Free science workshops coming to Kilkenny rivers
Three locations in the Nore catchment will host scientific and environmental workshops
The Nore catchment is becoming a living lab as Nore Vision launches free citizen science training workshops.
Nore Vision Citizen Science Learning Exchange is a free training programme that will use the rivers and streams in the Nore catchment as a living lab for citizen science, environmental education and community engagement.
The initiative will support local people to take part in hands-on training and fieldwork–building scientific literacy while strengthening community stewardship of river health.
The training will be delivered on behalf of Nore Vision by Una Halpin who has a background in geology and environmental engineering and experience in delivering biodiversity workshops to a variety of audiences.
Over the next three months, workshops will be held at three river locations - the Nuenna, Dinan and Kings Rivers, covering the following topics - mapping skills, plant identification, biodiversity recording, kick sampling, habitat surveying and invasive species.
People can attend as many workshops as they like and are encouraged to sign up to all six. It is hoped that with the knowledge gained, participants will go on to become Nore Vision Citizen Scientists and help gather information for the organisation on water quality and river health.
The learning exchange workshops are designed around best-practice citizen science principles and the data collected will complement existing research and help inform local conservation actions and decision-making thus maximising the long-term value of the information collected.
In the spirit of knowledge exchange, Nore Vision says it looks forward to hearing and collecting local stories that workshop participants have on their rivers and streams. It added that this will enable the organisation to record and map what used to be on the river and to understand the changes that have occurred over the years.
The workshops are funded by Kilkenny Leader Partnership and between August and June 2026 they will also be delivered to people living in the vicinity of the Breagagh and Goul rivers with two other river locations yet to be announced.
For registration and details of this and other workshops in the programme check out the Nore Vision website - norevision.ie or call 086 418 3595.