The Incredible World of Life-Saving Dogs

TALK

Neil Powell loves dogs. He also understands better than most people that they can save lives. A dog training and dog behaviour specialist, Neil and his dogs have participated in every kind of search and rescue over the years, from mountaineering rescues in the Mourne Mountains to helping to find victims of the Lockerbie bombing. Neil is also a Senior Trainer for Disability Assistance Dogs and is currently conducting ground-breaking research in the School of Biological Sciences (QUB) into whether dogs can be used as an early warning system for people living with epilepsy. Drawing on his personal experiences and on his scientific research, this fascinating talk is a dog-tastic opportunity to find out why a dog really is your best friend.

In partnership with the NI Science Festival.

About Neil Powell

Neil Powell is a dog training and dog behaviour specialist. He began training his first Mountain Rescue Seach Dog in the mid-1970s. Since then, he has worked with dogs to carry out hundreds of rescues. He has trained drowned victim dogs and trained explosives search dogs with the military and has been deployed by the Home Office to disaster sites with his dogs. In 2020 he was awarded a Ph.D. for his research into the untrained response of pet dogs to the onset of epileptic seizure in their owners. He is currently a Visiting Research Scholar at the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast.

About the NI Science Festival

Established in 2014, NI Science Festival has grown to become the largest celebration of its kind on the island of Ireland and in its relatively short lifespan became one of the leading Science Festivals in the whole of Europe.

Please Note: Copies of ‘Search Dogs and Me’ by Neil Powell will be available for purchase at the event.