Public Engagement
Our lab is committed to communicating our exciting research (and science in general) beyond the research community, to patient groups and the general public. If you have an event that you would like us to contribute to, please email niamh.osullivan@ucd.ie.
Niamh spoke with advocates and affected people at a 2022 Rare Disease Day event to discuss recent research findings from the lab.
Niamh gave an interview to the University Observer to explain a bit about what it is we do in the lab:
https://universityobserver.ie/researcher-report-an-interview-with-dr-niamh-osullivan/
Philippa told a lecture theatre full of non-scientists (of all ages) about how useful fruit flies are for the study of HSP at the Engage lay seminars.
Niamh participated in the 2019 Women in Media conference as a panellist on the 'Women in STEM' discussion.
https://www.womeninmediaballybunion.com/
Eimear, Aoife and Emma visited the O'Sullivan lab to put the finishing touches on their project "Does caffeine affect short term memory?" which they presented at the 2020 BT Young Scientist exhibition.
Niamh's TEDxUCD talk looks at how the sequencing revolution is changing our understanding of how genes (and the tiny mutations within them) define who we are.
We wrote a piece explaining our recent Human Molecular Genetics paper in a format accessible to the non-scientific audience. You can find it here:
http://atlasofscience.org/of-flies-and-men-investigating-human-disease-in-fruit-flies/
We have been heavily involved in the 'Pint of Science' festivals in 2014 and 2015. This volunteer-led initiative aims to make science more accessible and fun by presenting current research in the pub. Over the 2 years, we organised 6 evenings focused on neuroscience with themes including the excitable brain, addiction and motor neuron disease (at which Niamh presented).