Young Scientists gather for exhibition

SOME of the best minds in the country will be displaying the efforts of their creative thinking this week as the 2018 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition gets underway.

Over 1,100 inspiring students will showcase their projects to an expected 50,000 visitors and 84 judges from January 10 to 13.

As well as the 550 projects that will be on show, there will be a live Q&A with an astronaut in training, talks by ‘the world’s most famous hacker’, mentalists, live science shows and robot wars.

Now in its 54th year, the exhibition received an impressive 2,031 projects from 4,251 students across Ireland, with every county represented by a submission.

The 550 projects that qualified for the exhibition at the RDS will compete to be crowned the 2018 BT Young Scientist(s) & Technologist(s) of the Year.

A host of new acts, shows and speakers will be performing at this year’s exhibition for the first time, including Ministry of Science UK, a live Q&A with astronaut in training, Norah Patten, and keynote address at BT Mindshare from the ‘world’s most famous hacker’, Kevin Mitnick.

Shows returning by popular demand include mentalist David Meade, The Real Science of the Circus, 3D Space Journey and the incredibly popular World of Robots. 

‘The world’s most famous hacker’, Kevin Mitnick, will be performing a live hack on his first appearance in Ireland at BT Mindshare, which takes place on Thursday 11 at 5.30pm in the BT Arena.

Once wanted by the FBI, and now turned trusted security consultant to the Fortune 500, Kevin will bring insight and experience to a room full of senior business professionals where security is top of their agenda. 

Irish astronaut in training, Norah Patten, will be hosting a live Q&A on Thursday, January 11 at 3.15pm in the Concert Hall.

Norah will speak about her vigorous sub-orbital training in Florida to become the first Irish person to travel to space. Students and visitors can win a chance to meet Norah by entering the #GirlintheGalaxy competition.

Hosted by TG4’s Roisin Ni Thomáin and broadcaster Aidan Power, the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in Europe and one of the largest school science fairs in the world. 

An unusually high number of the 2018 exhibition entries investigate burning social issues such as homelessness, transgender rights and mental health.

While subjects such as these are not uncommon for the Behavioural Science Category, this year the trend is visible in the more traditional categories such as Biological & Ecological Science and Chemical, and Physical & Mathematical Science, highlighting just how much these topics are impacting on students’ lives.

Shay Walsh, the MD of BT Ireland said: “BT Ireland is proud to once again be organising the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition and to announce the 2018 participants.

“As a technology company we feel that it is vital to foster an interest in STEM right across the country to ensure our cities and towns have the talent required to move forward as a society.

“This is something we are proud to do with our involvement each year with the exhibition.”

Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, added: “I have set the ambition to make Ireland’s education and training service the best in Europe within a decade.

“Key to achieving this ambition is ensuring that our young people develop analytical skills, critical thinking and creativity.”

Visitors can plan their visit to the RDS in advance by downloading the free BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition app, available on Android and Apple devices.

Full of helpful information, the app includes an exhibition map, a search tool for student projects and exhibitors, a schedule of events, as well as links to the exhibition’s various social networks for live updates throughout the event.

Tickets are available online and cost €6 for students, €12 for adults and €25 for a family pass which includes two adults as well as for two children.