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Darwin Day

Annual Humanist Association of Ireland Darwin Day Lecture

Darwin Day Celebration (www.darwinday.org) is an international voluntary movement which, through focussing on the scientific achievements of Charles Darwin and others, serves to improve the public understanding of science and works to bridge the gap between science and society -- in short to help improve science literacy. This Programme encourages interested groups and individuals throughout the world to participate in the annual celebration of Charles Darwin's life and work each February 12th (the day of Darwin's birth).

In February 2003 the HAI with the generous assistance of Nigel Monaghan, Keeper, National History Museum, National Museum of Ireland held a successful Darwin Day Lecture in Collins Barracks. This was the first time that the Day was marked publicly in Ireland.

The February 2004 Darwin Day lecture was given by Professor David McConnell, Department of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin.

In 2005 the speaker was Professor Paul Sharp of Nottingham University whose lecture was entitled 'Darwin, Evolution and the AIDS Virus'.

The 2006 lecture was given by Professor Harvey Whitehouse, professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture, Queen’s University Belfast. Entitled 'Darwin and the Scientific Study of Religion', it was well received by a large appreciative audience.

The 2007 lecture was given by Dr Aileen Foyle of NUI Galway.

The HAI Darwin Day lecture series is made possible by the generous support of the Discover Science and Engineering Programme (Forfás) and Professor David McConnell of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin