extraordinary stories from the frontier of human discovery.
The Empathy Machine; Dublin (€8,390) – Life and death, disgust and fascination, beauty and horror. Contrasts like these are central to the spectacular work of the award-winning Finnish artist and researcher, Maija Tammi. Her work, ‘The Empathy Machine’, is presented at Photo Museum Ireland, with an accompanying engagement programme specially devised for Science Week.
Who Do They Think You Are?; Dublin (€10,000) – ‘Our Hidden Selves’ is a playful set of participatory engagements exploring the hidden data economy during Science Week 2025. Through four complementary activities – co-creation workshops, an online game, facilitated workshops and an evening games night – more than 1300 participants will navigate common digital scenarios, discovering how their choices contribute to personal algorithmic categorisations such as ‘Bargain Hunter’, ‘Thrill Seeker’ or ‘Money Motivated’.
Smalltalk on the Big Screen; Dublin (€10,000) – Join AMBER, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Screen Ireland’s National Talent Academy for Animation for a unique public event, bringing science to life through animation, hands-on activities, and interactive discussion.
How It’s Made 2025: Unmasking AI; Dublin (€10,000) – Join us for a creative journey with artists as they explore the evolution of Artificial Intelligence over the past 30 years. Artists will be collaborating with researchers and scientists to produce experiences about the amazing potential and inherent risks and fears about AI.
For more information on how to get involved, please visit scienceweek.ie. You can also follow developments using the hashtags #scienceweek and #ThenTodayTomorrow.
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