November 2017 NUI Galway’s ReelLIFE SCIENCE Discovers Ireland’s Best Short Science Videos

The winners of the nationwide ReelLIFE SCIENCE video competition were announced during science week 2017 which concluded nationally last week. Winners of the 2017 awards were Sooey Primary School, Co. Sligo, Davitt College in Castlebar, Co. Mayo and Corofin Foróige group from Corofin, Co. Galway.

25 fifth and sixth class students from Sooey National School dramatised the battle invading bacteria face when they meet the immune system in their video ‘How the Immune System Works’. A group of 11 Davitt College Transition Year students explored the use of forensics in the entertaining whodunnit ‘The Death of Paul Donovan’ while five members of the Corofin Foróige group used animation to produce ‘The Immune System Simplified’.

Based in NUI Galway and supported by the Science Foundation Ireland Discover programme, the Community Knowledge Initiative and the CÚRAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices, ReelLIFE SCIENCE challenges Irish schools and community to communicate science via engaging and educational short videos. This challenge was met by more than 1,500 students in 83 schools and groups around Ireland, producing over 180 short science videos on a range of topics in both English and Irish.

Selecting the best videos to share the €5000 prize fund were Trinity College Dublin Professor and Royal Society Fellow Luke O’Neill, BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year 2017, Shane Curran from Terenure College Dublin and NASA Spacecraft systems engineer and aspiring astronaut Amber Gell, who said “all of these students should feel like winners, because they did an exceptional job with their entries. I had a lot of fun watching the videos and learning more about their favourite science concepts. You’re only as good as your competition and the ReelLIFE SCIENCE competition clearly brings out the best in us. It stirs a healthy public interest in science and inspires so many great minds to compete.”

Other prize winners included:

• St Hugh’s National School from Dowra, Co. Leitrim
• Gaelscoil Riabhach from Loughrea, Co. Galway
• Coláiste Muire, Ennis, Co. Clare
• Coláiste Lorcáin, Castledermot, Co. Kildare
• Olivia Ng from the BrainMatTrain programme
• Keira Corcoran from the Westside Youth Project, Galway City

All videos can be viewed at www.reellifescience.com  and will be shown to the general public as part of the Galway Science and Technology Exhibition, held in NUI Galway on Sunday, 26 November.

Since launching in 2013, over 8,500 students in 300 schools and community groups around Ireland have taken part in ReelLIFE SCIENCE. The videos produced have been viewed more than 100,000 times in over 100 countries worldwide. ReelLIFE SCIENCE is organised by NUI Galway’s Dr Enda O’Connell and a team of 100 science communication enthusiasts, in collaboration with the Cell EXPLORERS outreach programme from the NUI Galway School of Natural Sciences.

Dr O’Connell said: “We were thrilled again this year with the reaction to the competition, particularly with so many new schools and community groups getting involved for the first time. We are always inspired by the knowledge and creativity shown by the participants in their videos and their passion for science and technology is clear to see. Congratulations to everyone who took part.”

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