Offaly natives to give STEM career talks as part of Science Week

As part of Science Week 2021, Midlands Science is delighted to be teaming up with Arup; an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, project managers, consultants and technical specialists, working across every aspect of today’s built environment where there is strong Offaly representation.

This year’s Science Week, which is managed by Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Discover Programme, will take place from 7-14 November and is focused on the theme of 'Creating Our Future, the national conversation on research in Ireland'.

As part of the Midlands programme, Debbie Flynn, an environmental consultant who hails from Kilcormac, and Una O’Grady, a senior civil engineer from Birr, will deliver virtual presentations to schools in Offaly.

Ahead of the virtual event, Debbie Flynn of Arup said: "Arup is delighted to participate in this year’s Science Week by virtually visiting a number of local Midlands schools. We hope that sharing our stories about how we chose our career paths and the variety of projects we work on every day will shed some light on what it means to work in STEM.

"It is an honour to partner with Midlands Science and hopefully inspire the students to follow their interests and choose careers where they can make a difference," the Kilcormac native added.

Debbie will share how her degree in environmental science has enabled her to work in a role where she assesses and advises on environmental impacts, develops environmental management plans and scopes planning and permitting requirements for engineering projects around Ireland.

She will share the key pieces of advice she has for the students as they begin making decisions about third-level education.

Birr's Una O'Grady will tell the students about her career delivering energy and sustainability projects in Ireland and abroad. As a member of Arup’s Energy team, she is currently working on projects to transition the energy sector to lower carbon emissions and help meet climate change targets.

She is looking forward to telling the students about the myriad of opportunities STEM careers provide to contribute to solving the challenges faced in today’s world.

"We are really looking forward to virtually visiting schools across the Midlands during Science Week to give students the opportunity to learn more about the latest in science careers and to talk to them about the world of opportunities associated with it as a sector.

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank Arup and our many other corporate speakers who will be giving their time to help us celebrate and showcase all things science," CEO of Midlands Science, Jackie Gorman said.