Training, Education & Outreach activity
ICHEC has an extensive education and training programme that caters for third level institutions, public sector bodies and commercial organisations. This includes a diversity of courses that challenge participants to solve large, complex problems through technical computing on technologies ranging from laptops to supercomputers. With an international reputation in HPC training – ICHEC has globally recognised expertise on cutting edge technology and leads pan-European training activities through PRACE – it cultivates ICT skills that are integral to a knowledge-driven economy.
We take an active role in a variety of outreach activities that aims to promote awareness of technical computing and more generally computational science. Engagement with the wider general public is very important to us, providing opportunities to inform, educate and stimulate interest in key STEM areas, particularly among students.
Education and Training
Central to ICHEC's education and training programme is the delivery of on-demand training courses and ECTS-based taught modules at Irish third level institutions. These courses range from those that teaches fundamental technical computing skills (e.g. programming courses on C, modern Fortran, R, Python), to introductory HPC and parallel programming courses (e.g. hands-on induction course on using ICHEC systems, OpenMP and MPI). We teach two accredited graduate modules throughout the academic year: “Scientific Programming Concepts” and “HPC & Parallel Programming”. Graduate students attain 5 ECTS credits for successful completion of each module, which are open to students from all Irish third level institutions.
Some of ICHEC's courses have also attracted interest among public sector bodies. Since 2014 it has provided training services, mainly in the area of data analysis and analytics using the R software package, to a variety of public sector organisations and semi-state bodies with participants from Irish government departments.
Training to commercial clients is provided via ICHEC's technology transfer activities that focuses on upskilling the Irish workforce and enabling local businesses to compete internationally. Companies who has availed of our training services range from small businesses (SMEs) to multinational financial services companies.
Since 2011, ICHEC has played a leadership role in the training activities of the PRACE projects. It was involved in the establishment of a network of PRACE Advanced Training Centres and continues to coordinate this activity. In 2017, ICHEC became one of four PRACE Training Centres, providing additional courses for both Irish and European audiences.
Outreach
We take great pride in engaging with the public through our outreach activities. Since 2013, we have been organising an ICHEC booth at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition every year. Some of our BTYSTE exhibits include a Raspberry Pi compute cluster, interactive demos of computer simulations, the 100 year climate model of Earth on a globe display and an Oculus-based virtual reality tour of the Fionn supercomputer. ICHEC also regularly create exhibits and has taken part in other public events such as Culture Night, Pint of Science, etc.
