Since I began blogging last year, the Science Gallery has become my home away from home. A space where I can be immersed in science. Where I can be amazed and be challenged. The exhibitions on display are a brilliant resource but they are just the foundation around which something wonderful has grown. A community which I am proud to be a part of is developing and it is brimming with ideas!

There is a strong online Irish science community and you can find us mainly hanging out on Twitter. There are people working in all areas of science communication, scientists and some science enthusiasts. More can be achieved online than I could have ever imagined a few months ago with ideas being developed, acted upon, new resources being created, friendships being formed. Last summer, Ellen Byrne and the Dublin City of Science crew brought the online community down from cyberspace and into the Science Gallery. The atmosphere was like a reunion of old friends despite many of us meeting for the first time.

Since then, I have sent many online requests to have a regular science tweet-up as well as a failed attempt to organise one! Scibernia took action at Christmas and organised a Science Communicators Christmas Gathering which was lovely. It’s not that we’re completely isolated as being a very small community in Ireland we often bump into each other at the same events.

So what’s the big deal? So many individuals in Ireland are working towards the same goals. To improve science. To promote science. To open people’s eyes to the astonishing world waiting for them to discover. What could we achieve if we worked together on these goals?

I was delighted last week when Dublin City of Science organised a monthly science tweet-up in the Science Gallery. I’m heading along this evening and my expectations are high. I feel we should use this time to decide what we want to achieve as a community. There will be such a huge focus on science this year so we need to exploit that fact.

Science communication in Ireland has so much unrealised potential. As a group we could convince newspapers that accurate science coverage is vital, TV that science is a desirable programme topic, radio that sound can bring science to life. We could promote science in new and exciting ways. We could benchmark with our neighbours in the UK or even get involved in some international projects.

See you at 6pm!

There will be a Dublin City of Science tweet-up on the first Friday of every month from 6pm at Science Gallery.