Outreach and Engagement

I love engaging with the public, and participate in a wide range of outreach events. These include ‘Star Gazing Live’ events, public talks, hands-on activities for children and interactive ‘SN Discovery’ sessions. I have been fortunate enough to be a Soapbox Science speaker twice – at Brighton in 2018 and in Belfast during 2024.

I currently offer the following public talks / activities:

• “How many ways to make a star explode?” – 30 minute public talk covering the general aspects of supernovae. Content is adaptable for a wide range of audiences (suitable for ages 10 – 100+)
• “Do stars hiccup?” – 30 minute talk exploring what happens to the biggest stars in the Universe (suitable for ages 10 – 18+)
• “Burping black holes” – 30 minute talk exploring black holes and how they eat (suitable for ages 10 – 18+)
• “Supernova LIVE!” – interactive session where you can find a real supernova! (suitable for ages 15+)
• “What was that?! Oddities of the Universe” – adaptable 30-45 minute talk covering the most unusual transient phenomena in the Universe! Aimed for those with some base astronomy knowledge, e.g. astronomical societies or those with a general interest (suitable for ages 18+)

Mobile Planetarium

I am working closely with the Irish Astronomical Association (IAA) to develop a series of collaborative public engagement events in Northern Ireland, bringing together amateur and professional astronomers to make astronomy accessible for everyone!

Part of this includes a shows with an 5m inflatable planetarium. Shows are currently available to schools and for public events upon request, please contact me for further details.