30 Years of Science Week Ireland: Then. Today. Tomorrow
Science Week in Ireland marks its 30th anniversary in 2025. Three decades of families, schools and communities coming together to explore, question and enjoy science in everyday life. That alone says something important. Curiosity never goes out of style. It only grows when we create space for it. 30 Years of Science Week Ireland: Then. Today. Tomorrow.
Ireland is unusual in having a truly national science week. Many countries host city-based or university-led events, but Ireland coordinates its celebrations across the whole country. This national approach has helped normalise science as part of cultural life rather than something reserved for laboratories or specialists.
The strength of Science Week Ireland has always been in the people who carry it. Teachers who rearrange their classroom to make room for experiments. Library teams who host family workshops. Volunteers who set up chairs, tables and trays for curious hands. They are the quiet engine of this celebration. Their consistency has allowed Science Week to grow, evolve and become something recognised and loved.
This year’s theme, Then. Today. Tomorrow., asks us to look at how science shapes our lives across time. What we have learned. What we are improving. What we still need to understand. It encourages long-term thinking: how curiosity today becomes innovation tomorrow.
That belief is also at the heart of Junior Einsteins Science Club in Ireland. Founded in Ireland by a scientist and mum who wanted science to feel joyful and accessible, the idea began in local school halls and community centres. Children wore lab coats, goggles and pride as they mixed, investigated and discovered. Word spread because the feeling was real. Today, Junior Einsteins supports communities not only across Ireland, but also the UK, Canada and the Middle East. The model is simple: train local educators and school teams to deliver high-quality, hands-on science that belongs to their community, not flown in for a single day.
This approach has helped shape a network where children at Junior Einsteins Science Club events in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Birmingham, Toronto, Quatar, can all experience that same spark of curiosity, grounded in their own local identity and culture.
Throughout November, Junior Einsteins Science Week events continue across Ireland. There are workshops, festivals, shows, after-school clubs, commi=unity events, science parties and kids one-day STEM camps quiet moments of wonder and loud bursts of excitement. The programme has something for everyone, because science genuinely is for everyone.
The important question is what happens after the week ends. Do children still feel invited into science? Do they still feel it belongs to them?
If we keep bringing science into schools, homes and community spaces, curiosity will continue to grow. If we make room for experiments, discovery and play, children ( our ‘Junior Einsteins’ !) will continue to ask questions that shape tomorrow at Junior Einsteins Science Club in Science Week Ireland
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