DkIT Celebrates ambitious Science Week 2025 Program

Dundalk institute of Technology (DkIT) marked Science Week 2025 with it’s most ambitious programme to date,engaging learners across the North East and reinforcing the institute’s leadership in STEM outreach,education,and public engagement.

This year’s expanded programme featured a mix of high-impact talks,hands-on workshops,career events,and national-level research depiction,reaching primary,secondary,and adult audiences across Louth,Cavan,Monaghan and Dublin.

To kickstart the week, Dr Orla Sherlock and Mary Ellen Kelledy joined renowned science communicator Dr. Niamh Shaw at the Louth Science Festival in Dundalk Library to share career insights and encouraged students to explore pathways in science and engineering.

The duo then joined a live-streamed Women in STEM podcast at Ó Fiaich Institute, attracting over 400 in-person and online participants, highlighting opportunities for women in STEM in Ireland. The team also launched the annual DkIT Loves STEM Roadshow at Dundalk Grammar School, promoting local third-level pathways and raising awareness of STEM careers.

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During the week, Dr. sinéad Loughran gave a compelling talk at the Cavan Monaghan Science Festival, discussing how viruses influence society and the role scientific advances play in responding to them.

Drawing on Irish data and real-world cases, she highlighted historical trends in childhood diseases and outlined how national immunisation programmes have affected those patterns.She also described the development of mRNA technology-associated with Nobel Prize winners Karikó and weissman-and its growing use in vaccine research.

As conversations around vaccination become more divided and illnesses such as measles reappear in some regions,she stressed the importance of evidence-based discussion,cooperation,and public trust in addressing global health challenges.

Dr. Loughran also gave a talk to a group of 50 TY students in St. Vincent’s Castleknock College, Dublin for an in-depth session on HPV, viruses, and vaccines, where students showed strong engagement and asked informed, insightful questions throughout.

Showcasing DkIT’s research excellence on a national stage,Dr. Loughran also represented the institute at the Oireachtas Posters in Parliament event.

Hands-on learning