The winners of the 58th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition have been announced.
Aditya Joshi, aged 15, and Aditya Kumar, aged 16, 3rd year students from Synge Street, Dublin, have taken home the top prize for a project entitled “A New Method of Solving the Bernoulli Quadrisection Problem”.
The students presented their project in the Intermediate section in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category.
Professor Pat Guiry, Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry at UCD and Chair of Group Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences Judging Panel said: "The students tackled the problem using the technique of particle swarm optimisation, an algorithmic approach inspired by the biological phenomena of the behaviour of individuals within flocks or swarms. The judges were highly impressed by their elegant work, their creative ideas and their excellent presentation skills. The students presented a new approach to a problem that dates back to 1687, while also identifying areas of possible application in contemporary engineering."
The 2022 BT Young Scientist & Technology winners received the BTYSTE perpetual trophy and the top prize of €7,500. They will also represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, which takes place in September 2022.
The award for Individual winner went to Ross O’Boyle, aged 16, a transition year student from Portmarnock Community College for his project "An investigation into the effectiveness of various ventilation methods using CO2 as a proxy for the spread of Covid-19 in both controlled and real-life scenarios". The student was in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences Individual Category at Intermediate level.
Professor Orla Feely, Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact, UCD & Chair of Individual Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences said: "Ross used experiments and mathematical models to investigate the effectiveness of different ventilation methods at maintaining safe CO2 levels, with a view to preventing the spread of Covid-19. The judges were very impressed by the breadth of the project, and also by the way in which the student applied scientific principles to a problem of great current interest."
The Group runners-up award was presented to Conor Bradshaw, David Hughes and Dara Newsome, 6th year students at Mercy Mounthawk, Tralee, Co. Kerry for their project entitled 'A Wearable Smart Device for Dementia Patients'. The students were in the Technology category at senior level.
These talented young students have invented an intelligent spectacle system which helps reduce anxiety and fear in people with dementia. This includes an advanced product design, an embedded AI visual recognition system, with multi-mode communication capability.
The Individual runner-up award was presented to Andrei Florian, aged 17, a 5th year student at St Aidan’s CBS, Dublin for his project entitled ‘An Investigation into the Development of a Digital PR-STV Electoral Voting System using Blockchain Technologies’ in the Technology category at Senior level.
Andrei created a unique end to end system which enables remote voting and has the potential to transform the election process.
And that's a wrap of our #BTYSTE2022 Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to all our winners & to all of you for getting involved, all of us @BTYSTE are extremely proud of you!
You are all an inspiration & we loved seeing your smiling faces#BTYSTE #Beyondlimits pic.twitter.com/3wOUMRciu5— BT Young Scientist (@BTYSTE) January 14, 2022
Minister for Education Norma Foley said: "It is both encouraging and heartening to witness the level of creativity and innovation of this year’s entrants as demonstrated through their meticulously researched and ingenious projects. Each one of you is a credit to yourself, your family, your school and you should be proud of your accomplishments. The calibre of entries is a testament to the tenacity and talent of the students behind them, and it is this constant high standard that makes BT Young Scientist one of the longest running, and most successful STEM events in Europe."
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