Baking in Space: Online Family Event 8 Nov 2020
The sell-out show of Science Week Ireland 2019 and 2018 returns, combining science and baking for a fun family event you can experience from your own home!
Space champion, Dr. Niamh Shaw, Great British Bake-Off finalist, Andrew Smyth, along with special guests will bring you on a journey from Earth to the Moon and back, with demos and bakes directly to your kitchens!
Join them as they 'Bake to the Future'!
How will we live in the future?
What will we eat?
Will we run out of flour again?
Lifting off from Earth and headed for the Moon, ‘Baking in Space – Bake to the Future' explores our planet in lockdown, how we have learned to adapt and the parallels between living in space and living during COVID. Packed with live demos, baking, space, scientists, engineering (aerospace/food), psychology and activities for families to do at home, we look to a Future Earth in another exciting space baking show.
Get involved! Watch our special series of videos in the run up to Science Week Ireland, enjoy our special 'Baking In Space - Bake to the Future' Creative Activity Pack, take part in the experiments, bakes and creative activities and send photos of your creations to Niamh and Andrew to be part of our Baking in Space show!
Joined by special guests, Helen Sharman, the UK’s first Astronaut, local Irish researchers and representatives from the European Space Agency, together we will explore the surprising connections between everyday bakes and the extraordinary engineering that helps keep astronauts alive in space.
With lots of live demonstrations, tasting and audience interaction, your curiosity will be whisked, stirred, and taken out of this world…
Download our Creative Activity Pack
Written by Dr. Niamh Shaw with recipes from Andrew Smyth, our 'Baking In Space - Bake to the Future' Creative Activity pack is full of fun experiments, bakes and creative activities for children aged 8+ and their grown-ups.
About Baking in Space 2020
‘Baking in Space – Bake to the Future’ is a Science Week Ireland 2020 event funded by Science Foundation Ireland and created in partnership with British Council Ireland, Dr. Niamh Shaw and Andrew Smyth. The ‘Baking in Space - Bake to the Future’ Creative Activity Pack has been commissioned and produced by The Ark.
Baking in Space is kindly supported by Yakult which is itself boldly going into space for experiments with astronauts on the International Space Station in collaboration with Japan Aerospace Exploration agency (JAXA). Their mission is to study the influence of Yakult’s bacteria on the human body.
British Council Ireland are delighted to bring ‘Baking in Space – Bake to the Future’ to Science Week Ireland 2020, working with Limerick, Wexford and Midlands Science Festivals and inviting audiences from across Ireland and the UK to join in the fun.
Dr. Niamh Shaw
Dr. Niamh Shaw is passionate about people and curiosity, and all things space. A polymath with 2 degrees in engineering, a PhD in science and almost 20 years of performance & writing experience, she has been providing events for the general public at Science Week Ireland since 2014. On a mission to be writer-in-residence at the International Space Station, Niamh wants to connect with a wider global community using space stories to highlight sustainability issues and responsible behaviour as Earth citizens. In response to the COVID pandemic, she provided the 'Space Hub' series of segments for RTE's 'Home School Hub' educational series, and recently launched a new podcast series 'Humans of Space' and an online family video series 'Galaxy Squad'. Her first book 'Dream Big- an Irishwoman's Space Odyssey' from Mercier Press was published in March 2020 and she writes regularly for BBC’s Sky at Night magazine www.niamhshaw.ie
Andrew Smyth
Andrew Smyth is an aerospace engineer, baker and presenter. As a finalist on the Great British Bake Off in 2016, he grew a firm following for his outrageously engineered creations.
Since leaving the tent, he’s presented a live cooking segment on ITV’s Lorraine, appeared as an expert contributor on shows for Discovery Science and the BBC, and even baked a rotating jet engine cake for Prince William. He currently divides his time between researching Future Aircraft at Rolls-Royce, teaching patisserie classes and presenting his “bakineering" live shows around the UK and Ireland. www.cakesmyth.com
Special Guests
Helen Sharman became the first British Astronaut when in May 1991, aged 27, she launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She spent 8 days orbiting the Earth, living and working on the MIR Space Station. She was selected from over 13,000 applicants but didn’t think she stood a chance of being chosen when she applied, after hearing an advert on the radio on her way home after work.
After MIR, Helen became a science communicator and corporate speaker, winning numerous prizes for radio and TV programmes and for her inspirational talks on teamwork, STEM, science communication and motivation. Helen has not returned to Space but, like every other astronaut, she would love to go into Space again, experiencing the weightlessness, the camaraderie… and the amazing and beautiful views of Earth and the stars.
Romain Charles provides crew support for European Space Agency (ESA) Astronauts heading to the International Space Station (ISS), including current commander of the ISS, Alexander Gerst. He participated in Mars500, a 523 isolated experiment as analogue Mars astronaut.
Dr. Aidan Cowley is part of the future missions team at ESA's Astronaut Centre in Cologne, tasked with solving food resource issues for permanent settlements for future Lunar and Martian habitat communities.
