National Park City Galway (via Zoom)
Friday 15 October 2020, 19:00 -20:00
Meeting ID: 821 6226 8008 Passcode: 142410
Moderator; Brendan Smith, Founder National Park City Galway
Speakers;
Anne Murray, Galway Science and Technology Festival.
Liam Ferrie, Walking champion for the Galway National Park City initiative
Hannah Aris, PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering at National University of Ireland, Galway
John O'Sullivan, Educationalist and renewable energy advisor
Galway National Park City
This new and exciting initiative is to have Galway city recognised as a National Park City, by achieving a more Greener, Bluer, Healthier, Safer, Beautiful, Sustainable, Equitable, Harmonious and Wilder environment where people value, benefit from, and are strongly connected to the rest of Nature.
Its patron is President Michael D. Higgins supported by an array of over one hundred champions from all sectors of local society as well as by Duncan Stewart the renowned environmentalist as its national champion, and Kathryn Tierney, formerly a policy coordinator for the European Green Deal at the European Commission’s Directorate General Environment.
Check out www.galwaynationalparkcity.com
Speakers;
Hannah Aris was selected as a Climate Change Ambassador for Galway by An Taisce in recognition of her outstanding environmental work. She is currently a PhD student at NUI Galway studying Biomedical Engineering. Originally from the United States, Hannah came to Galway to obtain her MSc in 2018, when she also became a committee member on the NUI Galway Energy Society. The following year, Hannah took the reins of the Energy Society and led initiatives such as the Green Energy Festival, Pedal Powered Charging Station Initiative, the Wind Farm 5k, and led international networking with the European Fusion leaders. Now in her second year as Auditor of the Energy Society, Hannah hopes to continue on with these initiatives and branch out into the wider Galway community, enlisting the Energy Society as a champion of NPC Galway and working on projects such as the Terryland Beautification Project, Green Mapping of Galway City, and Menlo Biodiversification Committee. In addition to working with the Energy Society, Hannah enjoys volunteering at the GSPCA Charity Shop in town and in outreach projects encouraging youth and secondary school girls to pursue careers in STEM. She also serves as the Vice Auditor for the Women in STEM Society at NUI Galway.
Anne Murray, Manager, Galway Science and Technology Festival
Galway has hosted for many years the largest festival of science in Europe aimed at children, youth and families. The Galway Science and Technology Festival is a wonderful exciting and fun mix of sciences, engineering, arts and technology innovation expressed through exhibitions, workshops, lectures, hands-on demonstrations, shows and visits to centres of manufacturing, research, schools and the Great Outdoors (woods, meadows, wetlands, seashores…). The county and the city come alive with an enthusiastic celebration of the wonders of science and how scientists, engineers, artists, teachers and manufacturing companies (both indigenous and multinational) in Galway are endeavouring to make the world a better place. The two week-long festival, the brainchild of Bernard Kirk and Noel Treacy in the late 1990s, has as its finale the Sunday Fair in NUI Galway which attracts over 20,000 visitors. Its success is due to the efforts of the Festival’s board, a multisectoral steering committee, media consultant (thanks Tracey!) sponsors, state agencies, professional exhibitors, the workers and coordinators of the Fair in NUI Galway, as well as the many volunteers from colleges, schools and businesses.
But a lot of credit has to undoubtedly go to the person managing this huge extravaganza. Anne Murray is the ‘cool, calm and collected’ manager at the helm that comes up so many of the ideas and contacts whilst ensuring the smooth operation of an event that has put Galway onto the international science learning stage and now defines the city almost as much as the Arts Festival and the Galway Races.
Her 20+ years ongoing working experience with IDA Ireland has been a crucial factor as this state agency has facilitated Galway becoming a global hub for medical technologies and for a significant growing technology sector.
Her love of nutrition, wellbeing and being immersed in Nature helps her ensure that the Festival has a holistic approach to science. Thanks to Anne and the hardworking visionary Festival team, the 2019 Galway Science and Technology Festival was the largest (two weeks) event ever held in Ireland on the theme of Climate Change with displays from scouts, youth groups, schools, Coderdojo, and environmental NGOs complimenting the professional exhibits from the third level colleges, research centres, marine institute, the national aquarium, state agencies, as well as the IT and biomedical manufacturing corporations.
Liam Ferrie (aka the Celtic Rambler), Walking advocate
Liam has been renowned and respected in Galway over many decades for his pioneering activities in information technology. An employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Galway from the 1970s to the 1990s, where he achieved great successes at what was once the second largest computer manufacturer including setting up a pioneering electronic newspaper in 1987 for DEC staff overseas. It was in fact the first online newspaper ever published in Ireland, becoming in 1994 the famous ‘Irish Emigrant’. Aimed at the Irish diaspora, it was bought by Irish-American publisher Niall O’Dowd in 2012 and was joined with the New York ‘Home and Away’ publication to become the new weekly Irish Central. In 2008, he was a founding member of the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland. In 2011, Liam was awarded an Honourary Degree by NUI Galway.
But after a hectic life in the ever-changing fast paced pressurised world of computing, Liam discovered the more slow moving joys of long distance walking. Along with his constant travelling companion, his wife Pauline, he took to it like a fish to water. In retirement, he has found the time to reach the top of most of Ireland’s highest mountains and walked many of the country’s iconic trails, including the Waterford Greenway (47km) and the Causeway Coast (51km). But Ireland was only the start of a new found love affair with life in the slow lane. Liam has been to many of Scotland’s most famous peaks including Ben Nevis and Ben Lomond. In the USA, he and Pauline walked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Over 35 days in 2010, they trekked along the 800km ancient pilgrim’s route of Camino de Santiago. They have now walked a total of 2,300km along different Caminos. Liam’s favourite is the 960km trek along the Via de la Plata, which stretches across Spain from Seville to Santiago.
Since his first Camino, Liam enjoys almost daily 5km early morning looped walks along the rural roads in his home locality of Menlo. He feels that the beautiful traditional bótharíns (boreens) of this rural landscape most of which lies within the urban boundares, many with the most scenic views of Lough Corrib, are proof positive that the foundations for Galway becoming a National Park City, namely an interconnecting network of natural green and blueways, are already in place.
John O’Sullivan, The Educationalist
John O’Sullivan studied Science at NUI Galway and Physics at Queens University Belfast before moving to Silicon Valley working with international companies in the microchip sector. Having worked in research and development, regional and global roles he returned to Ireland with a view to working in the environmental space. John now works as a renewable energy advisor who has held senior roles in development of various wind farm projects including the Galway Wind Park. He is a director of Corrib Beo, a community based entity that is striving to enhance the Lough Corrib catchment in a sustainable way. John also leads the voluntary environmental education group EcoEd4All. www.ecoed4all.com.
