Minister Conor Lenihan T.D. Launches European Space Education Resource Office in Ireland

Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation has today (Thursday 19^th November 2009) announced the launch of the European Space Education Resource Office in a €475,000 project supported by the European Space Agency to promote the wider study of science using space as a theme in schools. The launch was also attended by European Space Agency representatives, including Peter Hulsroj, Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations. Discover Science and Engineering (DSE) will partner with the European Space Agency (ESA) to establish the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) in Ireland, which will provide professional development for primary and secondary school teachers to support them to teach the new explorative approach to science education as part of the new curriculum.

The new programme aims to provide educational material and activities which will make science more exciting to young people studying science at school. The newly established European Space Education Resource Office also reflects Ireland’s increasing involvement in the space industry, which is currently worth over €20 million to the economy and growing with 70 companies established in the country. The Space Strategy Working Group believes a coherent national space strategy for Ireland could lead to the creation of 5,000 new high value jobs by 2025 with an estimated value of €1 billion to the exchequer. Ireland is now the fifth country across Europe which will have its own European Space Education Resource Office.

Commenting at the launch event at Belvedere College S.J., Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, said, “The establishment of a European Space Education Resource Office is a major milestone for science education in Ireland. Space has always captured the imagination of young people and this new programme will help to support the science in the classroom and beyond. Importantly there is also a clear link from the classroom to industry and hopefully this will lead more students to pursue careers in Ireland’s flourishing space industry.”

Peter Brabazon, Programme Director, Discover Science & Engineering, added, “We are absolutely delighted to partner with the European Space Agency to establish the new educational office here. One of our key responsibilities is to help roll out the new investigative approach to science education, moving from an era where we simply learned off facts to a position where students question and explore the world around them. If you ask a lot of scientists what inspired them to pursue their career, they will often refer back to a moment of inspiration. For example, Dr. Cynthia Breazeal from MIT who was here for Science Week last year always talks about how R2-D2 and C3PO from Star Wars inspired her to study robotics. We hope this programme will inspire anyone who is fascinated by space to pursue a similar path.”

Tony McDonald, Enterprise Ireland, manager of Ireland’s industry connections with the European Space Agency, added, “This initiative will make the space industry more accessible to young people and is an important step towards ensuring that future Irish industry and research groups are at the cutting edge of space technologies. Over 40 Irish companies have been active in the European Space programme in the last five years, taking advantage of the opportunities to to develop technologies for use in advanced space launchers, communications and navigation satellites and human spaceflight.”

The launch event was held at Belvedere College S.J., where students were shown a scale model of the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory, which has the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope. At 3.5-metres in diameter the mirror has just begun to collect long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe. In addition, Herschel will be the only space observatory to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimetre. David Moore, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland, spoke to students about the Herschel Space Observatory and its importance for space exploration.

The new programme will be delivered over a two year period, beginning with a three month planning period to identify how best the ESERO can meet the needs of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths education community; develop educational initiatives and establish Continued Professional Development activities for teachers. The programme will then be fully rolled out from early 2010.

ENDS/IP131