About the venue

The location for the symposium is the new Mary Ward Centre of Science building on the TUS Athlone campus. This new STEM building was officially opened on May 15th 2025, and we’re delighted to be able to host our symposium here a few days before the building’s first birthday.

Black and white photograph of scientific writer Mary Ward seated by a table, on which sits a microscope.
Image attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons dib.ie

Here’s a little bit of history about Mary Ward:

Mary Ward (née King) was born on 27 April 1827 at Ballylin, Ferbane, Co. Offaly. She was a self-taught microscopist, astronomer, artist and science writer and was one of the first people to make observations from and illustrations of the Leviathan telescope, constructed at the Birr castle, the home of her cousin, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse.

 

 

 

Below is a campus map to help with orienting yourself. The Mary Ward Centre of Science is located on the main campus (#8 on the map). Parking is available in the staff car parking areas.

 

TUS campus map.
TUS campus map. All rights reserved.

You can also use the interactive campus map to find your way around.

Licence

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EduXr26 - XR and Me: Learning in the New Realities Copyright © 2026 by Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest and Dr Geraldine McDermott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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