Seán O’Sullivan, winner of the BTYSTE 2024, and Ireland’s official representative at EUCYS, took home the second place prize as well as the 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair Prize today at one of the most prestigious science fairs in the world
13 September: Seán O’Sullivan, winner of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) 2024, has been awarded second place, and the 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair Prize, at the 2024 EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) in Katowice, Poland today.
Sean (17), a 6th year student at Coláiste Chiaráin, Limerick was recognised by the EUCYS judging panel for his BTYSTE winning project, titled ‘VerifyMe: A new approach to authorship attribution in the post-ChatGPT era’.
Sean’s project considered the challenges of author verification in the context of the significant improvements in Large Language Models (LLMS) like ChatGPT, as the line between human-written and AI-generated text has blurred, leaving academia and industry searching for a reliable method to determine “true” human authorship.
At the EUCYS, Sean competed against 250 young scientists aged between 14-20 years old from nearly 40 countries in the EU, as well as guest projects from the United States and beyond.
Speaking on his achievement, Seán O’Sullivan said, “It was an honour to travel to Katowice, Poland and represent Ireland at one of the world’s most prestigious science fairs. With so many fascinating, important projects on display, I am absolutely thrilled to take home the second place prize at the competition.”
Mari Cahalane, Head of the BTYSTE said, “As Ireland’s representative at the EUCYS, Seán is an incredible advocate for Ireland’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) sector, and showcases the very best of the talent that comes from the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition each year.
“Here at BT Ireland, we are all incredibly proud of Sean’s achievements we would encourage as many students as possible to get their entries in for the BTYSTE 2025 before the deadline for applications closes at the end of the month. Not only will finalists have the chance to showcase their amazing ideas at Ireland’s leading school STEM exhibition, BTYSTE, the overall winner will like Seán did this year, will represent Ireland at next year’s EUCYS.”
Applications are open for the BTYSTE 2025 until 5pm on September 27th and the 2025 Exhibition will take place from January 08-11 in Dublin. To enter, all students need to do is fill out an online application form and simply submit a one-page proposal outlining their idea. Qualified entries will be announced at the end of October and will be showcased at BTYSTE 2025 in January.
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is Ireland’s official National Science Fair for the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS). Since 1989, it has been sending Irish winners to compete, continuing the legacy of the Phillips Philips European competition for Young Scientists and Inventors which was the original Europe wide science fair since 1968. The EU Commission allows only one entity per country to participate in this prestigious event.
For more information, please contact:
Áine O’Boyle
Teneo
087 2351034
About BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition
The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is designed to raise schools’ engagement in the critical subjects of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM). The Exhibition calls upon students aged 12-19 years from all over the island of Ireland to showcase innovative science and technology projects. In 2022, the Exhibition reached almost 8 million visitors around the world through its virtual portal. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is supported by valued partners including the Department of Education, Analog Devices, Horizon, Stripe, and RTÉ. Learn more at www.btyoungscientist.com.
About BT Group
BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.
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