About
About Wild City
WILDCITY is a forward-thinking research project that brings together academic expertise and classroom learning to explore biodiversity in urban environments. Developed in collaboration with Maynooth University Education and Biology departments, The School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability (SEES) at the University of Iowa, The Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN), and funded by Research Ireland. The project focuses on creating engaging, real-world learning experiences for secondary school students.
Project Goals
- Increase awareness and engagement with biodiversity, scientific inquiry, and STEM careers among students, particularly groups underrepresented in STEM.
- Enhance the ability and confidence of teachers to deliver inquiry-based STEM learning activities.
- Train future teachers in inquiry-based STEM teaching.
Trail Cameras
A key component of the WILDCITY project is our use of trail cameras in school campuses. We are partnered with The Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN) to connect participating schools with researchers around the globe working together to better understand urban wildlife.
UWIN
The WILDCITY project is proud to be working with The Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN) on the trail camera portion of the project. UWIN is a global network of researchers trying to better understand urban wildlife ecology. They use motion-sensitive trail cameras to monitor wildlife in urban green spaces. There are currently UWIN sites in over 60 cities around the world, and our school trail cameras are going to contribute to a new UWIN site in Dublin and surrounding areas, helping to understand where different species occur and what we can do to protect them. If you are curious to learn more about UWIN and their work then follow the link provided. Read more.
Project Timeline
WILDCITY will commence in September 2026 and will include three, two-month long units focused on scientific inquiry and biodiversity using school campuses and nearby greenspaces as field sites.
Unit I will introduce students to scientific inquiry and field methods for surveying plants and wildlife. Student Teachers will guide students in identifying research questions about local species, generating hypotheses and ways of testing them and data collection and analysis. Students will survey vegetation and wildlife on/near campus, using their data to evaluate hypotheses and draw conclusions whilst learning about biodiversity.
In unit II, students will dig deeper into biodiversity and scientific inquiry using understanding built in unit I to generate and assess new biodiversity-related research questions, conducting additional field surveys and using data from their school and other WILDCITY schools.
In unit III, student teams will use their learning to create habitat management plans to improve biodiversity on their campus or greenspace. We will encourage students link with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP), operated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, or local Tidy Towns programmes. Students will present their plans, and each school will select a plan to implement, facilitating real-world impact. Students whose plans are selected by their school will participate in a poster session at the WILDCITY Symposium at MU to connect with researchers and other schools and build science communication skills.
