A discussion on the ownership of science will take place later this month to mark Science Week Ireland. Science and the Citizen - a public discussion on science in democracy will be organised by the Irish Science Journalists Association and the science@culture group. The panel will include Dr Emer Colleran, associate professor of microbiology, at NUI, Galway and former chairwoman of An Taisce; Mr Pat Rabbitte, TD, and former minister of state for science and technology; and Dr Mary Henry, medical doctor and independent member of Seanad Eireann.

The discussion will centre on the difficult challenges facing science societies given the strong advances in scientific applications. It will ask who, outside of the core field, has any influence on how these technologies are developed? The panellists and audience will consider whether the public are participants or spectators in the directions which science takes. The event takes place on Thursday, October 29th, at the Dublin Writers' Museum, 18 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.