Sir, – It is with great sadness that I read Trinity College’s Science Gallery is to close in February 2022. Since opening in 2008 it has engaged the Irish public on scientific issues in sophisticated ways that involve the arts.
While our thoughts are with those losing their jobs as a result of this announcement, there will be impacts on students, too. Over the years, thousands of students from Trinity have worked at the Science Gallery as “mediators” – a role that involved talking to the gallery’s visitors about various scientific issues. The impacts on their education cannot be understated.
Dublin’s Science Gallery has been replicated in numerous cities around the world. Its unique model of public engagement is seen as a godsend to universities that often struggle to connect with the public that fund them.
There is a deep irony that the Covid pandemic may have contributed to the gallery’s closure.
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How are we, as a society, to make sense of socio-scientific issues, such as pandemics, climate change or energy needs, without publicly-funded institutions like the Science Gallery?
One would hope a way can be found to save the gallery.
– Yours, etc,
Dr SHANE BERGIN,
School of Education UCD,
Chairperson of Science
Gallery Leonardo group.