Niamh Shaw

Niamh Shaw is an Irish communicator, writer and explorer of space activities with two degrees in engineering, a PhD in science, & almost 20 years performance & writing experience. Her company 'Dream Big Space & Science communications' is based between the International Space University campus in Strasbourg, France and Ireland. Her work focuses on sharing the 'bigger perspective' of space to envisage a healthier, fairer and more equal, sustainable planet. She has been providing events, reports and media about space activities since 2014. With an extensive career in performance, Niamh is an experienced public speaker & event creator. She has spoken about her work at WIRED Live (UK), Space Rocks (European Space Agency), NASA Johnson Space Centre (USA), Inspire Fest (Dublin), New Scientist (UK), & at TEDxUCD. Niamh has collaborated on science/art projects with many organisations including European Space Agency, British Council, Arts@CERN, The Festival of Curiosity & more.

Niamh has been actively participating in space activities since 2011 & has completed a zero gravity flight, witnessed live launches & landings of astronaut crews, completed over 20 EVA hrs as analogue astronaut at simulated Mars missions (at Mars Desert Research Station), has been engaged by ESA and Irish space centres to report live on global space events, provides weekly Space Hub news for the Irish national broadcaster RTE television on educational show 'After School Hub' & is global adjunct faculty at the International Space University providing Space Humanities lectures & workshops for their professional, corporate and academic Space Studies & Masters programmes since 2016.

Niamh has over 10 years experience in writing human space & science stories. She recently published her first book 'Dream Big' from Mercier Press which gained favourable reviews from critics & readers. Since 2016, she contributes features & review articles for BBC’s Sky at Night magazine & has written three full-length theatre shows some of which have toured internationally with support from Culture Ireland, The Arts Council of Ireland & Science Foundation Ireland.

Niamh is a respected communicator of science & space in Ireland, providing news segments and reports for mainstream news, public interest shows as well as childrens programming platforms. President of Ireland, Uachtarain na hEireann, Michael D. Higgins invited Niamh to speak at Áras an Uachtarain, at a ’Women in STEM’ reception for International Women’s Day 2019. A graduate of Science Communication at Cambridge University, she was co-recipient of the prestigious ‘Outstanding contribution to STEM communications’ award from Science Foundation Ireland in 2018. She was appointed the Irish Girl Guides honorary STEM Ambassador in 2019 & was Artist in Residence at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork from 2014-2019.

During the global pandemic, Niamh continued to share the message of space, including Season 1 of her 'Humans of Space' podcast, providing space science segments to RTE TV's childrens home school education series 'Home School Hub', and was science communicator in residence for Abbeyleix Climate Action project, an award-winning government-funded community-led initiative to tackle climate change from the ground up. Niamh believes that we can use the perspective of space to consider smarter and more sustainable alternatives for all Earth citizens.

Events