Behind The News: Young Scientists, Eimear Murphy and Ian O’Sullivan

The hotly debated topic of how parents' alcohol consumption affects their teenagers' drinking gained recognition this week when a study by two Irish students won a prestigious award at the EU contest for Young Scientists in Milan.

Eimear Murphy and Ian O’Sullivan from Coláiste Treasa in Kanturk, Co Cork, discovered that a liberal attitude to alcohol and increased levels of consumption by parents were linked to hazardous adolescent drinking behaviour.

Their findings came from more than 900 surveys filled out by Cork teenagers and their parents.

In Milan, the students were awarded a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May 2016 for their efforts. They had already won the top prize in the BT Young Scientists Exhibition in Dublin in January 2015.

So, what was it like to represent Ireland in Milan? “It was so much fun and a really good experience,” says Murphy. “It was great to meet people from all over Europe, the United States, China and New Zealand,” says O’Sullivan. It was both students’ first time to visit Italy.

Ethical approval

It was the methodology rather than the subject matter itself that attracted the judges’ attention, according to Murphy. “Before we carried out our surveys, we [sought and] got ethical approval from the clinical research ethics committee for Cork teaching hospitals. The judges were impressed by that,” she says.

O’Sullivan and Murphy were equally impressed by other winners at the EU contest. “The 15-year-old American student who won the first prize is starting his PhD in Maths next year,” says O’Sullivan. Sanath Kumar Devalapurkar’s project focused on the algebraic K-theory.

A Finnish study on increasing the number of people donating blood and a computer programme that prints out the sheet music while a violin is being played also impressed the Cork students.

And what advice did they have for those entering their ideas this month for next year’s Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin?

“Pick something you’re interested in because you’ll be spending a lot of time on it,” says O’Sullivan.

“Choose a study that will catch someone’s eye and an idea that is doable,” adds Murphy. It was the Cork students’ first time to enter the exhibition although their school enters every year.

Now in fifth year at Coláiste Treasa, O’Sullivan and Murphy don’t yet have a clear idea of what careers they’d like to follow. “I’m taking biology and chemistry as my choice subjects, so I’m interested in something in science,” says O’Sullivan.

Social sciences

Murphy is keeping her options open. “I’m studying biology and business but I’m really interested in social sciences as well which this project was all about.”

Murphy was one of those who contributed to an Irish Times advice column earlier this week on the secret to a successful Young Scientist pitch.

The deadline for applying for the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition is September 29th. Last year, there were more than 2,000 entries for 550 places.