More than 22,000 people attended last Sunday’s Galway Science and Technology Festival exhibition in the University of Galway – breaking all previous records.

Celebrating 25 years of STEM Education, the exhibition was the opening event for the two week annual Galway Science and Technology Festival, which is the largest event of its kind in Europe. It showcases Galway as the MedTech capital of Europe and a growing IT Hub, bringing science and technology to over 35,000 students in schools across Galway city and county. This year there will be over 200 STEM demonstrations, shows and workshops in 140 primary schools and 40 post-primary schools.

The exhibition was a hive of activity with 25 shows and hands-on workshops and over 80 demonstrations and interactive exhibitions created by sponsor companies and agencies, universities and schools. Families enjoyed 3D astronomy shows and learned how to extract DNA from a banana , saw parasites in VR, drove Valeos self-driving car using a mobile phone, visited the Teddy Bear hospital and the ever popular Doctor Bug introduced tarantulas, snakes and lizards to very excited children and much, much more. Medtronic’s Junior Hospital team engaged with families at their fantastic interactive series of stands in the Human Biology Building. Sue McGrath entertained with the Devastatingly Dramatic Climate Show and new to the Festival is Braintastic with their Non-Sense show exploring our senses.

The 2022 Galway Science & Technology Person of the Year Award was presented to Dr Enda O’Connell, Senior Technical Officer at University of Galway and Founding Director of ReelLIFE Science, a science video competition for schools and youth organisations in Ireland and N. Ireland, celebrating its tenth year, the competition encourages young people to engage with STEM, while developing their creativity and communication skills.

To mark the 25th year of the Festival, a special presentation was made to the Treacy Family in commemoration of the late Noel Treacy, Founding Patron of the Galway Science & Technology Festival.  Mr Treacy continued to be a strong advocate for the Festival over the 25 years and his presence was greatly missed this year.

Anne Murray, Festival Manager said: “We were delighted to be back on campus at the University of Galway to celebrate and learn about the world around us.  The attendance on the day reflected the value that families and the public place on this unique event and we were so glad to be able to honour the memory of the late Noel Treacy who always said it started with an idea”.