Science Week is a week-long event in Ireland each November, celebrating science in our everyday lives. Science Week includes a wide variety of events involving industry, colleges, schools, libraries, teachers, researchers and students throughout Ireland.

Kilkenny Science Festival is the regional celebration of national Science Week offering a range of opportunities for the public to engage with STEM. Each year, the festival brings top scientists and science presenters from Ireland and abroad, across Kilkenny city and county!

#ScienceWeek

The 2023 theme ‘Human!’ is weaved throughout the Festival. Local cultural partners such as Butler Gallery and the Medieval Mile Museum will host events on the science related to their current exhibitions. The theme of Health, nutrition and wellbeing, a key component of what it means to be human will see celebrity chef Edward Hayden (a local favourite!) with TV nutritionist Aoife Hearne present a show using local artisan food; while dancer and choreographer Cindy Cummins (former UCD Artist in Residence) will explore how the body can be understood as both medium and text of essential human communication. O’Sullivan’s Brewing Company on John Street will host a pizza and pint night where master brewer will explain the science behind the pint!

Always a festival highlight, the Science Week Family Fun Day features Dr Ken and his Science of the Circus show and festival favourite Caroline Ainslie of Bubbly Maths exploring the science of bubbles in a highly interactive show that kids (and big kids) always enjoy! In collaboration with Kilkenny Library, the science of gardening is promoted with a Grow your Own Spring Bulb campaign, and our ever-popular workshops in Lego building, art, e-textiles, robotics and biodiversity are scheduled across schools, libraries and communities across the county.

This regional festival is coordinated by CALMAST . The national festival is supported by the Science Foundation Ireland.