5th and 6th classes from St Mary's were fortunate to join classes from Our Lady of Mercy convent school last Friday morning during a visit by Professor Aoife McLysaght. Aoife is an Irish geneticist working at Trinity College Dublin who attended OLOM as a girl. In March this year, along with Jocelyn Bell Burnell, she featured on an Irish postage stamp recognising Women in STEM.
Aoife spoke to the pupils about her work and how she developed an interest in science in an early age at school. She advised pupils to follow their interests and explained how they will find study and work even easier when they are interested in what they are studying! Aoife works in the area of evolutionary genetics, which explores how creatures' genetics helped them survive periods of environmental distress. We heard some detailed description of worms on agar plates, which sparked plenty of curiosity among the pupils and teachers alike.