In the EPI•STEM PODCAST Episode 5, co-hosts Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD chat with Emma King from the Hunt Museum about the workshop the museum is providing for the STEAM Education partnership project with EPI•STEM and the Limerick Education Support Centre.

Emma shares how cultural practices from the past can inspire TY students’ vision for sustainable living, including the museum’s Georgian architecture and its transformation from a customs house.

We share how the scarcity of resources led to a culture of reuse, repair, and redesign—sharply contrasting with todays’ disposable society. Students’ consider Sybil Connolly’s iconic dresses, providing inspiration for sustainable fashion practices in preference to fast fashion.

Finally, we explore past innovations such as the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme at Ardnacrusha. Students will consider how Irish society was initially hesitant but now finds it difficult to imagine life without electricity. It points to the current crossroads in relation to sustainable energy solutions.

The musical selection is from Eoghan Waters, a songwriter and guitarist from Clarina in Co. Limerick. Eoghan is a third year student in the BA in World Music in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in UL. Here Eoghan performs his own composition called Bad News.