Six Limerick schools take home awards from BT Young Scientist exhibition

By Pune Media On Jan 11, 2025 16

Sarah Hurley from Coláiste Chiaráin in Croom showcasing her project ‘Bo-Watch: An AI powered monitoring system for cows’. Photo: Peter Houlihan.

SIX schools took home coveted gongs from the hotly contested BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) this weekend, one which is no stranger to victory at the prestigious national schools competition.

Despite missing out on the top spot, the BT Young Scientist and Technologist of the Year award, taken home to Limerick last year by Seán O’Sullivan from Coláiste Chiaráin in Croom, class will be in session this week with some extra excitement in a string local schools following worthy wins.

Chalking up a back-to-back victory, Coláiste Chiaráin took home this year’s Chemical, Physical, and Mathematical Award, for Miles Bueno and Lille Li’s ‘Discovering habitable exoplanets with the help of AI’ project.

The award was sponsored by Stripe, which itself was co-founded by a former BT Young Scientist winner Patrick Collison, who took home the top prize for Castletroy College in 2000.

The pair also took first place in the intermediate group Chemical, Physical, and Mathematical Sciences category.

In the Educator of Excellence category, for teachers who go above and beyond in helping teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) to the pioneering young minds of tomorrow, Samantha Prior from Coláiste Nano Nagle was awarded the Analog Devices Technology Educator of Excellence award.

Also for Coláiste Nano Nagle, Sara dos Santos Lemon and Denijela Muzdeka took home the .IE Award in the technology category for their SettleEase: Empowering Immigrants to Thrive project.

Desmond College took home the first prize in the junior individual Health and Wellbeing section for Nell McMahon’s ‘Facial Rehabilitation: A technological approach for Bell’s Palsy patients’ entry.

Hugo Phelan of Glenstal Abbey was awarded third place in the senior individual Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category for his project, ‘A study of the formation of hydraulic jumps in a river as used by freestyle kayakers’.

Display awards went to Zeina Mohammed of Coláiste Iósaef in Kilmallock and Orlaith Lynch and Luke McKeon of Castletroy College.

11 Limerick schools brought a total of 26 projects to the exhibition this year, hosted at the RDS in Dublin, including Ardscoil Rís, Castletroy College, Coláiste Chiaráin, Coláiste Iósaef, Coláiste Nano Nagle, Desmond College, Glenstal Abbey, Laurel Hill Secondary School FCJ, Mungret Community College, Salesian Secondary College, and Scoil Pól.

The local schools battled the treacherous snow and ice conditions across the week to make it up to the exhibition in time, with one dedicated school in particular, Desmond College in Newcastle West, calling in the help of the local community with tractors to clear to roads so they could make the journey to the RDS.

The top title was taken home in 2024 by Coláiste Chiaráin student Seán O’Sullivan, for his Verify Me author verification application, which analyses the authorship of a text based on the author’s previous writing.

He then went on to perform strongly at the EU Contest for Young Scientists in Katowice, Poland last September.

It was a family affair for the outright winners of this year’s competition, sisters Ciara, Saoirse, and Laoise Murphy, of Presentation Secondary School in Tralee.

The sister trio won for their ‘Aid Care Treat’ project, a medical assistance app designed to support healthcare response.

The Murphy sisters will go on to represent Ireland later this year at the EU Contest for Young Scientists in Riga, Latvia, and the World Expo in Osaka, Japan.