Science on Screen

Science on Screen Programme


CÚRAM and Galway Film Centre together run a partnership project called ‘Science on Screen’  which aims to facilitate, promote and increase the inclusion of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) content in Irish film and TV production. In 2017 the partnership  continues with CÚRAM funding one documentary and providing access to leading scientists and laboratories within CÚRAM, to explore methods of scientific ‘story telling’ and to produce a short film that incorporate aspects of current research being carried out by CÚRAM and its academic partners.

2017 Project:
The Science on Screen project  funded one 26 minute science film with a budget of  €35,000.00  in 2017. This TV half hour programme/short film is based around an area of research currently underway in CÚRAM. 

Bittersweet – The Rise of Diabetes is a half-hour documentary directed by Hugh Rodgers and produced by both Anna Rodgers and Zlata Filipovic of Invisible Thread Films. The film captures the health system’s fight to treat the rising number of diabetic patients, and warns against this troubling epidemic facing our population. It follows the personal stories of young people who are living with diabetes and their daily struggle to manage it. Over the course of the documentary, we also discover ground-breaking research and development in pharmacology and biomedical science, capturing the important work of CÚRAM’s Professor David Brayden and his team at UCD’s Veterinary Hospital, where they are developing new ways of delivering insulin to the body.

Bittersweet – the Rise of Diabetes, will premiere during Science Week on November 25th, at An Taibhdhearc Theatre in Galway, as part of the Galway Science and Technology Festival 2017. You can book your tickets to this free event at https://science-on-screen-2017.eventbrite.ie.

The two documentaries produced through CÚRAM’s Science on Screen initiative in 2016 in collaboration with Galway Film Centre continue to be in demand with both films selected for screening at National and International Film Festivals this year and broadcast by both TG4 and RTÉ.  'Feats of Modest Valour' recently scooped the Scientist Prize, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the Imagine Science Film Festival in New York.
Trailers for “Feats of Modest Valour” and “Mending Legends” which incorporate the research and researchers involved in two major EU research projects being coordinated by CÚRAM can be viewed at the following links: