Science and Stormont 2014
The ornate surroundings of the Senate Chamber of Northern Ireland’s Parliament Buildings at Stormont once more played host to the third of our aptly-named Science and Stormont events.
Alongside the regular All-Party Group on Science and Technology meetings and seminars that we organise throughout the year, Science and Stormont aims to develop closer links between the scientific community in Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive.
This year’s event focused on science education and our chief executive, Dr Robert Parker, opened the event by outlining the topic’s importance to the Royal Society of Chemistry.
He said: “We value science education because the students of today are the professionals of tomorrow. They are our doctors, our scientists, our inventors, our entrepreneurs and our politicians in the future.
“We are committed to achieving excellence in our country’s education system, and we believe that every student should have access to a high quality chemistry education that is engaging, inspiring and relevant.
“We have seen that it is essential to capture the scientific interest of the young because attitudes to science become fixed before secondary school.
“This is why we are calling for every primary school in Northern Ireland to be equipped with at least one science specialist teacher by 2020.”
Science and Stormont was once more organised in cooperation with a number of sister societies and professional bodies, including the:
- Institute of Physics
- Society of Biology
- Campaign for Science and Engineering
- Society for General Microbiology
- The Institution of Civil Engineers
- Geological Society
- The Royal Society
- The Royal Irish Academy
- The Royal Astronomical Society
One of our partners in organising the event was Mike Young, until recently Director of Geological Survey Northern Ireland, who is a Council Member of the Geological Society and its representative on both our NI All-Party Group and the Learned Societies and Professional Bodies Forum.
Mike said: “I am delighted that the Royal Society of Chemistry hosted its Science and Stormont for the third successive year.
“It demonstrates the continued strength of our scientific community and I welcome having the opportunity to showcase that strength to our political decision-makers.
“Focusing the event on education this year really emphasises the importance of science to our children’s future and the prosperity of our economy.”
