BT Young Scientist: Special Award winners

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND THE MARINE

Biological & Ecological – Senior: Olivia O’Shea, Erica O’Brien Murray, Abigail O’Brien Murray; Can we save the Common Ash?; Loreto Secondary School.

ABP FOOD GROUP FARM SAFETY AWARD

Biological & Ecological – Intermediate: John Buckley; Investigation of a prototype tool belt to prevent musculoskeletal injuries in vets; Árdscoil Uí Urmoltaigh.

Matt Williams: Ross Byrne rising to Leinster challenge could help Ireland hit heights in South Africa

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The Movie Quiz: Which Irish seaside town features a statue of Richard Harris?

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‘Jesus Christ, the doors are locked’: The full story of the Stardust fire, with new testimony

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Family affairs: How Ireland’s newly rich are putting money to work in secretive firms

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ALEXION

Technology – Intermediate: Sadie Loftus; An investigation into the use of external electrical impulses in the treatment and management of Raynaud’s disease; Salesian Secondary College.

ELI LILLY

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Intermediate: Rachael Burns; An investigation into alternative feed stock for the production of biodiesel fuel contributing to a cleaner environment; Coláiste Dún an Rí.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF IRELAND

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Junior: Chloe Ní Chonghaile, Mairtin Ó Conghaile, Amy Ní Chlèirigh; Cumhacht na dtonn ar Inis Meáin- An féidir le fórsa nach féidir a stopadh rud dochorraithe a bhogadh; Coláiste Naomh Eoin.

IRISH SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Junior: Padraig Doherty, Madison Reddin; A Rubbish Physics Project; Desmond College.

META

Technology – Senior: Aaron Dignam, Ciaran Leddy; GaelTalk – a virtual reality immersive Irish language learning experience that can promote the practice of the Irish language; St Joseph’s Secondary School.

[ Tipperary students win 2023 BT Young Scientist competition ]

THE ROAD SAFETY AWARD

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Kate Ballance, Sadhbh Nolan, Alex Mc Elroy; Does music interfere with our steering wheels? A systematic investigation into the affects that different genres and styles of music have on driving ability and driving habits; St Mary’s Secondary School.

TEAGASC

Biological & Ecological – Intermediate: Aine Shortall, Kate Whyte; A Sweeter Way to Treat Equine Parasites; Moate Community School.

THE .IE AWARD

Technology – Intermediate: Shaunak Mohapatra; Creating a secure and accessible healthcare platform; Confey Community College.

COMREG – COMMISSION FOR COMMUNICATIONS REGULATION

Technology – Senior: Donal McDermott, Tega Awhinawhi; An Investigation into the Feasibility of Using Microcontrollers in Buoyancy Aids to Prevent Marine Casualties; Marist College.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Biological & Ecological – Intermediate: Alisha Manoj; Which compostable bin liner is the best to home compost?; St Andrews College.

SELF HELP AFRICA SCIENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT

Technology – Senior: Vedh Kannan, Will Carkner; BloodBox: A diagnostic tool for blood-borne diseases; Sutton Park School.

SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND

Technology – Intermediate: Sebastian Galvin, Julian Lewandowski, Evan Wynne; A Solution to Coastal Flooding in Irish Cities; Sutton Park School.

WILLIAMS LEA IRELAND

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Leanne Mahon, Aimee Farrell; Vaping Unveiled – Harmless or Habit-Forming?; FCJ Secondary School.

BEST PROJECT IN IRISH

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Clarisse Ní Chonchubhair, Sadbh Bonnington, Patrick Cox; Imscrúdú ar an Éifeacht atá ag Binaural Beats ar an gcodladh; Meanscoil Gharman.

INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS IN IRELAND

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Senior: Aaron Waldron, Conor Quinlivan; Factors Affecting Muon Flux Density; Mungret Community College.

[ BT Young Scientist: Category Award winners ]

REGENERON

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Intermediate: Oisín O’Neill, Darragh Henderson; Developing a device for economically viable desalination of seawater for individuals in developing countries; Oatlands College.

CISCO

Technology – Intermediate: Minahil Mir, Tamima Abedin, Abbey McNamara; Hit the Books; Coláiste Nano Nagle.

STRIPE

Technology – Intermediate: Weichen Huang; Self-Supervised Cross-Modal Representation Learning; St Andrews College.

THE CENTRAL STATISTICS OFFICE (CSO) OPEN DATA AWARD

Biological & Ecological – Senior: Michael Hearty, Luke McKeveney; An investigation into methane release from permafrost using satellite data; Abbey Christian Brothers School.

THE IV INSIGHTFUL AWARD

Technology – Senior: Andrei Florian, Ilya Solovjov; An Investigation into Global Gene Sequence Screening and the Development of a Novel Screening System; St Aidan’s CBS.

HEANET – IRELAND’S NATIONAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION NETWORK

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Rachel Wallace; An investigation into the differences in how men and women are treated in online gaming; St Aloysius School.

FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY OF IRELAND

Technology – Junior: Laiba Mir, Wagma Jan, Lana Qaddoura; Keepin’ it halal; Coláiste Nano Nagle.

NATIONAL WATER FORUM

Biological & Ecological – Intermediate: Eve O’Driscoll, Susannah Guerin; An investigation into the effectiveness of constructed farmland sediment ponds in promoting biodiversity as indicated by the presence of water beetles as bioindicators; Colaiste Treasa.

IRISH RESEARCH COUNCIL

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Sophie Brennan, Ava Clare; Flow Forecast; Loreto High School.

eFlow STAR (Sustainable Transport Award Recognition)

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Lily O’Shea, Grace Kelleher, Caoimhe O’Brien; Passenger transport emissions modelling to inform local and national school sustainable transport policy; St Mary’s Secondary School Macroom.

GREENCOAT RENEWABLES

Technology – Intermediate: Seán O’Sullivan; Investigating the Viability of Micro-Level Wind Generation; Colaiste Chiarain.

HEALTH RESEARCH BOARD

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Leah Nolan; Vaping Under the Influence: An investigation into the impact of social media on adolescent attitudes towards vaping; Loreto Secondary School.

TACKLE YOUR FEELINGS

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Senior: Shane O’Connor, Liam Carew; Assessing the impact of second-Level education on key aspects of adolescents life and development; The Abbey School.

MET ÉIREANN

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Intermediate: Oisin Jackson; A statistical analysis of the relationship between precipitation and river discharge in the Aille River catchment area; Mary Immaculate Secondary School.

NATIONAL DISABILITY AUTHORITY

Biological & Ecological – Intermediate: April Conroy, Kathleen Campbell, Jessica Fergus; The effect of ageing on balance; St Vincent’s Secondary School.

HOUSING AGENCY

Technology – Junior: Hazem Ahmed, Muhammad Billal Ali Khan; Buy or Rent? A predictive analytical algorithm to predict house prices using machine learning; Coláiste Phádraig CBS.

JACK RESTAN DISPLAYS

Biological & Ecological – Senior: Caragh Killeen, Ailish Marrinan, Cian McInerney; Kelpoleum: Sugar kelp biofuel as an alternative to petroleum fuel; St Joseph’s Community College.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Intermediate: Ava Conerney; G. E. T together – Girls in Engineering and Technology; St Brigids College.

BEST PROJECT NORTHERN IRELAND

Biological & Ecological – Senior: Cara Colvin; Cigarette smoke causes scarring of the lungs – how?; South Eastern Regional College, Lisburn.

STRIPE CHEMICAL, PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL

Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences – Senior: Adrian Dragomir; Al-energy; Adamstown Community College.

HORIZON BIOLOGICAL & ECOLOGICAL

Biological & Ecological – Senior: Ayush Tambde; Analysis of single-cell proteomic data to understand mechanisms of oncogenic transformation and how to control them; Stratford College.

RTÉ SOCIAL & BEHAVIOURAL

Social & Behavioural Sciences – Junior: Maria Lenny; An investigation into the effect of ball target practice on memory function among primary school-aged children; Loreto College.

ANALOG TECHNOLOGY

Technology – Senior: Solomon Doyle; DermAI- Deep neural network based detection tool for the classification of benign and malignant skin lesions in aid of early prognosis; Dundalk Grammar School.