2013 Press Releases
Debating Science Issues at UCC
Sacred Heart Secondary School, Clonakilty have prevailed against McEgan College, Macroom to secure the coveted position of Munster Champions in the Debating Science Issues (DSI) competition.
Hosted at UCC, the secondary schools science debating competition saw both teams tackling the challenging debate motion, “Nanotechnology has significantly contributed to our well-being and environmental sustainability”, with gusto. The panel of distinguished judges included Professor William Reville, UCC, Ms Anna Iwaszuk from Tyndall National Institute and Mr Ray McArdle, Sales Engineer Manager at TrendMicro, a global leader in cloud security.
The well-prepared team from Sacred Heart Clonakilty, comprising Heather Burke and Maeve Murphy, and supported by their teacher Ms Sheila Gilbert, proved to have the most persuasive argument on the day. Heather remarked: “DSI has made me question things that I might have just accepted before.”
Heather and Maeve will travel to the All-Ireland semi-finals, which will take place in the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland in Dublin on 22nd February 2013.
Now in its 6th year, the all-island DSI competition encourages young people to engage in debate on the cultural, societal and ethical implications of advances in biomedical science. DSI is co-ordinated by nine Medical and Science Research Centres in Ireland. In Munster, debates are co-ordinated by the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) at UCC and Cork Institute of Technology.
Schools in Munster taking part in DSI 2013 initially received three-hour workshops to facilitate a discussion forum on the ethical issues raised by either Genetically Modified Food (delivered by the APC) or Self-Testing (delivered by CIT). School teams then debated a motion related to the initial workshops in the regional heats. From there, the debating motions were circulated so that students could debate on an array of controversial topical issues including stem cell research, genetically modified food, health and self-testing, nanotechnology, vaccination, health care funding and organ transplantation lists.
Both Munster and Clonakilty have impressive records in the DSI competition, with students from Clonakilty Community College winning the all-Ireland final in 2012 (other Cork winners have included Ballincollig Community School and St Mary’s, Macroom).
For further information see www.debatingscienceissues.com, or contact Dr Catherine Buckley, Communications and Outreach Manager, Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, UCC on Tel 021 4903362 or c.buckley@ucc.ie