Category: Workshops/Events

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Tog Hackerspace at Security BSides Dublin 2026

We’re delighted to say that Tog Hackerspace is once again a Community Sponsor of Security BSides Dublin, taking place on Saturday, 23rd May 2026, in Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin.

Security BSides Dublin is a community-driven information security conference, bringing together security professionals, researchers, students, hobbyists, and the generally curious for a day of talks, demos, workshops, and great conversations.

It is very much our kind of event: people sharing knowledge, learning by doing, and occasionally asking, “I wonder how that works?”

As part of this year’s event, TOG will be bringing along a lockpicking challenge and a selection of projects from the hackerspace. Drop by our table, have a go, and chat with TOG members about what we get up to.

Lockpicking is a fun hands-on way to explore physical security. It gives a better understanding of how locks work, why good security needs layers, and why curiosity is often the best starting point for learning something new.

We’ll also be showing off some projects from Tog Hackerspace and chatting about the many things that happen in the space, from electronics, radio, 3D printing and laser cutting, to repair cafés, coding, workshops, and all sorts of hardware hacking.

A big thank you to the BSides Dublin team for inviting us back and for putting together another great community event.

Come say hello on the day. We’d love to meet you.

For more information, visit:
https://www.bsidesdub.ie/

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🚴🔧 Bicycle Maintenance & Advice Meetup for Bike Week

It’s Bike Week from Saturday 9th – Sunday 17th May, and we’ve another event lined up at TOG.

Many of us are keen cyclists and e-bikers, and tinkering with our bikes is business-as-usual around the space. So we’re opening things up for a relaxed Bicycle Maintenance & Advice Meetup.

🗓️ When

Saturday 16th May
🕒 From 15:00

🔧 What to expect

We’ll have tools available for basic bicycle maintenance, including:

  • cleaning
  • lubrication
  • adjustments

If your bike needs a bit of attention, bring it along and we’ll help you get it sorted. If everything is running smoothly and you just want some advice or a second opinion, you’re very welcome too.

👥 Who is it for?

  • Anyone with a bike
  • Beginners welcome
  • People curious about maintaining their own bike

No pressure, no workshop format — just a chance to learn, fix, and chat.

🍕 Stick around

We’ll be rolling straight into our regular monthly Open Social from 19:00, so feel free to stay on or drop back later.

Expect the usual:

  • pizza
  • good chat
  • and a bit of cycling talk

🚴 Bike Week

This event is part of Bike Week and is supported by Dublin City Council.

If you want to explore even more Bike Week events happening across the city, check out the full programme here:
https://www.dublincity.ie/Bike-Week-2026

No need to book — just bring your bike (or your questions) and drop in.

If fixing bikes isn’t enough, we’ve also put together a Bike Treasure Hunt for Bike Week:
https://www.tog.ie/2026/04/%f0%9f%9a%b4%f0%9f%a7%a9-cycles-clues-making-a-bike-treasure-hunt-for-bike-week/

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POTA Rover Day: Five Parks, One Day

Our radio crew in TOG have really gotten into Parks on the Air over the last few months. We’re a little bit hooked.

For anyone new to it,Parks on the Air, or POTA, is an amateur radio activity where operators head out to recognised parks and make contacts from the field. It is a great mix of radio, portable operating, problem solving, and getting outdoors. It also has plenty for SWLs and curious newcomers, so it is not just for the people behind the mic.

We have already had great days out at Bull Island, the Botanic Gardens, and Ticknock outings, and now we are setting our sights on something a bit more ambitious.

On Sunday, 31st May, TOG Hackerspace and South Dublin Radio Club are planning a POTA Rover Day around Dublin.

The plan is simple enough on paper and a bit mad in practice: activate five parks in one day. If all goes to plan, that should qualify for the POTA Rover Warthog award, which is given for activating five unique references in a single UTC day.

We will be starting at 8am at IE-0213 — The Grand Canal Way Conservation Area, right by TOG Hackerspace, and then moving on to:
IE-0229 — Phoenix Park National Park/ IE-0250— Farmleigh Estate Historic Site
IE-0164 — Merrion Square Park National Historical Park
IE-0226 — Iveagh Gardens National Park

Because this is a rover day, we cannot promise exact times for each park. A lot will depend on how each activation goes, how travel works out, and how much chat we get dragged into along the way.

This could be a great idea, or it could totally fall apart, but that is all part of the fun. Amateur radio has always had that experimental side to it, and a day like this has a real sense of adventure.

Part of the fun of the day is that it overlaps with some of the regular Sunday radio activity too. We hope to make use of the South Dublin Radio Club weekly 40m net, which gets going from 08:30 local time and the IRTS Weekly News goes out nationally at 11:00 on 7.123 MHz SSB and in Dublin at 11:45 on 145.525 FM.

Some of our members are even hoping to complete the rover by bike, which feels very on-brand for us, but you do not need to cycle to take part. You are very welcome to join us for the whole day, or just drop in for one of the parks if that suits you better.

You will also be able to track our rough location live on APRS.fi by searching for EI0TOG.

What we really like about POTA is that it gets radio out into the world. It brings together portable antennas, operating skills, experimentation, a bit of fresh air, and plenty of chances for curious passers-by to ask what on earth we are up to. It also makes space for SWLs and newcomers to come along, listen, learn, and get involved without any pressure.

So if you fancy a day of parks, radios, and a slightly over-ambitious plan to bag five activations in one go, get in touch. We would love to have company for all or even just part of the route.

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TouchDesigner Meetup Dublin @ TOG HACKERSPACE

We are hosting an open TouchDesigner meetup with demos, hands-on learning, and space to share work with others using the software. This is part of a series of monthly events in collaboration with @noid_lab typically on the last Wednesday each month in the space, so this month it’s 29th April, 7-10pm.

Tickets are free – but registration via Eventbrite is required to secure your place.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/touchdesigner-meetup-dublin-tickets-1987679859968

Workshops:

In this session we will be hosting two workshops. The first will be run by Pauric Freeman, the class will offer a deep dive into instancing in TouchDesigner, breaking down the core principles behind this technique and demonstrating how it can be used to create complex visuals. The session will also explore the integration of MediaPipe, showing how real-time gesture tracking can be used to control instanced systems.

Following this, Cailean will be working with.. nodes! but not in the traditional TouchDesigner sense. This small workshop will explore how the behaviour of nodes can be controlled through the Network Editor using Python scripts.

Format:

The session will run for around three hours in a relaxed, hands-on setting. With multiple rooms available at TOG Hackerspace, we can host beginner and advanced activities simultaneously, ensuring everyone gets the most out of the evening. The event will focus on learning, with a combination of scheduled short and long presentations/demonstrations. The last hour will take a more flattened and open approach, allowing the space for people to chat, share, learn, and explore TouchDesigner. Expect an informal, community-driven environment where the format adapts to participants. So if you would like to bring your laptop and learn the basics, share your projects, or connect with other using the software, this meetup offers a welcoming and supportive space to do so.

The event is also a great opportunity to meet other creative technologists and artists, and to continue building the growing TouchDesigner community in Ireland.

Contact us at noidlab.collective@gmail.com to share ideas for future sessions or to express interest in presenting your work.

A special thanks to TOG for allowing us to use the space for these events, and Derivative for supporting the project. The meetups are hosted each month by a group of artists and creative technologists:

https://www.tog.ie

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Repair Club: Lamps Edition – Shedding a Little Light on Lamp Repair

We are trying something a little different at TOG with a new event format we are calling Repair Club.

Inspired by the work of Circular Square in Clonmel, this is a bit different from our usual Repair Café model. Instead of bringing along broken items for fixing, Repair Club is more like a focused class or workshop where we take one repair topic and explore it in more detail.

For our first session, we are starting with lamps.

We will be looking at common faults, how to test them safely, and some of the repairs you can carry out once you know what has gone wrong. That includes more than just the electrical side of things. We will also look at glueing, rewiring, testing, and the kind of practical fixes that often come up when bringing an old lamp back into use.

This event will be half class, half discussion, and half people standing around a lamp saying, “go on, try that there.” The idea is to share skills, compare notes, and build confidence around fixing things.

This is also a bit of an experiment for us. We want to see how this format works and whether it might become something we can repeat with other topics in future. There is no shortage of everyday objects that deserve their own repair night.

The event is taking place as part of Dublin Climate Action Week, which makes it a great fit. Repair is one of the simplest ways to reduce waste, keep useful things in use for longer, and help more people feel confident about understanding and maintaining the objects around them.

This session will be led by Jeffrey Roe, an engineer, maker, and long-time TOG member who has spent years running workshops, Repair Cafés, and hands-on events that help people build practical skills.

Event Details

Date: Thursday, 14 May
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: TOG Hackerspace
Cost: €5 via Eventbrite, with the fee going as a donation to TOG

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/repair-club-lamps-edition-shedding-a-little-light-on-lamp-repair-tickets-1987020952157?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you are curious about repair, want to learn a bit more about fault-finding, or just fancy trying something new, this should be a good way to spend an evening at the space.

And if this goes well, we would love to run more Repair Clubs in future. If there is a repair topic you would like to see covered, or if you would like to lead one yourself, please let us know. There is always something worth taking apart, figuring out, and bringing back to life.

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TOG Hackerspace at ZeroDays CTF 2026

We are delighted that TOG Hackerspace is a community sponsor of ZeroDays CTF 2026. This year, we are especially excited to be hosting the lockpicking challenges as part of the event. ZeroDays CTF 2026 takes place at Croke Park on Saturday, 21 March 2026, and Zero Days Security says it is aimed at students, university graduates, and ICT professionals, with 400+ participants expected.

At TOG, we love community events that encourage experimentation, curiosity, and playful uses of technology. We are big believers in learning by doing, and lockpicking is a great fit for that. It is hands-on, practical, a bit puzzly, and always a good way to get people thinking differently about how things work.

ZeroDays has done a great job building up cybersecurity events in Ireland, and we are glad to play a small part in this year’s event. Capture the flag competitions are a brilliant way to bring people together, whether they are completely new to the area or already deep into the world of security. They create space for problem solving, teamwork, and plenty of chances to learn something new. Zero Days Security says its goal is to promote, develop, and encourage participation in CTF events in Ireland.

This year’s theme is MEMES, so there should be a good bit of fun and silliness mixed in with the challenges, too. Registration opens at 9 am, with the competition kicking off at 10 am, so it promises to be a full day of activity based on the event description you shared.

If you are heading along, be sure to drop by the lockpicking area and say hello. We are looking forward to meeting participants, chatting with visitors, and adding a hands-on challenge to what should be a brilliant day.

See you at ZeroDays CTF 2026.