Our Research Institute: Using Science & Technology in the war against Climate Chaos, Biodiversity Loss...

The research taking place at my university workplace is contributing to tackling the issues being caused by Climate Change, biodiversity loss and the excesses of the consumer society.
As part of our Educational and Public Engagement (EPE) programme at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the Data Science Institute NUIG, we have been offering since last summer a package to visiting schools that combines an introduction to our research, a coding workshop, an immersive Virtual Reality experience and a guided tour of the Computer & Communications Museum.

The first part is based on talks by our researchers on their work (mostly in collaboration with other European countries) that more and more has a strong emphasis on Sustainability and on Citizen Science. . On Tuesday, Niall O’Brolchain outlined the 'CarePeat' partnership research project to students of St.Jarlaths College from Tuam. CarePeat is about reducing carbon emissions from and restoring the carbon capacity of Europe’s degraded peatlands. Niall pointed out that, though only covering c3% of global land surface, peatlands store twice as much carbon as all of the Earth’s forests combined, but are now responsible for 5% of global carbon emissions due to degradation.

The second talk was by Umair ul Hassan on his research project entitled 'Sharerepair'. Its purpose is to roll back Europe’s fastest growing waste stream by scaling up citizen repair shops through the use of digital tools

The Citizen Science pioneers of Galway to exhibit at Science Fair

This year's Science Fair, that is the finale of the Galway Science & Technology Festival, is a game changer at so many different levels.
It will be the largest one day themed Climate Action event ever held in Ireland; will host on the same platform key guest speakers from the European Commission (Kathryn Tierney -Directorate-General Environment), an influential national environmentalist (Duncan Stewart) and an internationally renowned children's eco author (Andri Snær Magnason); will host the largest number of schools/youth groups ever to exhibit science projects in Galway; and will introduce the public to the country's first national sustainability course for Transition Year students.
But it will also be the first time that we will give due recognition to the great pioneering and ongoing Citizen Science work being undertaken by the community/environmental NGOs of Galway. Included amongst these groups is 'Friends of Merlin Woods' who will showcase their scientific/art (STEAM) projects done in collaboration over the years with schools and the general public including wildlife photography, biodiversity surveys and protecting/developing natural habitats

Citizen Science training- OpenStreet Map workshop for Galway Science Festival

As part of the Galway Science & Technology Festival, the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at NUI Galway is hosting a workshop on Saturday November 23rd for teachers, community groups, environmentalists, science researchers, geographers, planners and students to learn about and participate in Open Street Mapping, a free, editable map of the whole world that is being built by volunteers. The underlying electronic data is open-sourced and crowd-sourced.
Organised by Ireland’s OpenStreetMap (OSM) community, the free event is open to all interested individuals and groups, and will commence from 11am at the Insight Centre in the Dangan Business Park.
This information and workshop event, taking place as part of our centre’s Citizen Science schedule, will provide a wonderful opportunity for both experts and novices to exchange ideas and experiences on this very important grassroots global initiative.
All over the world, there are restrictions on the availability or the use of map information. OSM aims to remedy this by generating a free, editable map of the world. To date four million people have come together to contribute data to OSM. These volunteers collect data using manual surveys, GPS devices, aerial photography, and other free sources. This crowdsourced data is then made available under the Open Database License. OpenStreetMap contributors have diverse interests and work at differing scales. Some people map their locality, while others work on themes such as public transport, the built environment, graveyards, tree cover, beaches, churches, sports grounds, greenways, energy infrastructures and many other things.
OSM Ireland is affiliated to the worldwide volunteer movement. The purpose of the Galway chapter is to promote contributions of mapped data and re-use of the data, both locally and globally.
To register go to:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/openstreetmap-workshop-tickets-78039926521?fbclid=IwAR3rbfTbD2406zAaqG3h0-cW0U0QcGwK8TOBfcTnggGgevELIIwSyB-hEjA

Open Street Mapping workshop was 'Citizen Science' in action!

Thanks to all those who turned up today at the Insight Centre at NUI Galway for Galway's first workshop on Open Street Mapping, a free, editable map of the whole world that is being built by volunteers. The underlying electronic data is open-sourced and crowd-sourced.
There was a nice mix of attendees from different backgrounds who came along to learn about or to share their experiences and knowledge of Open Street Mapping.
A big thank you to Ciaran and David from Ireland’s OpenStreetMap (OSM) community, who enthused everyone present and to Lukasz Porwol​ and Agustín García Pereira​ as well as to Niall O Brolchain​ for their excellent organisational work.
We at Insight will host another similar event during November as one of a series of very exciting "Citizen Science" activities we are organising for the Galway Science and Technology Festival whose theme this year is Climate Action, and as part of the new National Park City for Galway initiative which will really kick in during October.
So watch this space!

So why is Open Street Mapping (OSM) important?
All over the world, there are restrictions on the availability or the use of map information. OSM aims to remedy this by generating a free, editable map of the world. To date four million people have come together to contribute data to OSM. These volunteers collect data using manual surveys, GPS devices, aerial photography, and other free sources. This crowdsourced data is then made available under the Open Database License.
OpenStreetMap contributors have diverse interests and work at differing scales. Some people map their locality, while others work on themes such as public transport, the built environment, graveyards, tree cover, beaches, churches, sports grounds, greenways, energy infrastructures and many other things.”
OSM Ireland is affiliated to the worldwide volunteer movement. The purpose of the Galway chapter is to promote contributions of mapped data and re-use of the data, both locally and globally. We expect that many local community and environmental activists will become enthusiastic mappers over the next few months.

Photo shows one of the two workshop groups that took part in today's event.