‘Science on Screen’ funding available for creative science documentaries
Information day to take place on Wednesday 26th February 2020, Galway
Science on Screen, run by CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices at NUI Galway and Galway Film Centre are once again offering funding to filmmakers interested in producing a short scientific documentary focused on cancer research.
Collaborating with the scheme this year are Precision Oncology Ireland (POI), a consortium aiming to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics for personalised cancer treatment, and the Patient Voice in Cancer Research, with financial supportthrough the Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund at UCD and other philanthropic funds.
Precision (or ‘personalised’) medicine uses data about a person’s genes (genomics), along with additional information on their cancer, to understand the unique pathways of a disease or treatment response in that person. With this new science, doctors can prescribe the right treatment in a timely fashion, saving the wasted resources and time our current ‘trial and error’ method incurs, while greatly improving response rates.
The ‘Science on Screen’ scheme, a funding strand for creative documentaries set in the world of science, is now in its fifth year. The scheme will fund one 26-minute film with a budget of €35,000 that promotes the public understanding of science. The scheme forms part of CÚRAM’s public engagement programme which supports the Science Foundation Ireland objective of having the most scientifically informed and engaged public.
The Science on Screen Information Day will take place on Wednesday 26th February 2020 from 10.30am-1.30pm, in Galway City for filmmakers and producers. Both researchers and patients will give an overview of their research and involvement, followed by a Q&A and opportunities to discuss ideas with the speakers. Please register here.
Speakers on the day will include Prof Walter Kolch, Director at POI; Dr Roisin Dwyer, NUI Galway and POI Investigator; Prof Maeve Lowery, Trinity College Dublin and POI Investigator; Prof William Gallagher, Deputy Director at POI; and Prof Amanda McCann, Chair of The Patient Voice in Cancer Research.
For interested filmmakers, a limited number of places will also be made available to attend a separate event the evening before the Information Day, the ‘Patient Voice in Cancer Research’ Dragons Den workshop on Tuesday, 25th February from 4pm-7pm, which is being held in the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill. For more information on this separate event, please contact Claire Riordan at CÚRAM.
Science on Screen is a Galway City of Film initiative between Galway Film Centre and CÚRAM. Since 2016, five Science on Screen films have been produced. All have been broadcast on RTE and or TG4, screened at numerous international film festivals and scooped six international awards. The documentaries are used throughout the country at schools, for community screenings as well as at academic conferences and have reached an audience of over a million people to date.