Google Glasses!

A visiting German student at the museum today tries out the Google Glasses from 2014.

Why not come along to our fabulous technology heritage facility and try out these iconic glasses and mor of our latest additional artifacts this Saturday (April 4th)? We are open to the general public from 11am to 2pm.

Eircode: H91 AEX4

Register at

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1985806304112?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

61 schools & youth events organised in January-March 2026!

Ever since our return from the Christmas holidays, it has been 'all systems go!' at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics as we continue to deliver a range of exciting & meaningful educational programmes both directly in schools & for those visiting the Data Science Institute (DSI) of the University of Galway.
Whilst our engaged research projects involve partnerships with businesses, local government, state agencies, health professionals, farmers & communities not only in Ireland but all across Europe, we have always since our inception given significant attention to our Irish school-going population not only in upskilling them in technology skills that fit within the educational curriculum; in providing role models in the form of young researchers; in making them aware of career opportunities over our multiple research fields which align with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); but also in making them as well as their teachers & parents fully aware of & how to counter the dark side of the Web especially now in an era of growing abuse of AI by major players.
Our educational activities range from coding, Virtual Reality & digital local heritage workshops, to Research Talks on AI & Data Science, to guided tours of the Computer and Communication Museum of Ireland and in providing age-appropriate presentations on Internet Safety.
From early Jan to end of March, we will have organised 61 events for schools, youth groups, after-school clubs & university societies (e.g. in Engineering, Computing & Innovation) in counties Roscommon, Mayo, Offaly, Galway as well as in Galway city. I myself also got the opportunity to travel overseas in my EPE role- this month and last I mentored in the island school of Inishbofin! Furthermore, we make certain that we deliver programmes to ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’(DEIS) that have high concentrations of disadvantage.

Thanks to Insight Galway volunteers, we've ensured that our Educational & Public Engagement(EPEs) programmes are as strong in 2026 as they were in proceeding years, So a big thank you/Bualadh Bos to our researchers Abdul Wahid, Al Waskow, Alan Reidy,Alex Acquier, Carlos Tighe, Duc-Duy Nguyen, Ifeoluwapo Aribilola, Jefkine Kafunah, Katarzyna Stasiewicz, Gaurav Negi,Kashif Shaheed, Lucas Rabelo, Liz Hurley, Luke Porwol, Shakir Bilal, Janak Kapuriya, Jim Duggan,Jefkine Kafunah, John Andrew, Umair ul Hassan, Muhammad Sohaib Ayub, Muhammad Yasar Khan (PhD), Prateek Paul,Ronan Timon, Tunde Ajayi as well as to our great operations team of Brian Wall, Christiane Leahy-Coen, claire browne, Gerard Conneely, (PhD), Maria Smyth, Michelle Treacy & Tomas Grigas, PhD, PSM I
As always, I consider myself blessed to work alongside such colleagues who are prepared to give their time & energies to introduce their research to the wider community as well as in upskilling our youth in creative technologies

AI Research for the Good of People & the Planet

 

Over 50 German students and their teachers from the Galway Business School (GBS) attended a special 'AI for Good' event in the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the Data Science Institute of the University of Galway where they learnt about some of our ground-breaking research projects designed to bring benefits to humanity and to the planet.
In a time when aspects of AI and science generally can and are being used to inflict death and destruction on planet Earth, it is critical that we increase our efforts to support STEM programmes that are life-giving.
At Insight we have for many years mapped our research against the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and organise activities to make the public aware of our work especially by engaging with schools, communities, businesses and policy makers.
So a big thank you/Míle buíochas to my fellow colleagues at Insight DSI for giving presentations to the visiting German students and making themselves available for questions, namely Elizabeth Hunter on 'Computational Modelling to Predict the Spread of Infectious Diseases'; Bharathi Raja Chakravarthi on 'Inclusive AI'; Prateek Paul on 'Incentive Alignment in Data Sharing Ecosystems'; and Jefkine Kafunah on 'AI, Big Data and Data Analytics for the AgriFood sector'.
After the research talks, I gave the young people an overview of the history (with a Galway & Ireland flavour!) of computing and communications technologies before providing them with an immersive guided tour of the computer museum.

Worth remembering that once there was a US President that stood up against Zionism, was a genuine peacemaker & did not use his office for personal gain.

 

Jimmy Carter did so much during and after his term as US President which brought benefits to the world and truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize when it was eventually awarded to him in 2002.

He was not perfect but Jimmy was a deeply religious man who actually tried to live by the basic tenets of Christianity and, unlike Trump, used his public status not for personal wealth but to promote peace.
In fact he was the antithesis of the present day US President who is the personification of 5 of the 7 deadly sins that I was taught as a child in Christian religious class to beware of namely: pride, greed, lust, envy and wrath.

Among Jimmy's achievements:
-Helped mediate peace between Egypt and Israel through the 1978 Camp David Accords.
-Was the first President that called for a Palestinian homeland.
-Began the transfer of ownership of the Panama Canal from the USA to the country of Panama.
-Established Human Rights as an important element of U.S. foreign policy.
-Introduced energy conservation for the first time as a key element of US policy and established the Department of Energy.
-Spent decades after his Presidency personally helping to build houses for the poor, funding disease eradication programmes and undertaking diplomatic peace missions across the world.

I will never forget his interview on BBC Newsnight in the early 2000s when he warned the world of the dangers of the Israeli right-wing Zionist wealthy lobbyist group known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), mentioning how they had corrupted US politics, saying that one could not successfully run as a small town sheriff in the USA if they were up against you. He correctly stated that they were a barrier towards achieving a just peace in the Middle East.