Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, commonly called the Young Scientist Exhibition, is an Irish annual school students' science competition that has been held in the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland, every January since the competition was founded by Tom Burke and Tony Scott in 1965.

Exhibition stands in 2005

The competition

The purpose of the competition is to encourage interest in science in secondary schools. For the 51st year of the competition in 2016, there were over 2,000 entries, from 396 schools which was the highest number ever, 550 of which were selected for the Exhibition at the RDS.

Students apply to participate in the competition. Their science project entries are evaluated by judges and about one-third of applicants are accepted to participate in the public exhibition. Students are allocated exhibition stands in an exhibition hall where they set up their projects for viewing by the public. Competing projects are judged during the three days of the exhibition, and prizes are awarded.

Projects are awarded in five categories: biology, physics, social and behavioural sciences, health and wellbeing and technology. Health and wellbeing is the newest category, only being added in 2023 to celebrate the 60th anniversary and to lower admissions to social and behavioural sciences. Three levels of entry are accepted, junior, intermediate and senior. In each category three main prizes are awarded; other prizes include a display award, highly commended rosettes, and a cancer awareness award. The winners of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition advance to participate in prestigious international events such as the European Union Contest for Young Scientists.

John Monahan was the inaugural winner of the Young Scientist Exhibition in 1965; then a student of Newbridge College, his project was an explanation of the process of digestion in the human stomach. He went on to establish a NASDAQ-listed biotech company in California after attending University College Dublin.

Aer Lingus sponsored the competition for the first 33 years. 2021 marked the 21st year in which the Exhibition was sponsored by BT Ireland. It has produced at least one author, Sarah Flannery, and one billionaire, Patrick Collison. Many of the past winners have gone on to establish international companies in the technology they developed. One of the most notable was Baltimore Technologies.

Tom Burke, who co-founded the exhibition with physicist Tony Scott, died in March 2008. An award at the event (a bursary offered to senior participants) was named in his memory.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first ever virtual Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition was held in January 2021 with over 1,000 students representing more than 200 schools taking part.

Overall winners by year

Year	Winner	Age	School	Project title	Notes
1965	John Monahan		Newbridge College, Co. Kildare	An apparatus to demonstrate and examine the various chemical reactions that take place in the human body during digestion and to examine the effects of abnormal conditions	- Education: Biochemistry at UCD. PhD in biochemistry from McMaster University, Ontario. - Where is he now? Vice-president, research and development at the cutting edge Synthetic Biologics, California.
1966	Máire Caitríona Ní Dhomhnaill		Ursuline Convent, Co. Sligo	The "four colour problem" in topology. An attempt to form a proof or partial proof of this problem and to extend the proof to cover other surfaces	- Education: BSc in physics and mathematics at UCC. - Where is she now? Science teacher at Dublin school
1967	Walter Hayes		St Vincent's CBS, Glasnevin, Dublin	Salmonellis in Mice: A study of etiology, course and effect of the disease on the host	- Education: Languages at TCD. - Where is he now? Teaching English in Africa.
1968	George Andrew Reynolds		St James' CBS, Dublin	To determine the extent and nature of mineralisation in the iron-manganese lode at Cloghleagh, Co. Wicklow, by means of electrical resistance, geo-resistivity and natural current surveys	- Project: 'Geophysical study of an iron mine' - Education: Earth sciences at TCD; Masters in geophysics Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies; earth sciences degree in Spain; MBA degree. - Where is he now? Management consulting in Ireland.
1969	Luke Drury		Wesley College, Dublin	The construction and use of a spectro-photometer to investigate complex ion formation in a transition metal	- Project: 'Construction and use of a spectro-photometer to investigate complex ion formation in a transitional metal' - Education: BSc in physics at TCD; PhD in astrophysics from Cambridge. - Where is he now? Astrophysicist at Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics, Germany.
1970	Maria Edgeworth		Convent of Mercy, Co. Longford	To extract pigments from various flowers and investigate their possible practical use	- Education: BSc in physics from TCD; diploma in international studies from Nice. - Where is she now? Set up Government Equine Diagnostic Laboratory at Coolmore Stud, Co Tipperary; working as a biochemist.
1971	Peter Short		Presentation Convent, Clane, Co. Kildare	A survey of Lough Bollard, near Clane, to determine its history and the reason for its disappearance in the 18th century	- Where is he now? Set up his own company, Pharma Buy.
1972	Seán Mac Fheorais		Coláiste Mhuire, Baile Atha Cliath	Grinn- staidéar ar pterostigmata	- Education: BSc in biochemistry from Dundee University. - Where is he now? Unilever Laboratories in Cheshire, England.
1973	Tadhg Begley		North Monastery CBS, Co. Cork	A painstaking search for minerals and pollutants in water samples collected in jars over a number of years from the sea off Youghal	- Education: BSc in chemistry from UCC; PhD in organic chemistry from California Institute of Technology; University of Geneva; and MIT. - Where is he now? Associate professor of chemistry at Cornell University.
1974	Richard Elliott		Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh	The use of computer techniques to provide mathematical models of biological situations	- Education: Trained as a surgeon in Edinburgh; cardiothoracic surgery; occupational toxicology. - Where is he now? Epidemiologist at HSE medical sciences unit in Liverpool.
1975	Noel Boyle		St Finian's College, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath	A study of photoelectric cells and construction of a spectrophotometer	- Education: BA and MB from Trinity College Dublin; research at St James's Hospital, Dublin. - Where is he now? Professor of medicine at UCLA in California.
1976	Mary Kelly-Quinn		Our Lady's Secondary School, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan	To the existence of minerals by means of analyzing rock slides; to carry out a geophysical survey aimed at verifying direction and depth of veins and mineral outcrops	- Education: Degree, PhD and post-doctoral research in zoology at UCD and TCD. - Where is she now? UCD lecturer in Department of Zoology.
1977	Micheal Og O'Briain		Colaiste Mhuire, Dublin	An integrated study of the scientific conservation of Rogerstown Estuary, County Dublin	- Education: BSc in zoology from UCD; co-organised and took part in three Irish Brent Goose Expeditions to Arctic. - Where is he now? Appointed to Environmental Directorate of the European Community.
1978	Donald McDonnell		Crescent College Comp, Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick	A study of effect of proven pollution on ecological balance in the Shannon at Limerick	McDonnell received a degree in biochemistry from UCG (now NUIG) in 1983. He then left Ireland and moved to Houston where he did a PhD in cell biology under the mentorship of Bert O'Malley at Baylor College of Medicine. His thesis, which involved the molecular cloning of receptors for steroid hormone receptors, brought him into the field of drug discovery. Following his fellowship training he left academics for a while and worked as head of molecular biology at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company in San Diego. In 1994 he moved back to academics and is now the Glaxo-Wellcome professor of molecular cancer biology at Duke University
1979	Jervis Good		Midleton College, Co. Cork	The concept of Ecopolemiology as Illustrated by a Preliminary Study of the Bionomics of the Earwig	- Education: Won the YS after dropping out of school with Leaving Cert; graduated from Trinity with BSc and then PhD from UCC in zoology. - Where is he now? Freelance environmental consultant.
1980	Karen Ruddock		Alexandra College, Milltown, Dublin	Lichens in relation to their environment	- Education: BSc in natural sciences from Trinity; HDip in education; Masters in applied linguistics. - Where is she now? Director of PPLI, implementing key actions in Languages Connect: Ireland's Foreign Languages Strategy in Education.
1981	Catherine Conlon		Muckross Park, Dublin	A study of physical, biochemical and anatomical aspects of the spider and its web, and its adaptation to its environment	- Education: Degree in medicine from UCD; Masters in public health from UCD. - Where is she now? Public health lecturer.
1982	Martynn Sheehan		Convent of Mercy, Moate, Co. Westmeath	Lichens may be used for medicine	- Education: BSc from UCG. - Where is she now? Validation manager with Elan Corporation, Athlone, Co Westmeath.
1983	Turan Mirza, William Murphy & Gareth Clarke	17/18/17	Carrickfergus Grammar School, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim	Microcomputer Based Robotics	The first group to win the Young Scientist Exhibition. They represented Ireland in Copenhagen, Denmark at the European Young Scientists. - Education: William studied computer science at University of Ulster. Gareth completed education in technology degree from Queen's University, Belfast. - Where are they now? William is an IT consultant. Gareth teaches computers and technology in Canada.
1984	Eoin Walsh		Colaiste Choilm CBS, Swords, Dublin	Simulation of Drude Electron Theory and Kinetic Theory of Gases	- Education: Experimental physics from Trinity; post-graduate research at TCD. - Where is he now? Vice president of Morgan Stanley bank.
1985	Ronan McNulty		St Mary's College, Rathmines, Dublin	The Musical Typewriter (A system which prints music as you play)	Education: Mathematical and experimental physics at UCD; PhD in particle physics at University of Liverpool. - Where is he now? Physics lecturer at UCD.
1986	Niamh Mulvany & Breda Maguire	17/17	Rosary College, Raheny, Dublin	Focus on the Viola tricolor - an Indepth study on Bull Island	Mulvany and Maguire went on to win a top award for Ireland at the Philips European competition for Young Scientists and Inventors in Oslo in May 1986. They were presented to King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden at the Nobel Ball later in 1986. Both went on to graduate from Trinity College Dublin with degrees in natural sciences, specialising in botany. - Where are they now? Breda is business manager with Smiths Medical, Co Dublin. Niamh is working to complete homeopathy qualification.
1987	Henry Byrne & Emma Donnellan		FCJ Secondary School, Bunclody, Co. Wexford	Fibre Optic Liquid Analyser	- Education: Henry studied mechanical and manufacturing engineering at Trinity. Emma attained a master's degree in marketing. - Where are they now? Henry is development manager for Roadstone Provinces. Emma is global consumer planner with Diageo.
1988	Siobhan Lanigan O'Keeffe		Navan Community College, Co. Meath	Geothermal Study of the River Skane	- Education: - Where is she now? Working with Ulster Wildlife.
1989	Grace O'Connor and Sinéad Finn		Ursuline College, Thurles, Co Tipperary	A Study on a Crop Fractation Industry	- Education: Grace did a masters in medical oncology at University of Manchester; pharmacy degree in Sunderland. Sinead studied Italian and history at UCD. - Where are they now? Grace is a pharmacist in Dublin.
1990	Anna Minchin-Dalton		Alexandra College, Milltown, Dublin	Studies of the Oyster Thief	- Education: BSc in rural resource development from Anglia Polytechnic University; masters from University of Reading. - Where is she now? Working as a marine biologist.
1991	Daniel Dundas and Barry O'Doherty		St. Patrick's College, Maghera, Co Londonderry	Dynamics of a Two-Well Potential Oscillator	- Education: BSc in physics with astrophysics from Queen's University Belfast; MSc in opto-electronics and optical information processing; PGCE in physics with science. Daniel received a PhD in theoretical physics from Queen's University Belfast. - Where are they now? Barry is teaching in Belfast.
1992	Elizabeth Dowling & Jean Byrne		St Paul's Secondary School, Greenhills, Dublin 12	A Picture Winged Insect. Population Dynamics of a Thistle Predator Terellia Serratulae	- Education: Elizabeth studied science at Tallaght RTC. Jean studied science at Trinity; masters in environmental resource management at UCD. - Where are they now? Elizabeth works for FBD Insurance. Jean works as a remote sensing specialist at Era Maptec in Dublin.
1993	Donal Keane & Rodger Toner		Abbey Grammar School, Newry, Co. Down	Assessment of Female Quality by Male Gammarus	- Education: Donal studied aeronautics at Imperial College, London; finance at Queen's University Belfast. Rodger studied medicine in London. - Where are they now? Donal works for financial software consultancy firm First Derivatives. Rodger is a doctor in London.
1994	Jane Feehan		St Brendan's Community School, Birr, Co. Offaly	The Secret Life of the Calluna Case-Carrier	- Education: Biological sciences at Oxford; attained PhD from TCD. - Where is she now? Working with Irish Environmental Protection Agency and European Environment Agency, Denmark.
1995	Brian Fitzpatrick and Shane Markey		Abbey Grammar School, Newry	Factors Affecting Cavitation in Whole Plants, Leaves and Vascular Bundles using Acoustic Detection	- Education: Brian studied medicine at TCD. Shane studied dentistry. - Where are they now? Brian works at Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry. Shane is a dentist in New York.
1996	Elsie O'Sullivan, Rowens Mooney, Patricia Lyne		Scoil Mhuire, Portarlington, Co. Laois	The Perfect Queen Bee	- Education: Elsie qualified as a vet from UCD. Rowena studied business management at DIT. Patricia received a commerce degree and masters in accountancy from UCD. - Where are they now? Elsie is a vet. Rowena works for Ryanair. Patricia is works for KPMG.
1997	Ciara McGoldrick, Emma McQuillan, Fiona Fraser	17	Dominican College, Belfast	The preservation of Biological Data in European Bog Bodies.	- Education: Ciara attained degrees in pathology and medicine at Queen's University Belfast. Emma completed degrees in forensic medicine and medicine from Dundee University. Fiona studied midwifery at University of Melbourne. - Where are they now? Ciara is a registrar in plastic surgery in Ulster Hospital Belfast. Fiona works in biomedical engineering.
1998	Raphael Hurley	15	Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, Bishopstown, Cork	The Mathematics of Monopoly	Gained a BSc (Hons) joint honours in mathematics and applied mathematics from University College Cork in 2005 Was named UCC Graduate of the Year in February 2006
1999	Sarah Flannery	16	Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Blarney	Cryptography – A new algorithm versus the RSA	Wrote a book on her algorithm and number theory in general, In Code: A Mathematical Journey (ISBN 0-7611-2384-9) First place – 11th European Union Contest for Young Scientists Gained a BA in computer science from the University of Cambridge in 2003, worked for Wolfram Research for a period and in 2006 was working with the EA software company in California, United States
2000	Thomas Gernon	16	Coláiste Rís, Dundalk, County Louth	The Geography and Mathematics of Europe's Urban Centres	First time in the competition's 36-year history that a social and behavioural sciences project won the top award Graduated with first class honours in geology from University College Dublin in 2004, going on to complete a PhD at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol His research on the dynamics of volcanic eruptions has taken him from diamond mines in Botswana and Arctic Canada, to many active volcanoes around the world, including those of Iceland, Italy, Greece and Far Eastern Siberia Currently lecturer of geology at Trinity College Dublin
2001	Peter Taylor, Shane Browne and Michael O'Toole	—	St. Kilian's Community School, Ballywaltrim, Bray	Investigating symmetrical shapes formed by polygons
2002	David Michael O'Doherty	—	Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin	The Distribution of the Primes and the Underlying Order to Chaos.	Mathematics undergraduate at Cambridge
2003	Adnan Osmani	16	St Finnian's College, Mullingar, County Westmeath	The graphical technological and user-friendly advancement of the Internet browser: XWebs	Osmani filed for a patent for his networking socket and web browser in 2003. He graduated with a BSc in software engineering from Sheffield Hallam University, a masters in software engineering from Warwick University and certificates in security from Oxford University. He has since written books on JavaScript development for O'Reilly and now works as an engineer at Google.
2004	Ronan Larkin	16	Synge Street CBS, Dublin	Generalised Continued Fractions	Mentored by Jim Cooke
2005	Patrick Collison	16	Castletroy College, Limerick	Croma: a new dialect of Lisp	Became an overnight millionaire at the age of 19 when he, alongside his 17-year-old brother John, sold their software company Auctomatic to a Canadian firm for more than €3 million. They then went on to found the company Stripe. As of 2017 Collison is the CEO of the company and owns a stake worth US$1.1 billion.
2006	Aisling Judge	14	Kinsale Community School, County Cork	The development and evaluation of a biological food spoilage indicator	Third place – 18th European Union Contest for Young Scientists; First Junior Category Winner
2007	Abdusalam Abubakar	17	Synge Street CBS, Dublin	An Extension of Wiener's Attack on RSA	First place – 19th European Union Contest for Young Scientists Originally from Somalia, had not used a computer before arriving in Ireland twenty months earlier. Mentored by Jim Cooke
2008	Emer Jones	13	Presentation Secondary School, Tralee, County Kerry	Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters	Youngest ever winner First winner from County Kerry First time her school had entered
2009	Liam McCarthy and John D. O'Callaghan	13/14	Kinsale Community School, County Cork	The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and Its Importance in Milk Production	Kinsale Community School became the first to simultaneously hold two separate national award winners after Aisling Judge's 2006 win. First place – 21st European Union Contest for Young Scientists
2010	Richard O'Shea	18	Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Blarney, County Cork	A biomass fired cooking stove for developing countries
2011	Alexander Amini	15	Castleknock College, Dublin	Tennis sensor data analysis
2012	Mark Kelly and Eric Doyle	17/17	Synge Street CBS, Dublin	Simulation accuracy in the gravitational many-body problem	Synge Street CBS win the overall award for a then unparalleled three times First place – 24th European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Bratislava
2013	Emer Hickey, Sophie Healy-Thow and Ciara Judge	15/15/15	Kinsale Community School, Cork	A statistical investigation of the effects of Diazotroph bacteria on plant germination.	Third time in seven years Kinsale Community School had won the competition, thereby matching Synge Street CBS for most wins. The girls went on take first prize at the EU Contest for Young Scientists in Prague in September 2013 and win the grand prize in the 2014 Google Science Fair in California.
2014	Paul Clarke	17	St Paul's College, Raheny, Dublin	Contributions to cyclic graph theory.	This is the second time the school has won the event.
2015	Ian O'Sullivan and Eimear Murphy	16/16	Coláiste Treasa, Kanturk, Co Cork	Alcohol consumption: Does the apple fall far from the tree?
2016	Maria Louise Fufezan and Diana Bura	16/15	Loreto Ballbriggan, Balbriggan, Co Dublin	An Investigation into the Effects of Enzymes used in Animal Feed Additives on the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis Elegans
2017	Shane Curran	16	Terenure College, Terenure, Dublin	qCrypt: The quantum-secure, encrypted, data storage platform with multijurisdictional quorum sharding technology	This is the first time the school has won the event. Shane is now founder and CEO of his own company Evervault which was founded on work he did on his BTYSTE winning project.
2018	Simon Meehan	15	Coláiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Cork	Investigation of the antimicrobial effects of both aerial and root parts of selected plants against Staphylococcus aureus.
2019	Adam Kelly	17	Skerries Community College in Dublin	Optimizing The Simulation of General Quantum Circuits	First time this school has won the BT Young Scientist
2020	Cormac Harris and Alan O'Sullivan	16/16	Coláiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Cork	A statistical investigation into the prevalence of gender stereotyping in 5-7 year olds and the development of an initiative to combat gender bias	Harris and O'Sullivan won first place at the 31st edition of EUCYS.
2021	Gregg Tarr	17	Bandon Grammar School, Cork	Detecting state-of-the-art deepfakes	Greg won 2nd place at the 32nd edition of EUCYS. Tarr has since launched his own company Inferex.
2022	Aditya Kumar and Aditya Joshi	15/15	Synge Street CBS, Dublin	A New Method of Solving the Bernoulli Quadrisection Problem	Kumar & Joshi won 1st place at the 33rd edition of EUCYS. 4th time the school has won top prize.
2023	Shane O'Connor and Liam Carew	18/18	The Abbey School, Tipperary	Assessing the impact of second-level education on key aspects of adolescents' life and development	Shane and Liam won 2nd place at the 35th edition of EUCYS.
2024	Seán O'Sullivan	17	Coláiste Chiaráin, County Limerick	VerifyMe: A new approach to authors attribution in the post-ChatGPT era	First time this school has won.

Winners by age

The youngest winners are listed first.

Age	Winner	School	Project title	Year
13	Emer Jones	Presentation Secondary School, Tralee, County Kerry	Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters	2008
13/14	Liam McCarthy and John D. O'Callaghan	Kinsale Community School, County Cork	The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic cell count and Its Importance in Milk Production	2009
14	Aisling Judge	Kinsale Community School, County Cork	The development and evaluation of a biological food spoilage indicator	2006

See also

• Education in the Republic of Ireland
• Science Week Ireland

External links

• Official website
• Official archive
• List of past winners
• News article about 1999 project
• News article about 1999 project
• Slashdot Article on Adnan Osmani's Project