Embassy forum for 'wild geese' in Washington

A forum is being set up to provide support and networking facilities for Ireland’s scientific community in the US

IRISH SCIENTISTS are building a new bridge between Ireland and North America with the formation of a scientific network. It should bring those “wild geese” researchers who are now based abroad that little bit closer to home.

The Wild Geese Network of Irish Scientists in North America will promote links between Irish scientists working abroad and those in Ireland, explains the Network’s president, Prof Nicholas Farrell. “We want to emphasise the significance of Irish scientists abroad, emphasise their successes and build collaborations between Irish and American-based scientists,” he says.

The Wild Geese Network was announced this week in Washington DC in the margins of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting. The reception was organised by the Irish Embassy and was attended by the Government’s chief science adviser, by the head of the Marine Institute and by representatives of other government agencies.

The Irish Ambassador to the US, Michael Collins (pictured), commented directly on the move, indicating that the network had the Embassy’s and the Government’s full support. He described it as “a great idea”, and added: “We support it 100 per cent. The Irish Government very much supports network building.”

The goal is to spread the idea to Irish scientists in the US and Canada, and then link people up in a wider network. The organisation would hope to have a substantial membership and be working on scientific collaborations by the time Dublin becomes the European City of Science and host of the EuroScience Open Forum science meeting in 2012.

“We will build up membership and link in to other networks doing similar things. We want to see how we can contribute to 2012,” says Farrell, who is professor of chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University and currently seconded to the US Department of State.

The network was formed very quickly after conversations between Irish scientists based in the US and Embassy official Cathy O’Connor. The Embassy then facilitated the formation of the group and assisted with the launch this week.

The network will provide information and support for Irish scientists working or studying in the US. It will also foster and strengthen links between scientists on both sides of the Atlantic.

“We can also act as mentors to bring in Irish graduates,” states one of the founding committee members, Dr Gwen Murphy, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Washington DC. “We have 40 names already and we want to extend this in the run up to the 2012 City of Science.”

It will be much be a person-to-person and personalised exchange, says another founder, Prof David Loane, assistant professor at the University of Maryland. “It is important to emphasise it is a human network.”

The network will “connect the human resource that is the Irish scientific diaspora in North America”, Farrell says.

The network is up and running and actively seeking new members. A website is planned, but in the meantime the Wild Geese Network can be reached by e-mailing wildgeesenetwork@gmail. com or by going to its Linkedin connection by searching the internet for Wild Geese Network of Irish Scientists in North America.