Curious Women- the legacy our Irish women of Space left for us
Tue 1 Feb, 19:00 GMT
Dr. Niamh Shaw, writer, space and science communicator has been obsessed with space her whole life but struggled when she was young to find strong female role models in that sector to encourage her to pursue her life goal. Working recently with historian Dr. Angela Byrne she wants to share the stories of four Irish women who have contributed to major astronomical discoveries in the past century, and who blazed their own trail at a time when there was no space for women to be a part of space! Niamh will compare and contrast the lives of these incredible women, their exceptional STEM careers, and how their curiosity united them.
Niamh is one of Ireland’s leading science communicators and STEAM specialists (merging science, technology, engineering, arts and maths), and her contribution to science & its application to Irish life was acknowledged by Uachtaráin na hÉireann, President Michael D. Higgins in 2017. Based at the International Space University in Strasbourg France, she is a leading communicator of space and science activities in Europe. She was artist in residence at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory Cork, and is global faculty at the university. She champions Women in STEM in all her projects and works with the Lottie Doll Company to promote young girls and boys in STEM, bringing ‘Stargazer Lottie’ on all her space adventures.
Niamh is actively pursuing her dream to share the perspective of our planet from space and has been sharing her global space adventures and expeditions since 2014. In this regard, she participated in a zero gravity flight at Star City in Moscow and regularly visits Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan for human launches (most recently for tje launch of European Apace Agency Astronaut, Alexander Gerst). She is an experienced analogue astronaut with over 20 EVA hrs from Mars simulated missions in the Utah desert USA and the Negev desert in the Middle East. Growing up near Faughart Co. Louth, the birthplace of St Brigid, she is proud to have Brigid as her second name.
