Ellen Byrne

Co-founder & Creative Director at The Festival of Curiosity

As a science communicator, curator and 'playmaker' I'm driven by the possibilities of developing new work that challenges our perception of science and reignites our curiosity in the world that we live in through the use of technology, visual communication and environmental design. I'm most interested in creating immersive, participatory and playful environments in urban spaces that bring people of all ages together to play, to learn, to share and to create.

I co-founded The Festival of Curiosity (Dublin's first annual festival of science & culture) in 2013 setting out with a vision of a world where every person has the confidence, the courage and the opportunity to be curious, and a mission to create a culture of curiosity in Ireland.

Before that I had the pleasure of working on a varying host of local, national and international science communication initiatives including Dublin City of Science, The Euroscience Open Forum, STEMQuest and Discover Science & Engineering, Science Week Ireland and also co-founded Dublin’s first international Science Hack Day an innovative 36 hour event for scientists, artists, engineers, developers and designers to collaboratively find solutions (hacks) to real-life problems.

Along the way and when and where I can, I like to lend a helping hand to start up community driven events, and also contribute to initiatives and programmes that specifically address issues in Science Communication, Education and Women in Science.