Theme: Shaping Our Future

What will shape our futures? “Show me someone who doesn’t dream about the future and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t know where they are going” William Shakespeare

Our Speakers
"The next giant leap for mankind"
Steve Menaa, a French man (originally from Tunisia) who lives in Ireland (Cork). The 45-year-old IT engineer has made a short- list of 1,000 from an original group of more than 200,000 people from 150 countries, who applied to be part of the Mars mission, due to take place by 2025. He is among three Irish people left in the process. As far back as Steve can remember, going to space and exploring other planets has been his biggest dream.

“Too old to work or too young to retire?”
Eve Casey and Cathy Hynes are first year students in Kinsale Community School. Their project “A Study using Statistical Methods of People's Attitudes to the Ageing Workforce of the Future" was the overall group project winner at the 2014 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Despite their young ages, the girls have big plans for the future: Eve, aged 13, would like to be a forensic scientist and Cathy, aged 12 would like to be a futurologist.

“If we could listen to the brains of newborn babies?"
William Hutch is a medical student at University College Cork, Ireland. Will who has a PhD in neuroscience is involved with the Neonatal Brain Research Group (NBRG) at the INFANT centre, Cork University Maternity Hospital.
In his TEDxUCC talk, he reveals for the first time the undiscovered phenomenon of how we can now look at and listen to the brain of a preterm infant using EEG. This may allow doctors to detect the early warning signs of any neurological change in such preterm infants. In a sense, the preterm infant is actually telling us when they are not feeling well.

"Made in Cork- The New Opportunities of 3D Printing"
Paul Lee qualified as an architect from the Dublin Institute of Technology and works in architecture and industrial design. Co-founder of the DesignerDojo movement which teaches kids SketchUp for free, Paul has championed the use of SketchUp in the Irish education system. With appearances on TEDxTallaght, Irish Times Technology Section, and RTÉ (Irish national broadcaster), Paul has brought SketchUp to an extremely broad audience. Paul’s company, Viewsion Virtual Environments brings top level expert training to many areas of industry including Engineering, Architecture, Product/ Mechanical Innovation amongst many others. Paul’s book “Construction Documents using SketchUp Pro” has shown many how to use SketchUp as a fully fledged construction documentation tool as an optional replacement for traditional 2D CAD. Paul runs standard Trimble training sessions as well as 3D printing courses using SketchUp.

'Enhancing Longer Living in Smarter Places'

Andrew Macfarlane: is director of the Centre for Affective Solutions for Ambient Living Awareness (CASALA) at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) in Ireland since its foundation in 2009. Andrew manages the centres industry, research and commercialisation engagements in emerging technologies that enhance the quality of life and well-being of older people and those who care for them. Andrew is also a serial entrepreneur with an extensive background in technology businesses, particularly healthcare software, over the past three decades.

Brookfield Health Sciences Complex
University College Cork
CORK, Munster
Ireland

William Hutch

William Hutch is a final year medical student at University College Cork, Ireland. Will who has a PhD in neuroscience is involved with the Neonatal Brain Research Group (NBRG) at the INFANT centre, Cork University Maternity Hospital.