The Science SPIN Team

Wendy Baarda - Contributor

Wendy Baarda from Yuendumu, Central Australia, majored in psychology and after studying for a masters in education spent 39 years working in an Aboriginal community

Danielle Barron - Contributor - Journalist

Email: danielle.barron3@gmail.com

Danielle is a pharmacology graduate and also holds an MSc in Science Communication from DCU. She works for the Irish Medical News, and works on a freelance basis for The Irish Times and other publications, including Science Spin.

Chris Coughlan - Contributor

Lisa Duffy -

Lisa Duffy is a student at Castleblayney College in Co Monaghan. She won the annual REMEDI science essay competition for schools, 2010, with her essay considering, Who owns your DNA?

Sean Duke - Joint Editor

Email: sean@sciencespin.com

Seán is Joint Editor and Co-Founder of Science Spin. He has a BSc from UCD ('87), BA from TCD ('91), and an MA in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting at New York University ('93). He also has a Higher Diploma in Education from UCD ('96).

In 2003, Seán set up Science Spin, Ireland's first popular science magazine, along with two journalist colleagues, Tom Kennedy and Mary Sweetman. The idea was to cover science in an informative, entertaining and exciting manner.

Seán worked as a Biology teacher for two years, from 1994 to 1996 at Scoil Dara in Kilcock. From 1996 to 1998 Seán took a break from teaching to work as a freelance journalist, and in 1998 he decided to move into journalism full-time.

His first full-time job in journalism was at Kildare's Liffey Champion, where he initiated this local newspaper's science coverage, reporting on research developments at the nearby NUI Maynooth.

In 2000 he moved on to Technology Ireland, the flagship publication of Enterprise Ireland, where he worked first as joint editor, and later as editor. In 2005, he left this publication to concentrate on an editing and strategic decision making role at Science Spin.

From 2008, Seán has had a regular science slot on Ireland AM, TV3's Breakfast Show. Starting in October '09, Seán will present a new science programme for radio, called Science Spin, which will be broadcast weekly on 103.2 Dublin City FM.

In addition, Seán continues to contribute on a freelance basis to leading publications such as Science (AAAS), The Scientist, and The Sunday Times (Irish Edition).

A collection of Seán's work is available on his blog, Science Spinning.

 

 

 

 

John Feehan - Contributor

Dr John Feehan is a senior lecturer in the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science. His research interests are: Agricultural management systems which sustain biodiversity and the cultural diversity of the rural landscape; the ecological rehabilitation of cutaway bogs; hygrocybe grasslands as indicators of old species-diverse grasslands; Irish environmental history and paleobotany; and the development of environmental resources for rural tourism.

Antoinette Fennell - Contributor

Antoinette has a B.Sc. in Zoology and a PhD in Behaviour, Endocrinology and Immunology. She has held the position of Human Factors Scientist in the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) in London since May 2005.

Enda Gallagher - Contributor

Enda is a Marketing Executive with the Geological Survey of Ireland

Eoin Gill - Contributor

Eoin is an engineering lecturer at Waterford Institute of Technology, and co-manages CALMAST, the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths Science and Technology with Sheila Donegan at WIT. Eoin and Sheila were winners of the EU Descartes Award for Science Communication (2006) for popularising science through the written word. Eoin and Shiela also won the first ever national Science, Engineering and Technology Awareness Award from the professional body Engineers Ireland.

Olive Heffernan - Contributor

Email: olive.heffernan@imarest.org

Dr Olive Heffernan, holds a doctorate in Zoology from University College Dublin. After completion of her studies Olive became interested in science writing and worked for Dublin-based ECOServe, an environmental consultancy company. She began freelance writing for Science Spin at the same time. An opportunity then came up to move to London, and take up the post of Associate Editor of a new magazine, the Marine Scientist. From there, Olive moved to Nature, where she now works in the news department as its climate change editor.

Michael Keeney - Contributor

Michael is a Phd student at NUI Galway working in the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science

Mossy Kelly - Contributor

Mossy is a DCU undergraduate physics student

Cornelie Kennedy - Contributor - Veterinary

Cornelie is a veterinary surgeon and works in a mixed animal practice in Naas, County Kildare

Tom Kennedy - Joint Editor

Email: tom@sciencespin.com

Tom is one of the pioneers of science writing in Ireland, and has been writing about science for publications in Ireland and abroad since the early 1980s - a time when science had a very low profile and it was difficult to get popular science stories published. One time secretary of the Biological Society at UCD, Tom is a true all rounder, having worked in the film industry and as a press photographer before concentrating on science journalism. Tom brings a wealth of experience to Science Spin, which he co-founded three years ago.

Anthony King - Contributor

Email: anthonyjking@gmail.com

Anthony did an undergraduate degree in natural science at TCD, with moderatorship in Botany. Since college he has worked with the HW Wilson publishing company in Dublin, and is now editor of the General Science Index there. He has recently completed a MSc in science communication at DCU.

Shane Leavy - Contributor

Email: shane.leavy2@mail.dcu.ie

A graduate of the DCU journalism programme where he obtained a first class honours degree. Has recently started freelance science writing and is also interested in creative writing. His final year project at DCU entitled 'Two Dragons Entering into the Sea: A Radio Documentary on Falun Gong' (44 minutes) won an RTÉ prize for outstanding undergraduate broadcast journalism.

Shannon Lim - Contributor - Student

Secondary school student from Carrick-on-Shannon and the winner in the 14 to 16 year old fiction category of the RDS Young Science Writers Competition

Paul Lyle - Contributor

Paul Lyle is a geologist and chairman of the Earth Science group, ES2k.

Tony McGennis - Contributor - Teacher

Email: tonymcg@gmail.com

Tony has a B.Sc. and H.Dip in teaching from UCD. He is a full-time teacher of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics and Chemistry at St Laurence College Loughlinstown, County Dublin, as well as being a regular contributor to Science Spin, and a number of regional newspapers.

John Moore - Contributor

John is a science writer based in Cork with a particular interest in astronomy.

Christopher Moriarty - Fisheries Scientist - Writer

Christopher is a Fisheries Scientist and a writer

Marie-Catherine Mousseau - Contributor

Email: conastatu@eircom.net

Marie-Catherine Mousseau is acting editor of MIMS Ireland whilst working as a science freelance journalist part-time. She completed a PhD in neuroscience in Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris, and more recently a MSc in Science Communication in DCU/Queens Belfast.

Claire O Connell - Contributor

Email: news@sciencespin.com

Claire O’Connell has a doctorate in biology from UCD and is a science writer.

Sean O Leary - Contributor

Sean is Deputy National Co-ordinator, Special Education Support Service, and a teacher at St. Caimin's Community School, Shannon

Clodagh O'Brien - Contributor

Clodagh is a science writer, and a former winner of the Daily Telegraph and Bayer Science Writer Awards (2002)

George Winter - Contributor

Geoff Wright - Contributor

Geologist with the Geological Survey of Ireland