Brilliant young boffins break all records

FROM new anti-virus software to smartphones, and from painkillers to

‘Big Data’ it was all on display at this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2014 in the RDS.

This was another record breaking year for the ever popular event that attracted the highest level of entries in its 50 year history.

A massive 4,418 students from across Ireland entered the exhibition with a total of 2,000 projects.

And, of course, the Southside was well represented among the 550 projects places, which are a mix of both group and individual effort.

The exhibition that showcases students’ talents in the areas of science, technology, mathematics and engineering is the largest of its kind in Ireland or Europe.

Apart from the 210 participating schools over 45,000 visitors are expected to have pass through the doors of the RDS to view projects and the impressive array of entertainment acts that have become a great day out for the family.

As well as a hall packed full of fun, creative inventions and interactive education, this year’s visitors were treated to special acts like Titan the Robot, World of Robots and 3D Theatre.

The overall winner or winners of this year’s exhibition receives a cheque for e5,000 and the BT Young Scientist perpetual trophy.

They will also get the chance to represent Ireland at the EU Contest for Young Scientists in September 2014.

The Best Individual or Group (depending on whether the overall winner is an individual or group) receives a cheque for e2,400 and a BT perpetual trophy

The Runner-up Individual and Runner-up Group both receive a cheque for $1,200 and a BT perpetual trophy while 30 students are selected to go forward to the BT Business Bootcamp, the fourth year of the mentoring programme by BT and other industry leaders

There is also the NI Award, a special award presented to the best overall project from entries throughout Northern Ireland.

Over the 50 years since the competition began it has become one of the longest standing exhibitions of its kind in the world

Over 65,000 students have entered over 31,000 projects in the exhibition over the past 49 years that has been organised and sponsored by BT for the past 14 years.

The 2,000 projects and 379 schools entered this year represented all 32 counties.

The exhibitors were made up of 101 projects for the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category; 157 projects for the Biological & Ecological Sciences category; 103 for the Technology category and in traditional style, Social & Behavioural Sciences topped the entries level with 189 projects

Dublin dominates the entries with the top three counties for projects outside the capital coming from Cork (111), Limerick (41) and Donegal (25).

In the battle of the sexes 58.2 per cent of winners to date have been male, 38.8 per cent female and three per cent have been mixed groups.

However, girls are in the majority this year with 698 females taking part compared to 467 males.

The youngest ever winner was 13-year-old Emer Jones from Tralee, Co Kerry who took the top prize in January 2008

The first ever Young Scientist Exhibition was held in the Mansion House in 1965 when 230 students participated and 5,000 people attended.

Irish Young Scientists are among the youngest entrants and have scooped over 20 top awards to date in the Science and Engineering Fair in the USA.

To date, Irish students have taken the top honours 14 times at the European Union Science Contest with the most recent winner Ciara Judge taking first prize at the 25th EU Contest in September 2013.

Some of those who went on to leave their mark in their respective fields include Rhona Togher and Eimear O’Carroll, group runners up in 2009, who together with their physics teacher Anthony Carolan, developed their project into a web-based company named Restored Hearing which offers an online therapy to aid people suffering from temporary tinnitus or ringing in the ears

Patrick Collison from Limerick went on to become the exhibition’s first millionaire entrepreneur when he and his brother John sold their company Auctomatic in March 2008 for an estimated $5 million.

Sarah Flannery from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Blarney, Cork featured on the front page of newspapers around the world after she scooped the 1999 title for her project on encryption. Sarah went on to take first place at the 11th EU Science Contest in Greece and represented the European Union at the International Nobel Prize ceremonies in December 1999.