Cork tops again with country’s best young scientists

AS Coláiste Choilm in Ballincollig took stock of their second win at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) in as many years, the winners Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan made a triumphant return to their school on Monday.

The two 16-year-old TY students took home the top prize for their project entitled ‘A statistical investigation into the prevalence of gender stereotyping in 5-7 year olds and the development of an initiative to combat gender bias’, which was in the Social and Behavioural Sciences category.

The duo took home the top prize of €7,500 and also received the BTYSTE perpetual trophy, as well as getting the opportunity to represent Ireland at the European Union contest for Young Scientists, which takes place in Santander in Spain this September.

Meanwhile, Kinsale Community School continued its success with 14 projects qualifying for the exhibition, making it the highest number of projects from any school.

Principal of Kinsale Community School Fergal McCarthy said they are ‘beyond proud’ of the achievement of all their students at this year’s event, and especially the fact that they won the NAPD award for ‘Best School in the Republic of Ireland.’

‘Winning this yet again is something we are particularly pleased about,’ Fergal said.

‘This is a special award as it reflects the great work done by every teacher in the school in respect of shaping the students’ participation in the Young Scientists exhibition.’

Second Year student Ellen Crowley came 2nd for her project, while Ben Loughnane came 1st for his project on heart calcifications. Students won two other awards while six other projects were highly commended by judges.

Other West Cork schools also celebrated success withBandon Grammar School celebrating wins as Greg Tarr picked up, not only the Stripe special award for most ambitious use of software, but also came first in the senior technology group for his project.

Katrin Birk and Aisling Barry took first place for their project looking at the accuracy of weather forecasts and they also won the Unge Forskera award, meaning they will be entering the Danish Young Scientist competition.

Lucy Teape and Lisa Nield from St Brogan’s College were placed second in their category for their project on emotional intelligence in teenagers.

Second year students, Kelly-Ann O’Sullivan, Maighread Kiely and Muireann McCarthy were also placed second in their category.

Hammies students John Mullan, Paddy O’Halloran and Jack O’Donovan’s project investigating cultured meat was highly commended by the judges.

Coláiste na Toirbhirte,  Mount St Michael in Rosscabery and Clonakilty Community College  also had projects that were highly commended.

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