Stars and STEM Stories
GLOBE Ireland Hosts Air Quality Campaign End-of-Year Event to Showcase and Celebrate Student Efforts
On 10 May 2022, GLOBE Ireland hosted a virtual Air Quality Campaign “End-of-Year” event from Dublin, Ireland. More than 200 people attended the event, including primary school student classes, secondary school groups, and teachers. In addition, Dr. Tony Murphy (GLOBE Implementation Office/GIO Director), Andy Fanning (Irish Environmental Protection Agency/EPA Programme Manager), members of the Irish EPA citizen science team, Dana Votapkova and Lenka Kleger (GLOBE Europe and Eurasia Regional Coordination Office), scientists from University College Cork, and Ramona Mercieca (GLOBE Malta Country Coordinator) participated in the event.
“The Irish GLOBE Air Quality Campaign held an end-of-year online event to showcase and celebrate the work of GLOBE students during the school year as part of the GLOBE Air Quality Campaign,” said Aileen Bright, GLOBE Ireland Country Coordinator. “The GLOBE Air Quality Campaign runs twice a year in Ireland, and is based on monitoring nitrogen dioxide, a traffic-related pollutant at schools.”
“Over 300 teachers, representing every county in the Republic of Ireland registered to participate in a GLOBE Air Quality Campaign during the 2021-2022 academic year. Five schools presented their air quality stories during the end-of-year event.”
“We were delighted that GLOBE Malta school, St Michael’s, joined us to share their air quality story. The audience was impressed by the standard of science reporting and the obvious effort and dedication on the part of students and teachers who took part in the air quality campaign,” Aileen Bright said.
“This meeting gave the GLOBE Air Quality Campaign students an opportunity to present their work to a national and international audience. It also provided an opportunity for students to hear from GIO Director Dr. Tony Murphy, as well as from Irish EPA Programme Manager Andy Fanning, who spoke about why the EPA values citizen science and why the GLOBE Air Quality Campaign is important to the EPA.”
“The event also included two keynote speakers, Aine O’Loughlen from Green Schools Travel, who spoke about promoting active travel to improve air quality at and around schools, and Natalie Gravett, a transport planner from ARUP Group Limited (a British multinational professional services firm), who spoke about city planning and air quality.”
“This event promoted the benefits and opportunities for schools around participating in GLOBE. The event also raised awareness around the value of meaningful school-based citizen science data collection and promoted action-based solutions to reducing traffic around schools,” Aileen Bright said.
To view the full video recording of the GLOBE Air Quality event, click here.
This Star Story was submitted by GLOBE Ireland Country Coordinator Aileen Bright