The I’m a Scientist project is part-funded by Science Foundation Ireland. That means we still need to find the other part of the funding. The Wellcome Trust, Royal Society of Chemistry and European Society of Evolutionary Biology have contributed, but this year we are asking Irish industry and scientists to contribute as well.

Starting on Monday 15th September at 11am and lasting for two weeks we’ll be asking for funding contributions towards a Food Zone and a Pharmaceutical Zone. If we can get to €3,000 then we’ll run that zone. it is easy to contribute and every donor gets some reward (and what a reward a thank you on this site is worth…) – click on the images to go straight to its FUNDIT page.

We don’t know if this approach is going to work, but we do need to find a way of spreading the cost of running the event. Approaching large companies with a funding proposal is a time-consuming and generally fruitless exercise which in itself is costly. We think this method will give companies a chance to help without getting formally involved. We mainly need to let them know that they have that opportunity. Please do spread the word.

Finally big thanks are due to Shane McGuinness (Food) and Jean Bourke (Pharmaceutical), previous participants in the project, who are championing the zones.