Ideas

We are trying something new at Socrates Cafe Dublin. We are doing **trilogies** \- three back\-to\-back monthly topics that connect to tell a story\. Our next trilogy will be around the mystery of human flourishing\. For our first in the series we are going to ask: *What is beauty?* Then in May: *What role does 'home' play in our well-being?* Finally, in June, *what roles do nature and nurture play in our well-being?* We’ve all made the exclamation: “now, that is beautiful!” And life seems better, richer for it. What do we mean by ‘beauty’? What qualities does something require in order to be classified in such a way? What things can be given such label? Are there things that do not deserve to be called beautiful? Is beauty restricted to physicality? Is beauty merely subjective or does it have an objective framework? Is it a matter of the feminine side of life? Is it something internal or external? Come along next Tuesday evening at the lovely Third Space Cafe Smithfield for a facilitated discussion about beauty. Newcomers are welcome. NOTE: we ask for a 3 Euro donation to cover expenses. Pay on the evening by coin or Revolut. Socrates Cafe: a space where ideas and dialogue can flourish.

**Welcome to DSF Sandbox Sessions!** Top tech talks and masterclasses from the best in the industry. Every month, and completely free. The catch? There isn’t one. Just a monthly dose of epic content to power up your data passion! **Event details** 📆 **Date:** Tuesday 14th April 2026 ⏰ **Time:** 6:00 – 9:30 PM BST 💡 **Topic:** **Signals, Systems, and Scams: Deconstructing the Future of Financial Intelligence** 🗣️ **Speakers:** Kristjan Erik Liive, Volodymyr Panov, Baran Koseoglu, Zoltan Szopory, Vera Shishkina, Aaron Wilson, Mohammed Topiwalla [Sign up for this event by clicking here!](https://datasciencefestival.com/session/wise-sandbox-session/) As global financial platforms evolve, the “Trust Gap” becomes an engineering challenge. Scaling a product to millions of users requires more than just better models—it requires a fundamental shift from manual heuristics to automated, high-fidelity intelligence. Join Wise for an exclusive Sandbox Session designed for senior data scientists and engineers. We’re moving beyond the basics of model training to explore the “Last Mile” of production ML: the infrastructure of compliance, the democratisation of optimization, and the transition to foundational representation learning. Through three practitioner-led deep dives and a collaborative product-data science panel, we will deconstruct how Wise builds resilient financial infrastructure where performance and safety are never a zero-sum game. What we’ll explore: • The GenAI Reality Check: Moving LLM automations from “cool demo” to “compliant production” in highly regulated spaces. • Decoupling Optimization: How we built “Threshold UI” to empower non-experts to tune model performance across hundreds of cohorts without a single code change. • Beyond Velocity: Replacing hand-crafted features with User Event Transformers to capture the deep behavioral context that traditional tabular data misses. • The Co-Design Philosophy: Why the future of fraud prevention isn’t just a better algorithm, but a tighter feedback loop between Product and Data Science. Food, drinks, and networking with fellow practitioners will follow throughout the evening. Check out the full session details below! **Please note: Due to high demand and limited capacity, tickets for this event will be allocated via a random ballot. Submitting an application does not guarantee entry. Successful applicants will be notified throughout March and early April. If you have not received confirmation by April 9th, this means your ballot application was not selected on this occasion.** **Talk 1: Evolution of GenAI: Building Compliant LLM Automations at Wise** **Speakers:** Kristjan Erik Liive, Senior Data Scientist & Volodymyr Panov, Senior Data Scientist. **Abstract:** Evolution of GenAI applications in servicing tasks at Wise. We will share examples, discuss architectures and challenges of building LLM-based automations in compliance-heavy space. We will also present our vision and key opportunity areas in further augmentation and automation. **Key takeaways:** Practical examples of scoping and implementing LLM-based solutions. **Talk 2: On the Threshold of Greatness: Democratizing Model Optimization at Wise** **Speakers:** Baran Köseoğlu, Lead Data Scientist & Zoltán Szopory, Staff Software Engineer. **Abstract:** This session will talk about machine learning model threshold optimization across hundreds of customer cohorts. Traditionally, optimizing these thresholds has been a complex, time-consuming task, often relegated to highly technical experts. At Wise, we faced the challenge of managing diverse customer segments, each with unique risk profiles and compliance mandates and as a solution we developed Threshold UI we will talk about more in the session. **Key takeaways:** Boost your machine learning model performance without changing any configuration in your training pipeline. **Talk 3: More Than Meets the Eye: Transforming User Events into Deep Context** **Speaker:** Vera Shishkina, Staff Data Scientist. **Abstract:** Moving from purely manual feature engineering to representation learning. This session covers the technical POC of a User Events Transformer – a foundational model designed to produce customer embeddings that augment traditional tabular features. We will discuss the proposed architecture, the challenges of building temporal data pipelines, and our vision for using these embeddings to boost performance in domains like scam prediction. **Key takeaways:** How learned embeddings provide deep context that traditional “velocity” features often miss. **Talk 4: Panel Discussion – Mind & Machine: How Product and DS Co-Design the Future of Trust** **Panellists:** Aaron Wilson, Fraud and Victim Prevention Product Lead & Mohammed Topiwalla, Fraud and Victim Prevention Data Science Lead. **Abstract:** Fireside chat to understand how DS and Product work hand in hand to keep wise safe. **Key takeaways:** How do you find the middle ground between business growth and risk precision? What is the future of DS in fraud prevention? **Schedule:** **6:00 PM** – Doors open – networking with food and refreshments **6:45 PM** – Intro **6:50 PM** – Talk 1 (20 minutes + 5 minute Q&A) **7:15 PM** – Talk 2 (20 minutes + 5 minute Q&A) **7:40 PM** – Comfort break **7:50 PM** – Talk 3 (20 minutes + 5 minute Q&A) **8:15 PM** – Talk 4 (30 minutes) **8:45 PM** – Networking with refreshments **9:30 PM** – Event close **Registering for the event:** Click the 'Sign up here!' button on the specific event page following the link below. Once you have completed the registration form, you will be emailed a link to join the webinar. You will also receive a reminder link one week, one day and one hour prior to the event. **PLEASE NOTE: Clicking 'attend' on Meetup does not register you for the event. You will need to register for the event on the link provided below to receive a joining link. If you do not, you will not be able to join the event.** **[Click here to sign up for this specific event](https://datasciencefestival.com/session/wise-sandbox-session/)** Please note the time zone when you book this event.

Hi Everyone, Mark your calendar for the next **OpenSearch Project Dublin Meetup** at a **new location -Amazon Ireland.** **Agenda** 6.00 pm Start **6.15 pm First Speaker : Nils Bandener** **"Upcoming Changes for the OpenSearch Index Authorization Mechanisms."** 7.00 pm Break (Drinks and Snacks) **7.20 pm** **Second Speaker: Praveen Mohan Prasad** **"Cost-Effective Semantic Search with Neural Sparse Search"** 8.00 pm Networking 8.30 pm Close **Please remember bring a valid ID with you as you will need it to enter the venue.** We're looking forward to seeing you all there!

TOG will be open on Tuesday evenings from 19:00 to 21:30 for a general Open House event. Expect to find members and visitors in the space up to all sorts of activities. It's a great time to drop in and see what the space is about. If you're an artist, tinkerer, maker or just plain curious, come in and see what the space is about. Maybe you already have something to work on (or want to), have something to fix, create, design, bodge or tinker... drop in. We're also open for just for plain old social chat and hang out, with plenty of tea, coffee and biscuits. We have lots of free parking right outside our door.

Thanks to all who came along last week! Going through the takeaways from the weekly readings and feedback on each of our experiences of the tasks for the week. Opening Questions How open you are to share? Any obstacles to the task and morning pages? What were the negative narratives? Update on weekly tasks Feedback Closing routine!

Hello there! Learn to Meditate in 2026 - Free 10 Week Ongoing Sahaja Yoga Meditation Course - hosted by Jayant, Violeta, Vivek, Seamus and friends every Tuesday - All Welcome - Join any Week - The address: Fringe Lab, Sycamore Building, Sycamore Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, DO2 TD81 - on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 pm until 9:00 pm With Sahaja Yoga Meditation, we usually sit on chairs to achieve yoga effortlessly & spontaneously. So there is no need for mats or special clothing. All across the globe, many are seeking new sources of energy. Meanwhile, the most transformative energy is hiding in plain sight within us, and it's natural, sustainable, and infinitely renewable. It's called inner kundalini energy. And everyone already has it — everyone!. It is often likened to an inner feminine or motherly energy which automatically knows about us and what is needed to help us restore balance and harmony within our subtle being. It works spontaneously, effortlessly, organically, and cannot be paid for. Sahaja Yoga Meditation is a simple, time-honoured technique that lets you tap into that energy and harness its power to become better balanced and better connected to yourself — emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. If you're having trouble juggling the challenges in your life, Sahaja Yoga Meditation might help you manage stress, master your emotions and find solutions to your problems. You may enjoy better health, better focus, and a deeper understanding of the universe and your place in it. Meditation is not just for mystics and monks. Sahaja Yoga meditation is for everyone. Anyone can do it. It's that easy. But with the Sahaja Yoga experience, you'll quickly realise it isn't your typical Meditation. It's much more than just feeling peaceful and relaxed. Sahaja Yoga Meditation has many layers, varied and deep. Explore at your own pace, in your way. Our volunteer experts are always available to help. Ready to plug into your inner energy? A few minutes of your life may be all it takes to connect to your inner energy and light the path to lifelong transformation. It's all about energy — guaranteed pure and carbon neutral, and you can never have too much of it. All classes are free. No strings, no catch. Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. ONLINE GUIDED MEDITATION Mondays from 7:00 to 8:00 pm To Join Zoom Meeting, please click the below link (Recurring meeting) http://online.freemeditation.ie/ Sahaj Yoga Ireland 🤗🙏😇 https://www.facebook.com/groups/MeditationOnlineIreland Facebook Group: "Meditation Online Ireland" for about 30 minutes On this group, you can scroll through past guided meditations and watch any one of the hundred or so meditations there, and you can watch them anytime, day or night. Also available: https://wemeditate.com/ Our website: www.freemeditation.ie For classes in London visit: www.sahajayogalondon.co.uk

Join us for some casual games @ Corrigans. All levels welcome!

This is a 2 to 2½ hour walk from Annesley bridge in Fairview to Ashtown. The plan is to walk upstream and keep as close as we dare to the Tolka river. Making our way around the back of Glasnevin cemetery, we will stop at Cardiffsbridge village now abandoned and consumed by urban sprawl. This is a linear walk. Ashtown train station offers options to get home and the nearby Navan Road is served by Dublin bus numbers including 37 and 39. Hope to see you there.

For **in-person** [[Get Your Tickets Here](https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/is-claude-ai-right-for-your-business-tickets-1985508096164?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl)] To join **on Zoom**, [Get Your Tickets Here](https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/is-claude-ai-right-for-your-business-streamed-tickets-1986314146081?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl) for business owners who want to learn what Claude AI is and how it can be used to automate everyday business operations. Consider this event an opportunity to evaluate Claude and decide if it’s right for you in your business. We will also cover some of the fundamentals of using AI for work. Further details on the location to be confirmed ASAP depending on numbers registered. Provisional location TCube, 1 O'Connell Street, Dublin 1 **Is Claude AI Right For Your Business?** A hands-on morning session for business owners and professionals who want to understand what Claude AI can actually do for their day-to-day business operations, and whether it's the right tool for their business. You'll see real demonstrations of how Claude is being used to streamline business workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and free up time for the work that matters. You'll leave with a clear picture of what's possible, what's practical, and what the limitations are. **What We'll Cover:** ℹ️ What Claude AI is and how it differs from ChatGPT and other AI tools ℹ️ Live demo of Claude handling real business tasks ℹ️ Automating workflows: email, documents, reporting, scheduling ℹ️ Using Claude for research, content creation, and decision support ℹ️ How to evaluate whether AI fits your specific business needs ℹ️ Common mistakes businesses make when adopting AI tools ℹ️ A simple framework for getting started with AI ℹ️ Data privacy and security considerations for business use **Who This Is For:** Business owners, managers, and professionals across industries who want a straight answer on whether Claude AI is worth their time and investment. **Location & Schedule:** 📍 Tcube 1 O'Connell Street, Dublin 1 (Beside Daybreak on Eden Quay) ⏰ 10:00 \-\- 11:30 \| Presentation & Live Demos ⏰ 11:30 \-\- 12:00 \| Networking & Q&A No technical background required. Bring a laptop if you'd like to follow along.

The DNS goes rogue as it ventures southside. On this walk I will join up four of Dublins main waterways in a looped walk of the city. Meeting at Broombridge train station, we'll join the Royal Canal towpath. From there we will make our way city bound to the river Liffey. Crossing the city through Grand Canal Dock, we will walk upstream along the banks of the river Dodder towards Miltown. There is one stop on this 11 km. walk st Ballsbridge. This walk offers many interesting and historic stops along the way. These include Croke Park and Aviva stadium, limekilns and wildlife. Our walk finishes at the Dropping Well pub car park. The pub is under refurbishment at the time of print but toilet facilities remain available. However, coffee and snacks are available outside.

Ready to level up your product game? Join us for an evening dedicated to the power of community. This month’s theme is "PMs helping PMs"—a deep dive into the real-world insights, candid observations, and hard-won lessons that you won’t find in a textbook. **🔹 Talk 1: Customer Engagement Highs & Lows** Facing customers is a fundamental skill in Product Management. Done well, it’s a key asset and a valuable input. But not all customer engagements are easy or straight forward. **Speaker:** [Bernie Foley.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernie-foley/) VP Product Management at Workday. Product Management leader with over 30 years’ experience leading product development through the launch of innovative market leading products. **🔹 Talk 2: Panel with three flavors of PM** From difference product management paths the panel is going to discuss the Engineering-led, Product-led & Sales-led product management challenges **Moderated** by [Conor McGlynn ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/comcglynn/)Senior Director, Product Management at Workday **Panelist:** * [Linda Mackessy:](https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-mackessy-0373b52b/) Product Leader & Mentor at Workday. Product Leader with over 10 years experience creating value for customers by enhancing existing products and bringing new innovative products to market. * [Ivan Stynes:](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-stynes/) Senior Engineering Manager with a professional background spanning over 20 years in both Engineering leadership and Product Management. Leverages deep technical expertise and a product-centric mindset to balance complex system engineering with user-focused Product development. * [Bernie Foley:](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernie-foley/) VP Product Management at Workday. Product Management leader with over 30 years’ experience leading product development through the launch of innovative market leading products. **What to Expect:** * **Sharp Q&A:** Bring your toughest product challenges; our speakers are ready for your questions. * **Community & Connection:** As always, we’ll have plenty of **food and drinks** to fuel the conversation. It’s the perfect time to catch up with old friends and meet new faces in the Dublin product community. > **Save the Date:** Join us for an evening of engaging ideas that you can learn from and put into practice immediately. **⚠️ RSVP & Check-in Information** Please RSVP **only if you can attend in person.** Our hosts require a guest list for building security — to ensure a smooth check-in, make sure your **Meetup profile name matches your full, real name** and that your **profile picture clearly shows your face.** Attendees without a matching name or identifiable profile picture will be **removed from the guest list** and will not be able to enter the venue. See you soon! [Sima](https://www.linkedin.com/in/simaban/), [Antonella](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonellabettati/), [Anna](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-savelieva/), [Elham](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elham-hesaraki/)

All aboard for a night of routes, rivalry, and a bit of craic! 🚂 Join us at Board for a fun and social **Ticket to Ride Night**, where the goal is simple: build your routes, block your friends (nicely!), and enjoy a great night out. Never played before? No worries at all. We’ll have a **friendly host** on hand to explain the rules and get you started, so beginners are more than welcome. Coming on your own? Perfect. Just arrive, grab a seat, and jump into a game. It’s all about meeting people, having a laugh, and enjoying some light competition in a relaxed pub atmosphere. Expect good vibes, easy games, and plenty of fun along the way. Next stop: game night 🎲 tickets here: [TICKETS](https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ticket-to-ride-night-tickets-1986663828992?aff=oddtdtcreator)

⚠️ 1. New Venue: The Beer Temple (basement) on parliament street 2. Start time: 19:15PM Wednesday 3. Fee 5€ + please buy a drink before/after the event to support the venue (tea also available :) ) This event has a different topic each time and includes a variety of interactive exercises. It's an engaging and creative way to express ourselves, and connect with how others think, feel and deal with life. We will aim to provide a supportive and safe environment and open up about our lives freely. A lot of times we don't talk about what we are really going through because we are worried of what people might think of us. This causes us to bottle things up, feel disconnected with the people around us or feel ashamed of ourselves. Anything you share in the session is confidential and shall not be disclosed outside of the room. Please only RSVP if you intend to come and change your RSVP to 'No' if you are not going to be able to attend. ***PRICE**: 5 € to cover costs (Revolut/Cash/Paypal). Please pay the fee after the event, and please buy yourself a drink before or after the event (they have tea and soft drinks also) to support the venue. * *** TIME*: We will start at 19:15 and finish at 20:45. Please be on time, to respect the event and other members in the group. *** VENUE: *We are meeting at Thomas Reads & The Oak Whiskey Bar @1 Parliament St, Temple Bar, Dublin, D02 AN28*. **Keep in touch with us: **[https://activesocialconnections.com](https://activesocialconnections.com/)

This month, we're venturing over to GONG HQ to her two talks from staffers SDE Vanja Tesin, and Senior Engineering Manager Anthony Brady. DETAILS & OFFICIAL BOOKING >>>>> https://ti.to/dublin-java-user-group/264-gong-hq Check your schedule first (it's not cool to not show!) ## **Talk 1:** GONG & Agentic AI Tools Gong built an agentic AI solution called Claude Code to help developers work more effectively across its complex microservice architecture of over 100+ repositories. Using a multi-agent system with specialised rules, skills, and subagents, it automates development tasks and reduces time spent on research and context switching. The result is faster development and better pattern compliance, reducing complex tasks from days to hours. Join Vanja Tesin to discover how. ## **Talk 1:** **Resilience in Microservices** In the distributed landscape of modern backend architecture, the question isn’t if a service will fail, but when. Without robust fault tolerance, a single latent dependency can trigger a cascading failure across an entire ecosystem. Anthony's talk will focus on how Gong overcame some of those challenges and how they are implementing resilience utilising patterns such as Circuit Breakers, Rate Limiters and others to maintain stability and provide graceful degradation even when downstream services are under duress.

AI is changing how art is made. But when does it stop being your work and start being the machine’s? This month we're going to be doing a panel with with digital image, music, and written word artists, talking about at what point, while using AI in the creation process, does the work become not the artist creation? We encourage audience participation during this event that will be moderated by Chris Slee. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.transformlabs.com/services) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/55umjqta)

NFT's are here to stay folks! This is a group for like minded people interested in understanding, leveraging, using, creating for, profiting from, trading too i suppose, NFT's.. everything around them, complexity, fear and exploits, best practices and more. **PLUS** This group will talk AI ART tools, techniques, artists, video, audio, prototypes and more in the AI assisted production space- ART specifically, but we can get into any aspect of some of the cooler things happening in AI in general.

**PLEASE NOTE:** This event does NOT guarantee your ticket to the event. This is an information only promotion. Come join the *Columbus Clippers* on Video Game Night at *Huntington Park* with *COGG* members showcasing their games! SATURDAY, APRIL 18: Video Game Day! Enjoy an appearance by the one and only *Sonic the Hedgehog*! [https://www.milb.com/columbus/tickets/single-game-tickets](https://www.milb.com/columbus/tickets/single-game-tickets)

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** GitHub Copilot is powerful, but what if you could scale from a solo AI assistant to an entire team of specialized agents working in parallel? This session introduces Squad: an open-source framework for multi-agent orchestration that lets you define teams of AI agents with specific roles, responsibilities, and expertise. We'll progress from Copilot basics to the Copilot CLI, explore how Agents add autonomy, and see how Instructions and Skills let you customize agent behavior. Then, the climax: a live demo where a Squad team of 3 agents (Lead, Developer, Tester) stands up and builds a working application in real-time, showcasing true multi-agent collaboration. Whether you're new to AI or exploring how to scale your use of Copilot, this session will show you what's possible when agents work as a team. **YouTube Link** TBD

Join us for an hour of writing! We’ve discovered that it’s strikingly helpful to write with other writers. See if it’s true for you at 7:00pm on Wednesday, April 22 at Streetlight Guild. Be it a book, blog, script, essay, dissertation, resume, melody, poem or just plain work stuff, you are invited to write it with us. No one will see what you've written or give you unsolicited advice. Instead of just thinking about writing, come and get some real writing done. **SCHEDULE:** 6:45ish - Quick introductions 7:00 - Timer starts: write for 1 hour 8:00 - The End **OPTIONAL SOCIALIZING** happens before and after the writing hour. Writing is very solitary. Connecting (and sometimes even commiserating) with other writers is a cool thing. **BEING LATE IS OKAY:** just show up and get settled! If you were on time, please be willing to make room for the friendly latecomer. Happy writing & I look forward to seeing you at Streetlight Guild! **WHAT SHOULD I BRING?** Whatever you need to be able to write! You're welcome to bring earplugs/headphones if noise will bother you! **OTHER IMPORTANT DETAILS:** * **RSVP:** Please RSVP by 6:00pm the evening of the meeting. This helps me know how many to expect, and if we'll need additional space! * **COVID:** While masks are not required, please be mindful of the other writers around you and their comfort levels. * **WIFI/OUTLETS:** Outlets are limited, so please ensure your devices are charged when you come! But Streetlight Guild does have free WiFi! Yay! * **PARKING:** There is free public parking at Streetlight Guild.

This month's prompt concerns the idea of the “warrior philosopher” (seemed appropriate in these times)--that is someone whose understanding of violence, power, and justice is forged through direct experience of war. We are looking at Major General Smedley D. Butler, a highly decorated U.S. Marine raised in a Quaker (pacifist) tradition who later became a prominent critic of American militarism (there is a wonderful biography of Gen. Butler called "Gangsters of Capitalism") Butler's argument in *War Is a Racket* (1935): that many U.S. interventions were driven less by national defense than by corporate and financial interests, with Butler portraying himself as an enforcer for business and Wall Street. We can consider the moral ambiguity of his insider critique—whether complicity strengthens or undermines credibility and also consider some of the concrete reforms he proposed (e.g., “conscript” capital before soldiers, restrict the military to coastal defense, and have only those who fight decide on war). Butler’s life arc clearly changed from pacifist upbringing to warrior to antiwar crusader—and asks whether true understanding of peace requires firsthand knowledge of war, and what that implies about the cost of suffering. So do we need to suffer to understand suffering? Do we have to experience war to appreciate peace? As one more question: in the movie "A Few Good Men" Jack Nicholson's character says that "you have the luxury of not knowing what I know" so do most of us go through life oblivious to real violence and suffering? See you at Drunken Philosophy!