Tag: wicklow

Erin Mills develops educational website surrounding drug dependency arising from prescribed medications

Erin Mills, a TY student from St. Mary’s Arklow Secondary School, was awarded for her remarkable project, which investigates the effects of drug addictions and dependencies stemming from medications provided by the healthcare system, during the Scifest@Teen-Turn event held in IBM, Dublin.

Through extensive research and analysis alongside her studies, the final result culminated in a website that educates audiences on drug dependencies. The idea for the project, entitled “Breaking the cycle: Evaluating the investment in non-addictive alternatives to current medications”, came from seeking a way to help those struggling with opioid addictions and furthermore attempting to find a solution to drug addiction issues.

When asked what Erin is most proud about from working on the project, she says “My final website. I coded it from scratch and I think it came out really good”. Teen-Turn, an Irish non-profit organisation that provides teen girls the opportunity to gain hands-on STEM experience and the support to acquire qualifications and jobs, provided Erin with company mentors to assist her with research, statistical analysis, and computer programming. Joanne English, Erin’s teacher says “Erin’s idea developed over the 12 weeks through working with the Teen-Turn/Project Squad mentors. Erin worked at a steady pace and always kept on track with her intended goals for the week. The project squad mentors gave Erin valuable feedback on all aspects of her project.”

Erin won 1st place in the Senior Social Science Category Winners and was awarded an iPhone 16, with thanks to contributions from BNY Mellon towards Teen-Turn participants undertaking enterprise and innovation. She also qualified for BT Young Scientist and had the opportunity to present her project to President Michael D. Higgins at the BTYSTE exhibition in the RDS. Through Teen-Turn’s free after school programmes and activities such as Project Squad, secondary school students are informed on education and career options, often leading them to discover new skills and interests. As more girls explore and gain an interest in STEM, this will lead to more women earning STEM qualifications, thus leveling the playing field.

More information on their activities and the supports they provide to girls is available at www.teen-turn.com.

Esri Ireland’s digital mapping transforms the delivery of public services for Wicklow County Council

Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is today announcing that it has helped Wicklow County Council to migrate their geospatial data and GIS services to the cloud, improving internal processes and transforming the delivery of public services.

For more than 25 years, Wicklow County Council has used Esri’s ArcGIS solutions in areas ranging from local development planning to highways maintenance. Now, with its ArcGIS Online system, Wicklow County Council’s data can be accessed in one central and secure cloud-based location and up-to-date data can be made available to the public faster than before.

The scalable system is underpinning the rollout of services to 142,000 citizens in Wicklow and enabled the council to build a new Residential Zoned Land Tax app in just half a day. User experience is improved as data from planning applications is now updated daily and receives thousands of views per day, while planning queries now load in a matter of seconds. In addition, Wicklow County Council can publish its County Development Plan immediately, as soon as it is formally adopted.

Esri’s technology is saving time for Wicklow County Council’s 850 employees as it eliminates the need for software updates and server upgrades with additional storage. Without the time-consuming burden of server management, the council’s GIS team can focus on creating new web apps to improve public services.

ArcGIS Online also simplifies data management, making it easier for the council to keep its 450 data sets current and available, such as information on vacant development sites. The migration has resulted in a six-fold increase in the performance of the council’s web-based GIS apps for both employees and members of the public who engage with these services. The system can handle peaks in traffic without any disruptions and returns search results rapidly.

Paddy O’Flaherty, GIS Officer, Wicklow County Council said: “Managing data and maintaining our GIS platform is so much easier than before. Things that were a chore can now be done with the click of a button. Users can select a thousand features, and ArcGIS Online will still return the results straight away.

“Not only did we migrate data to ArcGIS Online; we also did a thorough data quality review, to make sure that the data we were sharing online was the primary and most accurate data set available. ArcGIS Online has freed up time to develop more GIS services to improve our delivery of public services.”

Ted Taylor, Technical Account Manager, Esri Ireland: “We are delighted to be working once again with Wicklow County Council. It’s fantastic to see them embrace new technologies which will ensure resilience for the future. ArcGIS Online provides quick and reliable access to information, streamlines workflows, and improves programme performance, meaning the council can continue to provide vital resources to the public quickly and efficiently. We look forward to continuing to work with them to enhance these services for the residents of County Wicklow.”