by BTYSTE_admin | Mar 6, 2020 | 2020 press releases
REUSABLE BRAILLE TRANSLATOR WINS BIG AT THE 11TH BT YOUNG SCIENTIST BUSINESS BOOTCAMP Thursday, 5th March 2020: Twenty-nine enterprising school students gathered at NovaUCD this week for the 11th annual BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp. Five students from Dublin, Westmeath, Sligo and Kildare were announced as the Best Group winners for their project titled “The Reusable Braille Translator”. Alison Egan from Castleknock Community College in Dublin, Cian Flaherty from Colaiste Mhuire Mullingar in Co. Westmeath, Maura Madden from Ursuline College in Sligo, Rhys Mordaunt from the Institute of Education in Dublin and Ruairi Mullally from Patrician Secondary school in Newbridge Co. Kildare joined together to create a reusable device which enhances visually impaired peoples reading and web surfing experience by converting text into braille form. Ben Loughnane, a third-year student from Kinsale Community School Co. Cork was announced as the individual winner for his project ‘Electric Paint- how much graphite is needed to heat your home?’. The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp was established in 2010 by BT and is delivered in partnership with the innovation team of UCD Research and Innovation to give students the commercialisation skills they need to develop their BT Young Scientist & Technology project ideas. The culmination of the four-day programme saw the students pitching their companies to an expert panel of judges. Congratulating all participants, Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland said, “Massive congratulations to all the students who took part in the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp this year and specifically Alison, Cian, Maura, Rhys, Ruairi and Ben on their winning projects. The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp has been an integral part of the BT Young Scientist & Technology...
by BTYSTE_admin | Jan 10, 2020 | 2020 press releases
Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan announced as winners of the 56th BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition Friday, 10th January: The winners of the 56th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) have been announced. Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan, both aged 16, fourth year students from Coláiste Choilm, Cork, have taken home the top prize for a project entitled “A statistical investigation into the prevalence of gender stereotyping in 5-7 year olds and the development of an initiative to combat gender bias”. The coveted prize was presented to the winners this evening in the BT Arena by Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh TD, and Managing Director of BT Ireland, Shay Walsh. Cormac and Alan presented their project in the Intermediate section in the Social and Behavioural Sciences category. Head Judge of the Social and Behavioural Sciences Group category, Professor Joe Barry said about Cormac and Alan’s project, ‘Despite awareness of the lower percentage of females relative to males pursuing study and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), we still do not understand exactly why this is the case. The aim of Cormac and Alan’s project was to determine how early gender stereotyping can be identified. They conducted workshops with 376 5-7 year olds from a range of school settings with a number of different tasks including: choosing between gender-specific and gender-neutral toys; drawing and naming an engineer, and; rating male and female competency at a number of gender-specific roles. One of the most striking findings emerging from the research was that 96% of boys drew a male engineer while just over 50% of girls...
by BTYSTE_admin | Jan 9, 2020 | 2020 press releases
Round Up – Day 2 @BTYSTE: With judging well underway, Day Two of the 56th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2020 was filled with a flurry of excitement and enthusiasm. There are some stunning projects on display, carefully put together by our students who are all chasing the coveted title of BT Young Scientist and Technologist 2020. Judges have no mean feat picking a winner when the calibre of projects is as impressive as these! Bonnie Greer, OBE, the UK-based novelist and playwright who won widespread acclaim for her positive comments about Ireland on a BBC Question Time debate on Brexit, headlined an ‘Enterprising Minds’ Leaders’ Lunch in partnership with Future Human this afternoon at 1:00pm. Also speaking was Shane Curran, CEO of Evervault and former BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition winner 2017. This afternoon, the inaugural Irish, British and American Junior Chamber of Commerce was officially launched at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. The Chamber, which was founded by sisters and BT Young Scientists & Technologists 2015, Kate and Annie Madden, will serve people under the age of 23 in promoting and doing international business. Wishing the Irish, British and American Junior Chamber of Commerce the best of luck for the future, honorary founding patron for 2020 and MD of BT Ireland, Shay Walsh said, “our alumni are the changemakers of tomorrow”. From 4:00pm today, the RTE Climate Youth Generation Persuasion Forum will take place at the Exhibition in the Concert Hall. This event is open to the public, so why not call in to hear from some of these amazing young people themselves as they discuss the climate...
by BTYSTE_admin | Jan 8, 2020 | 2020 press releases
Round Up – Day 1 @BTYSTE: The 56th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition sprang to life today as 1,100 students from 244 schools across the island descended on the RDS to set up their projects and begin to prepare for the days ahead. In a rousing speech to a packed house of young scientists, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar opened the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2019. Speaking to the students, he expressed his admiration at the calibre and creativity of this year’s projects. The topical nature of students’ projects “suggests that change is coming”, he said, encouraging students “to keep innovating, to keep creating and to keep using your imagination to create a better world.” BT Ireland MD, Shay Walsh congratulated all students on their participation in BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, in what is now the longest-running science fair of its kind, in not just Ireland but the world. This is the 20th consecutive year for the technology giant, BT, to organise and sponsor the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition and BT Ireland confirmed today that it would be extending its agreement to sponsor this historic event until 2023. Speaking today, Walsh said “BT Ireland is celebrating 20 years of partnership with Young Scientist this year and are delighted to extend our commitment to future exhibitions. As organiser and sponsor, we have the honour of working with so many organisations and individuals dedicated to giving a platform to all young people to share their ideas on how to create a better world. This iconic exhibition has proven that the power of science and technology combined with...
by BTYSTE_admin | Jan 7, 2020 | 2020 press releases
IRELAND’S FUTURE SCIENTISTS PREPARE TO SHOWCASE THEIR TALENTS AT THE 56th BT YOUNG SCIENTIST & TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION Exhibition opens to the public from Thursday 9th – Saturday 11th January Dublin, Tuesday 7th January 2020: Over 1,100 students will take their place at Dublin’s RDS tomorrow as the 56thBT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition kicks off. The event brings together some of the country’s brightest young minds as they compete to take home the coveted title of the BT Young Scientist & Technologist(s) of the Year 2020. An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will officially open the Exhibition at a special ceremony tomorrow, Wednesday 8thJanuary, attended by students, teachers, exhibition partners and stakeholders, and presented by BT Managing Director Shay Walsh. The ceremony will be streamed live on Facebook from 2pm. Speaking ahead of this year’s exhibition An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said, ““The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is a brilliant event; it showcases our best and brightest, and as we have seen in recent years, the winners often go on to have very successful careers in their chosen fields. It’s inspirational for me to see the immense talent and new ideas being brought by our second level students. They are the change makers and problem solvers of tomorrow. I wish everyone involved the very best of luck for this year’s event and for the future.” In what will be an exciting time for competing students, this year’s winner(s) of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, to be announced on Friday 10th January, will be presented with a cheque for €7,500, the BTYSTE perpetual trophy and will represent Ireland at...
