Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) is an Irish Government initiative that aims to increase interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among students, teachers and members of the public in Ireland. [1] [2]
DSE’s mission is to contribute to Ireland's continued growth and development as a society that has an active and informed interest and involvement in science, engineering and technology. [3]
Overall DSE objectives are to increase the numbers of students studying the physical sciences, promote a positive attitude to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to foster a greater understanding of science and its value to Irish society. [4] [5]
In September 2009, Discover Science & Engineering launched a redeveloped corporate website built on the open source CMS, WordPress.
DSE runs numerous initiatives, including:
Dublin City University is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin in 1975, it enrolled its first students in 1980, and was elevated to university status in September 1989 by statute.
The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) is the UK's chartered professional body for mathematicians and one of the UK's learned societies for mathematics.
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
Forfás was the national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation in Ireland. The agency was established in January 1994 under the Industrial Development Act, 1993 and was run by a board appointed by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to whom the agency was responsible. Forfás was dissolved on 1 August 2014 and its functions were transferred to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Enterprise Ireland, the Industrial Development Authority and the Health and Safety Authority.
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is the statutory body in the Republic of Ireland with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with a strategic focus. The agency was established in 2003 under the Industrial Development Act 2003 and is run by a board appointed by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. SFI is an agency of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) is an academic preparation program for pre-college, community college and university-level students. Established in 1970 in California, the program provides academic support to students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds throughout the education pathway so they will excel in math and science and ultimately attain four-year degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields. The program has successfully been replicated in over a dozen other states.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a broad term used to group together these academic disciplines. This term is typically used to address an education policy or curriculum choices in schools. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns and immigration policy. The science in STEM typically refers to two out of the three major branches of science: natural sciences, including biology, physics, and chemistry; and formal sciences, of which mathematics is an example, along with logic and statistics. The third major branch of science, social science such as: psychology, sociology, and political science, are categorized separately from the other two branches of science, and are instead grouped together with humanities and arts to form another counterpart acronym named HASS, rebranded in the UK in 2020 as SHAPE.
Science Week refers to series of science-related events for the general public which are held in a specific countries during a designated week of the year. The aim of such science weeks is to engage and inspire people of all ages with science, engineering and technology.
Science Week Ireland is an annual week-long event in Ireland each November, celebrating science in our everyday lives. Science Week is an initiative of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) It is the largest science festival in the country, engaging tens of thousands of members of the general public in workshops, science shows, talks, laboratory demonstrations, science walks and other science-related events. Science Week is a collaboration of events involving industry, colleges, schools, libraries, teachers, researchers and students throughout Ireland.
Discover Primary Science is a flagship project of the Irish Government’s Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) awareness programme.
The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act of 2007 or America COMPETES Act was authored by Bart Gordon and signed by President George W. Bush; it became law on 9 August 2007. This was an Act, "To invest in innovation through research and development, and to improve the competitiveness of the United States."
The Science.ie portal provides all sorts of information about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Greenwave is a mass science experiment involving primary schools across Ireland. It examines and records how spring arrives in Ireland. This is an educational and science initiative of the Irish Government’s Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) awareness programme.
Project Blogger is an educational initiative in Ireland by Discover Science & Engineering (DSE). It provides blogging tools and an online space for secondary school students and their teachers to create blogs about their school science experiments and science interests.
The My Science Career website is an Irish online resource for career information in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The STEM Education Act of 2014 is a bill that would add computer science to the definition of STEM fields used by the United States federal government in determining grants and education funding. It would open up some training programs to teachers pursuing their master's degrees, not just teachers who had already earned one.
The STEM pipeline is the educational pathway for students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The start and end of this STEM pipeline are disputed, but it is often considered to begin in early education and extend into graduation or an adult career in STEM.
Stemettes is a social enterprise which encourages girls aged 5–22 to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Stemettes runs panel events, hackathons, the Student to Stemette mentoring programme supported by Deutsche Bank, Outbox Incubator and an app, OtotheB, an online platform for girls interested in STEM and entrepreneurship.
Technological University Dublin or TU Dublin is Ireland's first technological university, established on 1 January 2019, and with a history stretching back to 1887 through the amalgamated Dublin Institute of Technology which progressed from the first technical education institution in Ireland, the City of Dublin Technical Schools. It is the second-largest third-level institution in Ireland, with a student population of 28,500.
Maths Week Ireland (MWI) is an all-island mathematics outreach initiative founded in 2006 by Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan, based on an idea by Eoin Gill. It is a project of the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (CALMAST) the STEM outreach centre at Waterford Institute of Technology. It is run by Gill and Donegan who are the directors of CALMAST. In 2019 MWI engaged over 400,000 people on an island with a population of under 7 million and is arguably the world's largest mathematics festival.