Northern Ireland Students Shine at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2012

The winners of the 48th annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2012 have been announced! Students from St. Mary’s College Co. Derry and Ballyclare High School, who this week showcased their projects at the prestigious event, have been formally recognised at the awards.

Beating off stiff competition from 30 Northern Ireland finalists, St Mary’s College won the inaugural Best Northern Ireland School Overall Award, sponsored by MATRIX. The school exhibited seven projects, the highest ever number of projects from any Northern Ireland school.

While the University of Ulster Northern Ireland Special Award was presented to Ballyclare High School for their project; An investigation into finding an alternative to petroleum based inks to prevent food contamination from packaging. The project developed by students Meg McWhirter and Rebekah McNeill was entered in the Biological and Ecological category, Junior section.

Colm O’Neill, CEO, BT Ireland said, “The passion and enthusiasm we have seen from the students taking part this week has been outstanding. This year’s exhibition was bigger and better than ever before and the reaction from the students, teachers and visitors to the RDS this week has been amazing. We live in a continually changing world and what we have seen from the students this week is that they have the foresight and innovation to come up with real problem solving ideas that can help Northern Ireland to grow and develop into the future. Huge congratulations to St. Mary’s College and Ballyclare High School and all the winners. I look forward to watching their progress in the coming years.” he added.

The award for individual runner-up went to Aoife Gregg, from Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin, for her project entitled “Cryptography: A study of the Irish language” entered in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category, intermediate section.

Ann Blanking, teacher at St. Mary’s College commented; “We are delighted to receive this award and the exhibition has been a great opportunity for our students to showcase their talents and get involved in STEM subjects in a fun and engaging way. The combined efforts and hard work has resulted in some really interesting projects which have been really well received this week.”

Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly, from Synge Street CBS, Dublin were presented with the top prize for their project entitled, “Simulation accuracy in the gravitational many-body problem”. The announcement was made at the BT Arena at Dublin’s RDS this evening.

Eric and Mark were entered in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category, senior section and were presented with a cheque for €5,000, tickets to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the opportunity to represent Ireland at the 24th European Union Young Scientist competition taking place in Bratislava in September and a Waterford crystal trophy.  

Almost 1,200 students from 30 counties covering 550 projects from 221 schools nationwide competed for the coveted title ‘Winner of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2012.’

For more information on the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition please visit www.btyoungscientist.com or twitter.com/btyste