The REEdI team has been busy over the past few months, actively organising and attending a wide range of events, from award ceremonies to webinars. These events play a vital role in showcasing our work, building connections, and sharing insights with both industry partners and the wider education community. Whether celebrating achievements, engaging with prospective students, or contributing to sector-wide conversations, each event strengthens REEdI’s presence and reinforces our commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence in STEM education.
Engineering Week
Engineering Week (March 1-7, 2025) was a fantastic celebration of innovation, learning and connection across our community. One of the key events took place at the RDI Hub, where local 5th-year students took part in an engaging session on the impact of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering. The discussion encouraged them to think critically about the future of design, creativity and automation in a fast-changing technological world.
We also visited St. Michael’s School in Listowel and the Engineering class at Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk Tralee, reaching over 80 students in total. These visits provided a valuable opportunity to talk about engineering careers and share insights from the field.
As part of the week, we held our annual Women in Engineering Lunch, celebrating the important role women play in shaping the future of the profession at MTU.
Students also had the chance to visit with REEdI industry partner, Alps Alpine, where they got a first-hand look at how engineering operates within industry and learned more about potential career paths.
Project SOLOMON – Student/lecturer demo
We recently held the first hands-on demonstration of Project SOLOMON – the AI-powered Embodied Virtual Agent (EVA) that lives inside a VR lab and answers audio questions in real time. Students and lecturers gathered on the MTU Kerry Campus, slipped on headsets, and met SOLOMON that provides round-the-clock, personalised lab support. Participants tried conversational and navigation commands such as “Go to the Tensile Strength Tester” and “Tell me more about the Pipe Crawler,” watching the avatar guide them around the virtual workshop.
First-impression highlights: Both cohorts reported feeling “present” and “engaged” with the EVA, praising the natural language responses and the freedom to explore tools at their own pace.
Capturing the numbers: Everyone completed a short QR-code questionnaire at the end of the session; preliminary stats show over 90 % rating the experience “useful” or “very useful,” including constructive notes.
The next update will showcase upgraded avatars and environments, and subjects in action.
Education Awards 2025
REEdI were honoured to be nominated and become finalists in 4 categories in the Education Awards 2025! The categories were: Best Education Outreach, Best Student Experience, Best Collaboration and Best Industry – Academic Collaboration.
