SFI Ureka Site Symposium

The DIT SFI Ureka Site, Feature, which ran from 20th June to 9th August culminated in the two day symposium held in the seminar room of the Focas Institute, on the 5th and 6th of September.

The SFI Ureka Sites are aimed at providing the opportunity for undergraduate students to experience the research environment in a “fun and engaging way”. They are furthermore aimed at generating a cohort of highly skilled graduates as potential candidates for postgraduate studies.

The students are assigned a project associated with a research group in addition to laboratory work, undergo training is support skills such as report writing, presentation skills and 1st aid.
The site furthermore ran a series of topical presentations on issues such as Ethics and science and Gender issues in science.

The DIT site, FEATURE was based in the Focas Institute, and had 16 students associated with the research activities. The students were drawn from a range of disciplines and courses, 8 from the DIT, 4 from other institutions nationally, and 4 internationally.
As a culmination of the experience, each student presented their project in a 20 minute presentation.

The symposium was opened by Dr Ruth McCaffrey, SFI Ureka Co-ordinator, and guest speakers included Dr William Gallager, UCD who spoke on “Proteomic investigations via SELDI-MS Technology”, Dr Michael Devereux, who spoke on “Novel inorganic materials for cancer treatment” and Dr Judy Harmey, RCSI who spoke on “Tumour Angiogenesis as a Therapeutic Target”.

The event was a resounding success and all guest personnel spoke very complimentarily on the quality of the student presentations and the associated research.