Public speaking · 2021 – 2026
Conferences · Festivals · Societies · Tours
Five years of talking about the Sun and the stars — at international symposia, at astronomical societies, on the lawn at Birr Castle, and in the theatre at the Royal Institution.
Disc scales with visits
01 / The practice
Science communication ran alongside the whole of my PhD and has continued past it. I have presented at professional conferences, delivered invited seminars, and given talks to astronomical societies, university societies and school groups — and spent three years guiding visitors around Birr Castle Demesne, where the story runs from the 19th-century Leviathan of Parsonstown to the I-LOFAR radio telescope operating on the same grounds today.
Those audiences want different things. A symposium wants the method and the error bars; a society wants the result and why it matters; a family at a public viewing wants to know what they are looking at. I have done enough of all three to judge which one I am in front of.
Audience Vote Award, Institute of Physics Three Minute Wonder UK & Ireland Final, the Royal Institution, London — chosen by the public in the room.
Rosse Medal for best postgraduate presentation, Institute of Physics Ireland Spring Conference.
Peter Curran Award for best postgraduate presentation, Irish National Astronomy Meeting.
02 / Selected
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
Ireland’s partial solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 brought roughly 250 people onto the lawn at Birr. I ran the viewing across the morning: filtered telescopes on the Sun, an explanation of the geometry overhead, and questions throughout.
It is the largest audience I have spoken to. Very few had come as astronomers.
Companion The eclipse, mapped and explainedPeople on the lawn across the morning.
Lowell Observatory group · Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
A visiting group from Lowell Observatory in Arizona, taken from one end of Birr’s astronomical history to the other: the 72-inch Leviathan, the largest telescope in the world for most of the 19th century, and the I-LOFAR station on the same estate, part of a radio array spread across Europe.
A well-informed audience, and a technical set of questions to match.
The Royal Institution, London, UK
Having won the Rosse Medal at the IOP Ireland Spring Conference in March, I qualified for the UK and Ireland final of Three Minute Wonder: one research topic presented to a general audience in three minutes, with a single slide and the option of props.
The final was held in the historic theatre at the Royal Institution. Eight finalists presented to a full auditorium.
Members of the public in the room, whose vote decided the Audience Vote Award.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
Science communicator and novelist Hank Green stopped at Birr during a visit to Ireland, having previously made a video about the Leviathan of Parsonstown. I gave him and his family a private tour of the telescope and the history around it.
Kraków, Poland
Five days on solar and stellar coronal mass ejections, with over 150 attendees. I presented my work on a solar flare and the shockwave that followed it, and had excellent discussions with leaders in solar physics and space weather across the week.
The Chestnut, Birr, Ireland
Pint of Science puts local research in front of a local audience in a pub. I organised the Birr event and recruited three speakers, covering black holes, radio astronomy, coffee as a treatment for dementia, and local ecology and biodiversity. I hosted the evening, introducing each speaker and running a quiz written from their talks.
It reaches people who would not attend a more formal science event, which is the point of it.
03 / The record
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
A visiting group from Lowell Observatory, Arizona, walked from the 72-inch Leviathan to the I-LOFAR station on the same estate.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
Around 250 people on the lawn for Ireland’s 12 August partial eclipse, with filtered telescopes and an explanation of the geometry. The eclipse, mapped.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
A second visit for the society, covering the history of astronomy at Birr and I-LOFAR’s place in a Europe-wide array.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
The history of astronomy at Birr, with I-LOFAR discussed in detail alongside its national and international collaborations.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
School group from the LFI in Dublin, taken from the Leviathan through to I-LOFAR.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
A public morning viewing of the 29 March partial eclipse, included in general admission to the demesne.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
A private tour of the Leviathan for the science communicator and novelist, and his family.
Birr Castle Demesne, Ireland
Two guided tours across Birr’s astronomical heritage: the engineering of the 19th-century Leviathan, and the research running at I-LOFAR today.
Kraków, Poland
Poster presentation on a solar flare and its corresponding shockwave, across a five-day symposium of over 150 attendees.
The Chestnut, Birr, Ireland
Organised and hosted the Birr event: three speakers, introductions, and a quiz written from their talks.
The Royal Institution, London, UK
One of eight UK and Ireland finalists presenting to a full auditorium in three minutes, with one slide.
Audience Vote AwardDublin, Ireland
The annual gathering of the Irish physics community, marking 60 years of the IOP Ireland Committee, and host to the Rosse Medal competition.
Rosse MedalArmagh Observatory & Planetarium, Northern Ireland
Cork, Ireland
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Sofia, Bulgaria
University College Dublin, Ireland
Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
I-LOFAR, Birr, Ireland
I-LOFAR, Birr, Ireland
Galway Astronomical Society, Galway, Ireland
Massachusetts, USA
Invited by the TESS Science Director to present in the contributed exoplanet science session. Recording on YouTube.
Dublin, Ireland
DIAS Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, Ireland
Peter Curran AwardPierre Baudis Conference Centre, Toulouse, France
Presented my research on stellar flares in the solar and stellar coronal mass ejections session, and took questions from the floor.
I-LOFAR, Birr, Ireland
I-LOFAR, Birr, Ireland
I-LOFAR, Birr, Ireland
“The Universe at Radio Wavelengths”.
University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Online · Australia & South Africa
04 / Get in touch
I welcome speaking invitations, particularly for science festivals, open days, societies and schools. Get in touch with the details and I will come back to you.
Dublin • Ireland — and happy to travel