Research Ireland Barometer Focus Group at Galway City Museum

What to Expect

Galway City Museum hosts a Research Ireland Barometer focus group on Tuesday 18 August 2026, listed as running until 3:00 PM. The Barometer is a national exercise in gauging what the public actually thinks about research and its place in daily life, and focus groups are the qualitative half of that work: rather than filling in a survey, participants sit down in a room and talk through their views with a facilitator.

The session is a community input event, open to ordinary members of the public rather than to researchers or specialists. That is the point of it. Sessions like this feed into how national research funding and communication priorities are framed, and the value depends on getting people in the room who are not already inside the research system. Anyone who has an opinion on where public money for science, health, climate or social research should go, or on whether any of it reaches them, is the intended audience. The event is free. Because focus groups run to a fixed number of seats, contact the museum ahead of the day to confirm the start time and whether places remain.

Good to Know

• Date: Tuesday 18 August 2026 at Galway City Museum, Spanish Parade.
• The listing gives an end time of 3:00 PM. The exact start time was not published at the time of writing.
• Free to attend.
• Focus groups run to limited numbers, so contact the museum to confirm a place: Museum@GalwayCity.ie or 091 532460.
• Aimed at members of the public, not at researchers or academics.
• The museum’s permanent galleries and current exhibitions are free to visit on the same day.

Getting There

Galway City Museum stands on Spanish Parade next to the Spanish Arch, where the Corrib meets the bay, roughly seven minutes’ walk from Eyre Square through Shop Street and Quay Street. The area is pedestrianised, so drivers should use the Jury’s, Corrib Great Southern or Eyre Square Centre car parks and walk the last few minutes. All city bus routes converge on Eyre Square, and Ceannt bus and rail station is about ten minutes away on foot. Cycle stands are available near the Spanish Arch and along the Long Walk.