BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition - Fifty years of innovation by BT Young Scientist

F I F T Y

y e a r s

o f

i n n o v a ti o n

F I F T Y

y e a r s

o f

i n n o v a ti o n

Written by

Dick Ahlstrom IRISH TIMES Designed by

TAG Ireland

CONTENTS FIFTY YEARS OF INNOVATION

FOREWORD

Enda Kenny TD, Taoiseach

Colm O’Neill, Chief Executive Officer, BT Ireland

HISTORY

The story of the Young Scientist Exhibition

Famous milestones through the years

Dr. Tony Scott and Reverend Dr. Tom Burke

THE EXHIBITION

Our identity

The Judges

Ecosystem and Partners

Teachers 26 European Union Competition

The BT Red Coats

Young Scientists Tanzania

Special Acts

PAST WINNERS

Young Scientists of the Year 1965 - 2013

The Judge Family

50 YEARS

The BTYSTE Archive

36 48 52

The BTYSTE Birthday Wall

The Facts

Bringing it all together

Fifty years of innovation

FOREWORD BT YOUNG SCIENTIST & TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

I am honoured to write the foreword for this book marking the 50th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. When Father Burke and Dr. Scott brought the first competitors together in the Round Room of the Mansion House back in 1965, it was with a strong belief in the potential of our young people. And they have been proving them right ever since. Year after year, the standard of the entries and, in turn, our amazement only seem to increase. And, though interest levels were high from the very beginning, BT’s involvement with the competition over fourteen years has brought with it new levels of exposure and success for the competition. We are all richer, thanks in no small part, to them and the other sponsors. Each January, I leave the RDS renewed with hope and optimism for the future of this country. Again and again, I am heartened to see the overwhelming passion, spirit, talent and self belief of our young people. Every year, they prove their incredible capacity to position themselves at the very heart of progression in the world of science and technology. And, in doing so, they make us all very proud. The Government believes strongly in our young people and their capacity to help Ireland become a global leader in the areas of science and technology research. For that reason, we are continuing to invest strongly and strategically in those areas, even in this time of such scarce resources. We know that science and technology are set to play key roles in Ireland’s future and recognise also the immense value of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in terms of the fulfilment of that wider goal. Nowhere is Irish innovation more evident or the Irish imagination more alive than in the RDS throughout that very special week in January. It is a week when anything seems possible because anything really is possible.

Long may this wonderful event continue to inspire us all.

ENDA KENNY, TD Taoiseach

Fifty years of innovation

Foreword Colm O’neill, CEO, BT Ireland

BT involvement Colm O’Neill is a man with a mission. He is determined to ensure that the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition – celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014 – is going to come round year after year for another 50 years. He has plans, ideas and fresh ambitions for the exhibition that will ensure its sustainability into the future. And he also knows as chief executive officer of BT in Ireland why it is important for the company to continue its deep involvement with the Young Scientist as the main sponsor and organiser of the event. The exhibition turns 50 as BT celebrates its 14th year as organiser, and while the company doesn’t talk about money or costs, its financial investment over this decade and a half runs into millions of euro. The quick corporate answer for this is that support for the exhibition benefits the company, says O’Neill. “We are a business so we make business decisions and there are different levels of value we get from this,” he says. It is the company’s statement to society about the power of communications to make a better world, and the message coming from the BT Young Scientist reinforces that. And to be a leading edge communications company you need really good staff with an education in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. “We believe this exhibition delivers high quality graduates who come out of the Irish universities with the capacity to help us as employees but also to help Ireland and society in general,” says O’Neill. But while this is the corporate message there is something much deeper about BT’s involvement in the annual Young Scientist. It has become personal. It has become a part of BT’s corporate identity in Ireland. And the event’s success has become as important to the company as BT has become important

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

FOREWORD Colm O’neill, CEO, BT Ireland

to the event. Involvement with the Young Scientist has had a transformative effect on the company just as the company has transformed the exhibition; such is the company’s level of commitment. “This kind of thing was all new to us. Aer Lingus was the main sponsor for decades then Esat took over and when we acquired them we inherited it,” says O’Neill. “We are pretty proud of what we have done, we didn’t just take it on, we have had a big role in making it what it is today.” There are numbers to back this up. The company promotes the event throughout the year and has helped bump up student applications. At 2000 entries there are almost four times as many applying as there is space on the ground at the RDS in Ballsbridge. The students are also attracted to the exhibition in numbers because of the extra activities that BT has brought to it, the World of Robots, 3D Theatre, science shows and other student-orientated events. BT has also built an “ecosystem” around the Young Scientist by cementing the involvement of other main sponsors such as Department of Education and Skills, Intel, RTE, Elan, Analog Devices and Department of Education NI. The participation by so many big corporates, plus the politicians, other companies and of course the schools has helped to promote this ecosystem, something that O’Neill believes will help protect the exhibition for another 50 years.

paid for by BT or has been organised with participating suppliers. “The volunteer staff are proud of what we do as a company with the BT Young Scientist, and generally staff are proud even if they are not directly involved,” O’Neill says. “Of course the students benefit too. They are exposed to very real but very enjoyable science at a young age and learn to like the subject by seeing the fun side of it. Then there are other skills arising from the exhibition such as team working for groups, communications skills as the judges visit and having the focus to see a project through,” says O’Neill. “All of these are important life skills.”

“We challenged ourselves as we came to the 50th year. I was determined that this would be a milestone and not a summit, a point we had reached that said we had done our job”

“This all helps to build the exhibition into the fabric of society,” O’Neill believes. “All of that supports the sustainability of it and we can be reasonably confident that this is an exhibition that has a very real chance of surviving another 50 years or more.”

Reaching the 50th anniversary of the Young Scientist is not an end point for BT. “We challenged ourselves as we came to the 50th year. I was determined that this would be a milestone and not a summit, a point we had reached that said we had done our job,” says O’Neill.

There are lots of other hidden resources that BT plugs into the event, including 200 or so “red coats”, BT staff who volunteer their time to help keep things running smoothly for the students. And the company actually employs someone with the designation “head of BT Young Scientist”, a full time staffer plus another 10 or 12 staff who spend part of their year organising for the next exhibition.

The company is already exploring new approaches not by changing the format, which still works after five decades, but by finding ways to get more engagement with the higher education sector and with the business community at large. O’Neill would also like to see if what the students do to prepare for the Young Scientist can in some way be built into the school curriculum so that all students can benefit even if they don’t exhibit at the RDS. And could a great project be counted towards access to university? Watch this space.

As you might expect, BT covers the costs of all the communications and wi-fi requirement at the RDS during the exhibition. And literally anything you can put your hand on at the event has either been

Fifty years of innovation

HISTORY The story of the Young Scientist Exhibition

The story of the Young Scientist Exhibition It is five decades since the first Young Scientist Exhibition took place and over that time the event has become renowned on the island of Ireland and internationally. Each January students from across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland descend on the RDS, Dublin, to take part, while thousands more arrive to visit the stands and talk to their peers about the projects on display. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition reaches out to young people from all parts of Ireland, both north and south. It encourages them to take part and submit a project in the hopes of being one of the 550 that will finally make it onto the display floor at the RDS. These 550 will have been whittled down from an entry pool that now includes 2,000 projects submitted for consideration. It is a massive event to organise and stage, something BT has been doing since 2001. BT provides funding, resources and staff to run the event, also working in partnership with key supporting sponsors such as the Department of Education & Skills in the Republic of Ireland, Department of Education in Northern Ireland, Intel, RTE, Elan and Analog Devices. And yet it is the students who take part that are at the very heart of the Young Scientist Exhibition, they are the reason why the whole thing happens. The fact that the exhibition is so strongly student-focused is not by accident. Co-founders Rev Dr. Tom Burke and Dr. Tony Scott designed it to allow the students themselves to take centre stage and to make it their own. They do the work and present it, talking to judges, media and visitors with a remarkable degree of confidence, something which grows over the four days of the event, and which they will take away for the rest of their lives. There is also a less visible but vital contribution - that made by the teachers who help the students take raw ideas and turn them into projects. The teachers encourage and assist and help keep the students committed to finishing the project on time. They are both the inspiration and the guiding hand needed to keep the projects focused.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

The exhibition came into being almost by accident. Burke was a Carmelite priest and physics teacher, and Scott was a physicist staff member at University College Dublin who was working towards a PhD. The two had collaborated on various research projects into atmospheric physics and had published papers which came to the attention of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Based in Socorro, New Mexico, the Institute invited the two Irish researchers across for a visit and to use a highly successful Irish-designed measuring instrument to help calibrate an instrument available to the Institute. This visit prompted another, one that would have unexpected but long-enduring consequences. Staff at the Institute told Burke and Scott that a local student was entering a project on rocketry in a “science fair” in Albuquerque, and that the student was anxious that the two Irish physicists see it. Curiosity about the project, but also about what a science fair involved, got them interested and so they found themselves at an empty parking lot at the Hilton Primary School in Socorro in the late summer of 1963. The student – Scott believes his name was Gary – was waiting there for them, to demonstrate his project. Scott took a picture of Burke and Gary and the student launched the rocket, before launching a second to show that the first was not a fluke. The Irishmen were suitably impressed and wished the student well as he prepared to compete in the science fair. This seemingly unimportant meeting proved to be the catalyst that in turn helped to bring about the first Young Scientist Exhibition about 18 months later. Scott completed his work with the Institutes’ researchers before going off to an atmospheric physics conference at University of California, Berkeley. Burke, however, wanted to learn more about these science fairs and so he travelled the 75 miles up to Albuquerque. It was a revelation. Here he saw projects from schools near and far, to attend an event that brought science out of the confines of the classroom and into the real world. The students learnt how the science they presented in their projects had relevance away from the text books and restricted curriculum, as they pursued their ideas and see where they led. “I wanted to see Irish Young Scientists bringing science outside the four walls of the classroom and showing that science was all around us,” said Burke of the experience.

HISTORY The story of the Young Scientist Exhibition

Burke talked to the organisers about how to go about holding one of these events and the ingredients needed to make it happen. He thought that students in Ireland should benefit from participating in real science and real research. When Scott returned from the US, the pair met as the new term got underway at UCD and began to formulate a plan of action.

They also decided that the event should not be described as a competition, Scott said of their discussions. “We didn’t want to create winners and losers. We wanted an exhibition, an environment where all of the students would have a chance to display their project and talk about it. Every student would have an opportunity to explain what exciting things they had discovered.”

The US model of a science fair involved an individual working on a project on their own. Often the science involved was beyond the capabilities of a secondary school student and so they formed links with the local universities, tapping into the expertise there and gaining access to advanced equipment

There was also the thorny issue of money to be dealt with. The US science fairs, at their most basic level were individual school events where students interested in science could prepare projects and then display them to the general student body. This meant all costs were internal to the school and the teachers or school heads could judge the projects. The winners from these events could then be proposed for regional events and so on up to state and national level. These events, such as the fair in Albuquerque, therefore needed financial support to make them happen, funding from a sponsor who could keep the event running year after year.

“I wanted to see Irish Young Scientists bringing science outside the four walls of the classroom and showing that science was all around us” that could be used to collect data. This meant that many projects involved in the US fairs were the presentation of research findings assembled by others and then delivered in the form of a student’s project. Burke and Scott wanted something different. They wanted the students to become the centre of attention, not the equipment nor the university experts. The students should choose projects where they were mainly able to conduct their own research using the facilities to hand, ending the reliance on external technology as much as possible. The new model meant that the students would be able to make a research proposal, conduct their own experiments and gather the data they needed to answer their research questions.

But who then could Burke and Scott approach in search of funding? Luckily, for the emerging Young Scientist event, Ireland had only recently embarked on a “Programme for Economic Expansion” that included amongst other things a determination to bring industry to Ireland. Aer Lingus, the young Irish national airline, was finding its way in a very competitive but highly technology-dependent international industry and it was becoming a flagship example of what the Irish could do. Scott knew people in the semi-state company whom he could approach with a radical proposal. His goal was to convince this high-profile technological company to support the science and technology students it would need in the coming years to help expand its business. To Burke and Scott’s delight, Aer Lingus agreed to back them, becoming the main sponsor and getting the exhibition off the ground. Then began an enormous amount of organising, circulating letters of invitation to all the schools encouraging them to support students with project ideas and helping them to get to the exhibition. They called on academic colleagues to volunteer as judges and help pull the various elements of the exhibition together. Burke became the champion of the event, becoming a spokesman for the media and chairing related meetings. Scott describes himself as a backroom worker, dealing with post, chasing school involvement and encouraging teachers to play a central role providing guidance and encouragement to the students.

Fifty years of innovation

HISTORY THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION

Burke and Scott watched that rocket launch in New Mexico in the late summer of 1963. It would take them until January 1965 to deliver Ireland’s first national science fair – known as the Aer Lingus Young Scientist Exhibition. The relationship proved to be a long-standing one with Aer Lingus remaining as main sponsor for the next 33 years until ESAT assumed the role in 1998. A total of 230 students attended the first exhibition, so even from its earliest days the event managed to attract plenty of students with a love for science. The inaugural event took place in the Mansion House Round Room but the large number of projects on display proved to be a tight squeeze. Burke and Scott found a ready supply of judges, academics and science graduates willing to volunteer their time in support of the sciences. In that first year they had decided to break the projects into categories based on the school science subjects, and the judges were selected to match this mix. The subjects included physics, chemistry, biochemistry, geography and mathematics. Scott made efforts over the years to identify the student in Socorro, New Mexico whose invitation to two visitors from Ireland had helped to make the exhibition happen. He even went so far as to put ads in the local New Mexico papers but he never managed to track that student down. He had no difficulty staying in touch however with the first winner of the Young Scientist of the year title, John Monahan from Kildare. His entry was an explanation of the process of digestion in the human stomach with a display including flasks and tubing to show how the whole thing worked. John went on to take a degree in science before working in the emerging biotechnology industry in the US, including forming his own company. The exhibition had proved to be a great success, with students and their teachers delighted to have taken part. Burke and Scott were also very happy about how things went, even if they had yet to set up formalised procedures for entering, judging and so forth. They also realised that they were already victims of their own success. There was no question that they needed a bigger venue as they were confident that the second Aer Lingus Young Scientist Exhibition was going to include more projects. The hunt was on for a larger venue, one that would not run out of space in a year or two.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

That venue proved to be the RDS. Scott had only recently joined the RDS science committee and he put the idea to the Society. Promotion of science is one of the body’s five foundation activities (along with agriculture, arts, industry and equestrian sciences) and agreement was quickly reached on the new venue. Promotion of the public understanding of science was a key area for the RDS and the exhibition certainly did that, not just for the students but for visitors too. So, from its second year, the exhibition has been held in the RDS Main Hall, where there is enough space for the 550 projects that are displayed, along with the Primary Science Fair and the large parallel exhibition held at the back of the Main Hall. The next few exhibitions were similar to the first with the exception that interest grew quickly as students and teachers heard about the event and wanted to take part. The number of projects increased in line with this but new challenges arose. Biology was and remains the senior cycle science subject that attracts the most students and so naturally more and more biology projects were submitted. Having too many projects in any one subject was not considered a good thing - this was meant to be a general science exhibition, not simply a biology exhibition. To balance this, the organisers sought out sponsors who could back category prizes across the range of sciences. Scott was a founder member of the Institute of Physics in Ireland and he asked the body to back a special award for the best physics project. The Institute became the first to make a special award which was given in 1981. Other companies and bodies agreed to give special awards and today there are dozens of awards celebrating student projects across a wide range of areas. Changes also took place in the categories into which the various projects fell. The social sciences were first included in the 1980s due to student interest in subjects and the submission of project proposals that were not necessarily about science. While these projects were outside the science area they did involve a great deal of research and organised thinking in order to define a problem, develop ways to gather data and then interpret what had been discovered. In 1990 the categories were reconfigured into three areas, social and behavioural sciences; chemical, physical and mathematical sciences; and biological and ecological sciences.

HISTORY THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION

In the late 1990’s a more fundamental change in the set up of the Young Scientist Exhibition represented a major milestone in the development of the event. Aer Lingus had been there from the very beginning and had been a wholehearted and dedicated supporter over an impressive 33 years. Aer Lingus has very much earned the gratitude of the exhibition and its organisers for its engagement with the Young Scientist over more than three decades. The departure of Aer Lingus meant that a replacement sponsor needed to be found, with all that entailed. The exhibition had grown to a point where staging it had become a major operation and any sponsor who took it on would have to commit to more than simply the financial support required. They would need to have a deep commitment to the aims and ambitions of the exhibition, which by the late 1990s had become an institution. The exhibition had become much greater than the sum of its parts, including attracting major media coverage. Whoever took on this event would have to do much more than write a few cheques. Telecommunications company ESAT then stepped into the breach. A new entrant to the rapidlygrowing communications market, the company’s commercial ambitions were backed with a dynamism that matched the vigour at the heart of the Young Scientist Exhibition. Given that changing landscape of business and education a new category, Technology, was introduced and the event was rebranded the ESAT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in 1998. ESAT was a good match for the exhibition as it was involved in an emerging technology to which people, particularly younger people, were flocking. Mobile phones had become a standard consumer item and their use was rocketing. This was where the young people exhibiting at the event lived and the ESAT company ethos matched their lifestyles. The youth-based competition, if anything, became even more youthful and effort was undertaken to make the exhibition more exciting for the students, for example by expanding the exhibition area where students could talk to people involved in science and technology as a career. They could see how what they were doing with their project work actually carried forward as something that could give them an interesting job in later life.

ESAT also recognised that the more teachers who engaged with the exhibition, the greater the likelihood that students would take part. Special awards for teachers were introduced including travel awards, which allowed teachers to travel overseas to science fairs particularly in the US. These changes were working through the system when a major change occurred. BT acquired ESAT in early 2000 and delivered its first exhibition at the RDS in January 2001. BT’s involvement transformed the event, not just with its new name, the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, but with a number of new innovations. BT made a decision to increase its support for the event both financially and logistically. It put together a dedicated team of BT employees to organise the exhibition and streamline how it ran. It introduced PR expertise to ensure there were smooth channels of communication between the media and the event itself, and computers and advanced communications facilities were installed to bring the judging and awards systems into the digital age. The company also went to work on the physical facilities on the ground. New stands were designed, with large archways set up to designate the four project categories. The exhibition space was increased to the rear of the main hall and the 2,000-seater BT Arena was built adjacent to the main display area where the opening and awards events were staged and where special performances could be held for the students during the running of the exhibition. The arena’s huge open stage and powerful sound and lighting systems is an impressive sight for the students and all visitors to the event. And students who win prizes can feel like real celebrities when they go up to accept their awards. This feeling is multiplied for those who capture the top four prizes for best group, best individual and runner-up awards. The outright winning project, designated the BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year, happens to a fanfare, a cascade of confetti and booming music. The effort put into the awards presentations really helps to make the students feel special. BT’s involvement also delivered another profound change to the event. It began putting more resources into growing the number of projects submitted for the exhibition. Schools were canvassed,

Fifty years of innovation 11

HISTORY THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION

there were outreach activities to help more teachers become involved and the Young Scientist website was improved, both to encourage students to take part but also to provide information for teachers. The company also began to promote the event more, helping to boost visitor numbers, both student visitors and members of the general public. In 2006, it introduced an accommodation grant scheme to help schools away from Dublin to assist their students to participate in the exhibition and has granted almost half a million euros over the years. There were immediate results to these initiatives with year-on-year increases both in the numbers of projects submitted and the numbers of students involved in these projects. In 2003 there were 910 project entries, almost double the number of places that could actually be accommodated. For this reason the number of stands at the RDS began to creep upwards so that more students could take part. For the 50th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2014 2,000 projects were entered, setting a record with the highest number ever. BT’s success at boosting participation also meant however that a pre-selection process is needed to select the maximum 550 projects who go forward to exhibit in the RDS. This in turn has meant that the standards have gone up, with only the very best projects making it through to the competition. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition has become a model not just for developing science but for developing enterprise and community. The event brings students together and makes them neighbours even though their schools might be counties apart. It helps build on that sense of community for the students and it also helps to show in a very concrete way both for students and visitors, the link between research science and life, and the application of technology and innovation in support of economic development. Does the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition have the legs for another 50 years? Co-founder Scott won’t predict but remains quietly confident that the event has much more to achieve. “I can only say today it is more successful than I could have imagined,” he says. “But that success is not down to myself and Fr Burke alone. Continued success will be fired by the imagination

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

and hard work of future generations of young people and the continued commitment of community, business and state institutions to what has become not just a key event, but a social focus on part of Ireland’s social culture.” Every year is memorable for the students who participate and, of course, for the winners of the top group and individual prizes. It is an experience that the students will always carry with them. And yet there are years when something out of the ordinary happened or an unusual project captured the public imagination, occurrences which made the event even more memorable for those attending the RDS. The exhibition was only in its second year when the first female won, Mary Finn then attending Ursuline Convent, Sligo who took the top prize in 1966 with her project. The exhibition in 1968 was memorable because it had to be postponed, moving from its usual January slot to April. There had been an outbreak of foot and mouth disease and the government had banned large meetings and events for fear of the disease spreading across the country. The winner in that year was George Reynolds of St James CBS, Dublin, with a project on a geophysical study of an iron mine in Wicklow. The exhibition was eight years old when the first students from Northern Ireland became involved in the event. It only took two more years for them to capture a win, when in 1974 Richard Elliot of Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh won with a project looking at the use of computer techniques to provide mathematical models of biological situations. Who can forget the year of the big freeze, 1982. Co-founder Tony Scott remembers the year well and how close the organisers came to shutting the exhibition down on health and safety grounds. The event was already underway and the decision was on a knife edge but they agreed to continue. Main sponsor Aer Lingus brought in industrial heating units to warm up the exhibition area and students and judges were bundled up against the cold. Most of the Dublin participants managed to make it in but those up from the country were effectively

HISTORY THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION

stranded in hotels across the road from the RDS, participating in the exhibition, but getting an extra two days in Dublin as they waited for a thaw. Amongst them was Martynn Sheehan of the Convent of Mercy school, Moate, Co. Westmeath. She won with a project looking at the potential of using lichens in medicine.

“Continued success will be fired by the imagination and hard work of future generations of young people and the continued commitment of community, business and state institutions to what has become not just a key event, but a social focus on part of Ireland’s social culture” All of the projects being displayed at the Young Scientist Exhibition in the early days were prepared by individuals, and co-founder Fr Tom Burke felt that it should remain as individual projects. His first exposure to a US-style science fair involved students working alone, but eventually he was persuaded that the exhibition should allow both individual and group projects. This innovation was introduced in 1976 and it was not until 1983 that the first group captured the award for Young Scientist(s) of the year. The project called ‘Microcomputer based robotics’ was won by a group of boys, Turan Mirza, Gareth Clarke and William Murphy from Carrickfergus Grammar School, Co. Antrim.

Perhaps surprisingly, there has only been one year when the Young Scientists were a project involving both boys and girls. This came in 1987 when Henry Byrne and Emma Donnellan from FCJ Bunclody, Co. Wexford were announced the winners. Sarah Flannery’s Young Scientist win in 1999 was also memorable, not for the weather but for the fact that her project made international headlines, for example making the front page of the London Times. Her project, “Cryptography – A new algorithm versus the RSA”, was a study into the encryption systems used by banks and governments to keep information safe. The then 16-year-old developed a new encryption system and then compared it against the world’s leading system, RSA. She won the top prize but also got the world of cryptography buzzing because initially it seemed her system performed better than RSA, something that if proven would have made it worth millions. Huge public and media interest followed, but it later emerged that while extremely secure, she had not bettered RSA. She and her father later wrote about her experiences in a book, In Code: A Mathematical Journey. The impressive projects that win the top prizes at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition first moved on to take part in the European Contest for Young Scientists in 1989. This added a new, international flavour to the Young Scientist movement here, particularly because our students immediately started to win top prizes. In fact that first year when the competition was held in Brussels, Grace O’Connor and Sinead Finn of Ursuline College, Thurles, Co. Tipperary won with their project on a Study on a Crop Fractionation Industry. And our Young Scientists continue to capture top awards at the European Contest, most recently in 2013 when Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow won the top prize in the biology section with their project on the statistical investigation of the effects of diazotroph bacteria on plant germination. Irish students have won a top award in 15 of the 25 European Contests in which they have participated, an impressive haul given many of our students are teenagers compared to European competitors who can be in their early 20s.

Fifty years of innovation 13

HISTORY Famous milestones through the years Richard Elliot, from Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, was the first student from Northern Ireland to win Young Scientist of the Year (1974).

The only mixed team to take the Young Scientists of the Year title was Emma Donnellan and Henry Byrne from FCJ Secondary School, Bunclody, Co. Wexford (1987).

Turan Mirza, William Murphy and Gareth Clarke from Carrickfergus Grammar School in Antrim were the first group team to win the Young Scientists of the Year title (1983).

The first ever winner of the Young Scientist Exhibition was John Monahan from Newbridge College, Co. Kildare (1965). John has recently retired as President of his own biotech company, Avigen Inc, based in California.

The first female winner was Máire Caitríona Ní Dhomhnaill / Mary Finn from the Ursuline Convent, Sligo (1966).

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Sarah Flannery from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Blarney, Cork featured on the front page of newspapers around the world after she scooped the 1999 Esat Telecom Young Scientist of the Year title for her project on encryption. Sarah went on to take first place at the 11th EU Science Contest in Greece and represented the European Union at the International Nobel Prize ceremonies in December 1999.

HISTORY Famous milestones through the years Peter Taylor, Shane Browne and Michael O’Toole won the 2001 exhibition and went on to win third place at the 13th EU Young Scientist Contest, Norway in September.

The 2008 winner Emer Jones from Tralee is the current youngest winner at 13 years old. She won with a project entitled, “Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters”. Emer went on to take second place at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Copenhagen in September 2008. In the 25 years history of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, Ireland has won first place 15 times. Our most recent winners were in 2012 with Mark Kelly and Eric Doyle, 2011 with Alexander Amini (above) and Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow in 2013 (below).

Abdusalam Abubakar won the title in January 2007. Abdul also went on to win the European Young Scientist in Valencia in Spain in September 2007 with this project, entitled ‘An Extension of Weiner’s Attack on RSA Encryption’

Aisling Judge, Kinsale, Co. Cork won in January 2006 and was the first Cork winner or female winner since Sarah Flannery’s global success seven years earlier. At only 14 years old, Aisling was then the youngest ever BT Young Scientist winner in the exhibition’s history. Aisling went on to claim third prize at the European Union Young Scientist Contest in September 2006.

John D. O’Callaghan (aged 14) and Liam McCarthy (aged 13), 2nd year students from Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork won in January 2009 with their project entitled, “The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and its Importance in Milk Production”. John and Liam went on to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Paris.

Fifty years of innovation 15

HISTORY Dr Tony Scott & Reverend Dr Tom Burke

Dr Tony Scott & Reverend Dr Tom Burke Founders, Young Scientist Exhibition

The annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is an extraordinary event by any standards, not only surviving but growing impressively over its 50 year history. Yet it would be wrong to assume that it must have needed extraordinary founders to establish and sustain such an exceptional exhibition. The two founders, Rev Dr. Tom Burke and Dr. Tony Scott were university researchers and lecturers working at University College Dublin and conducting research into atmospheric physics. Both had a particular skill for teaching and also for enthusing students about the excitement of science and research. It is these skills perhaps more than any others that enabled the two to conceive of and then begin an exhibition and make it work over all those decades. Earlier in their respective careers they interacted at a different level. Burke coincidentally had taught maths to Scott while he was still a student at Terenure College in Dublin. So impressed was the student that the possibility of a career in science emerged. “He was a great teacher,” says Scott of his later colleague. “He is why I did science. He was a kind person, never aggressive and encouraged the students to do their best.” Burke was born Thomas Patrick and some knew him as TP, but his later collaborator never referred to him as anything other than Tom. Burke became a Carmelite priest who went into science and teaching. He completed a BSc in physics at UCD in 1945 and then went after a MSc specialising in atmospheric physics. He completed this in 1947 and then tackled a PhD, receiving his degree in 1949. He landed at Terenure College in 1953 initially to teach maths and science but he later became the principal there. Scott describes him as an interesting guy but also a very good scientist and certainly he had an impact on the young Tony Scott. Burke’s research had a range of applications including the measurement of radon in the atmosphere.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Scott meanwhile did go on to study physics at UCD and then undertook a Masters and then joined the staff at the university. His own specialisation was radon and aerosol measurement. Their paths crossed again when the two applied for the same job at UCD and they then became research collaborators. Scott was working to complete his PhD but the two managed to pursue joint research and published together. Part of that work involved the development of a measuring device for radon and aerosols and the instrument proved highly effective. This was in the early 1960s when the space race was on and there was a demand for relevant technologies that could support it. Their device fit the bill but it also had application for the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, so much so that it invited the two collaborators to present their work and help the US group to develop one for the institute’s own purposes. “We sent the drawings over to them but they wanted to use our device to compare against a standard,” says Scott. “Tom went out first and I followed a week later carrying a nucleus counter to calibrate the one they had in New Mexico.” They went to the Institute’s centre in a town called Socorro, about 75 miles west of Albuquerque. It was a fateful trip, not because they had a successful technology to demonstrate but because of an otherwise innocuous invitation to visit a local school. A student there was preparing to attend a “science fair” and he wanted to show the two visiting Irish scientists what it was all about. Their decision to have a look would prove to have an unexpected impact, one that would leave a lasting legacy that at the time neither of them could have imagined. It was 1963 and the two met the student –Scott recollects his name was Gary, at the Hilton Primary School in Socorro. They they watched as he set off a solid fuel rocket which went up about a mile. He then fired a second as Gary described to them what would happen at the science fair taking place in Albuquerque and how his rocket project would be presented. Scott has a picture of the student and Tom Burke standing in front of a rocket that would inspire the creation of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition that we know today. Scott travelled back to Dublin but Burke remained in New Mexico long enough to take in that fair. “Tom

“Our original idea was we wanted to make the students realise that there was science outside the classroom and all around them. And we wanted to try to get kids to start thinking about a career in science or engineering. That is what we are still trying to do, get people interested in science.”

DR TONY SCOTT CO-FOUNDER, Young Scientist EXHIBITION

Fifty years of innovation 17

HISTORY Dr Tony Scott & Reverend Dr Tom Burke

told me about the science fair and wondered could we do it here. We talked about it for a while and then thought yes we could, but the question was how to do it,” says Scott. There were a plentiful supply of sponsors in the US who could fund such an event but this was not true of Ireland. “We decided to have a go and we had a link with Aer Lingus and when we asked them for support they agreed. We also got Department of Education approval,” Scott said. With a sponsor on hand to fund it, the next ingredients were creative students with good ideas for projects. The two began writing to all the schools telling them about the Irish “science fair”. They also needed a large venue and decided on the Mansion House Round Room. All of this took time and Scott admitted they had no idea whether the whole thing would work, but things did come together and the first Young Scientist Exhibition finally took place in January 1965.

The event has strengthened over the years and is now something of a national institution. Burke continued to play a part in the exhibition until just before his death in 2008. Scott meanwhile continues to serve as a judge and will be there as usual when the 50th event gets underway in January 2014. His infectious enthusiasm and ability to inspire students was also at play for many years during his working career at UCD. Even up to the last few years before his retirement some years ago he continued to teach at least one class of incoming physics students. He was determined to keep as many of them as possible involved in the study of a subject he loves and also wanted to make them understand why.

Many people helped to keep the nascent exhibition going during the early years, with plenty of volunteers willing to serve as judges. Scott sifted through the applications and dealt with some of the administration and although Burke moved to Rome for several years, he still flew back every year to participate as a judge. Scott became a permanent part of the judging panel several years into the event and has remained so ever since. “Our original idea was we wanted to make the students realise that there was science outside the classroom and all around them. And we wanted to try to get kids to start thinking about a career in science or engineering,” says Scott. “That is what we are still trying to do, get people interested in science.” Our Young Scientist winners began entering the European Contest for Young Scientists 25 years ago and our students have got first place 15 times in total. Three of these past wins have been in the last three years. “So we must be doing something right”, says Scott. And now the exhibition has become an international event though the launch of Young Scientist Tanzania which started two years ago. Other countries in Africa are watching its progress and may also work with the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition to get it going in other countries. “Certainly when we started I never thought 50 years on we would still be doing it,” says Scott. “Things like that have a lifespan and a useful life, but our one doesn’t seem to be running out of steam and probably because young people have ideas and want to explore them. It is also giving young people the confidence to enjoy science almost like a hobby, a way of expressing themselves that they never had before.” Above: Fr Tom Burke in the Nevada desert

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

HISTORY

THE EXHIBITION

Fifty years of innovation 19

THE EXHIBITION Our identity

OUR IDENTITY From Aer Lingus to BT, fifty years of change and innovation. 1965 - 1974

1983

1998 - 2000

1984

2001 - 2003

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

1985

1986 - 1987

2004

2004 - 2005

1988

1989

2006 - 2009

THE EXHIBITION Our identity

1975 - 1979

1990

1980 - 1982

1991

1992 - 1994

1995 - 1997

BT YOUNG SCIENTIST & TECHNOLOGY Exhibition Driven by Innovation, delivered by

2010 - 2011

2012 - 2013

2014

Fifty years of innovation 21

THE EXHIBITION The Judges

The Judges It takes the work of hundreds of people to make the annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition the success that it is, but there is one group in particular that deserves special mention – the judges. These 80 or more volunteers make the whole thing happen, encouraging students to deliver their best and helping them to realise their ambitions.

a more scientific result. In those days the organisers would assemble as many judges as there were projects but with a constantly growing number of applicants and more than 550 projects each year this is no longer possible. One aspect of judging has never changed however. “The one rule I make with judges is you may never talk down to the student, you must always make them feel you are interested in the project even if it isn’t of the highest order,” says Scott. “You must always leave the student with the feeling that they have done really well and their project was well done. We rely on the judges’ knowledge and professionalism and their ability to interact well with the young people.”

“The judges are fundamental to the event. They are the ones who by careful talking with the students and teasing out the value of their work, manage to find the most worthy projects for the main awards,” says Tony Scott, co-founder of the exhibition. “The winners of our all-island event do exceptionally well at the European Contest for Young Scientists, so our judges certainly must be doing something right,” he adds.

The process involves a great deal of time and care, and each project will be assessed by three judges. The first spends about 20 minutes with the student and this judge will give an initial score. A second judge will then talk to the student about their work and will give a second score that is kept separate from the first judge. The two scores are then discussed by the first two judges plus a third who listens to the arguments for and against the project. The third judge then visits the stand with all these comments in mind to help decide if the project should move forward for further judging.

He remembers the judging during the earliest days of the event. It happens in more or less the same way, although they now use a much better marking scheme and assessment methods to help get

For all the hard work, the exhibition is never short of volunteer judges. There is something special about the exhibition that makes them come back year after year.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Judging panel 1965 You may offer your services but you have to be asked to participate, says long serving judge Sean Corish, a former professor of physical chemistry at Trinity College Dublin. “I have been judging for between 40 and 50 years. I was pretty young when I started,” he says. “You are asked every year, it is totally on a volunteer basis so no one just assumes they will be asked again.” He is always ready to participate because of the fun he gets from it. “The buzz is amazing. The kids are not burdened by experience, they just fly into the thing and have great freedom to make mistakes. I enjoy their sheer exuberance and enthusiasm and the honesty with which they tackle the problem.”

Chairman Dr. J.F. Dempsey, General Manager Aer Lingus – Irish International Airlines

Next January will be the 15th exhibition for veteran judge Leonard Hobbs, a director at Intel in Ireland. Even so he still feels like a newcomer to the exhibition. “I still regard myself a bit of a baby when compared to some of the others.”

Panel Mr. F. Donovan, Sales Manager Aer Lingus – Irish International Airlines

Miss G. Roche National Museum

He too talks about the buzz created by the students. “I love it. It is really a high octane thing. You feel the buzz when the students come flooding in on the Wednesday and you realise that two and a half days later there will be a winner from amongst those coming through the doors. It changes their lives. There is something special about it.”

Dr. J. Duggan Agricultural Institute

Dr. B. Scaife Trinity College, Dublin

Mr. J. Fanning Department of Agriculture

Dr. Louis Smith University College, Dublin

Dr. J.P. Hennessey Messrs. A. Guinness Son & Co Ltd.

Mr. P. Start University College, Dublin

Dr. D. Kehoe Irish Meat Packers

Mr. J. Timoney University College, Dublin

Mr. J.R. Leonard, Publicity Manager Aer Lingus – Irish International Airlines

Mr. E. Toner Department of Lands

Dr. B. Miller University College, Dublin

Miss E. Twooney Department of Lands

Mr. P. O’Doherty Telefis Eireann

Dr. J. White University College, Dublin

He has an engineering degree and judges the technology section. “It is three full days so it is a major commitment for the judges, but people want to do it.” John O’Halloran is also coming up on his 15th year as a judge and is on the biology panel. “I genuinely get energised about it. There is something very fresh and inspiring about it,” says the professor of zoology at University College Cork. “It is a privilege to be part of it, to listen to school students describe their work. You sense their enthusiasm, energy and commitment. There is something very special about them,” he says. Judges have to be good listeners and open minded to the fresh ideas developed in the student projects. “A judge should not be put off by an idea that they may find challenging.” Joe Barry, professor of population health medicine at Trinity has been a judge for 25 years. “The world has changed and the children have changed over the years,” he believes. “There were no mobile phones in the earlier days and communications were less available and dependent on the printed word. The thing that hasn’t changed is the huge energy of the children and the energy they give you.” A judge for the social and behavioural projects, he believes BT’s involvement with the exhibition has helped make it more student-centred now than in the past, giving the students a better experience. “The Young Scientist is a national institution and it is nice to be associated with it. Certainly 50 years is a milestone and I think the exhibition will always be there.”

Fifty years of innovation 23

THE EXHIBITION Ecosystem and partners

Ecosystem and partners Subtle changes have been taking place in the organisation of the annual BT Young Scientists & Technology Exhibition. A selfsustaining ecosystem of support for the event is growing up around it, cushioning it from financial downturns and helping to keep it vibrant and meaningful in the coming years. This ecosystem of support in no small measure arises through the efforts of the main sponsor BT. It involves building up the number of backers to give it a firm financial footing but also keeping existing supporters fully involved. Building the ecosystem also means ensuring that the event stays relevant to both the students and the teachers who represent a centre-point of the event. “BT remains strongly committed to this event because it supports STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) education in Ireland,” says the head of the company’s participation in the BT Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition, Mari Cahalane. “We are doing this for a reason and the reason is we want to keep students in STEM. That is what all the sponsors want, to be able to find good graduates coming from the universities and to help the universities bring in the brightest young people,” she says.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

One of the biggest backers is the Department of Education and Skills and Minister Ruairi Quinn is in no doubts about its importance to Ireland. The Government is committed to the promotion of STEM education and views the exhibition an important initiative in promoting Stem, he says. “The exhibition gives both participants and observers an appreciation of how developments in science and technology can allow us to meet the ever increasing demands on healthcare, education and energy resources.” Yet it also serves the student, fuelling imagination, promoting and rewarding innovation and creativity, and fostering an environment of ambition and achievement, he says. “The Department of Education and Skills is supportive of initiatives that help to develop students’ skills and that positively dispose them towards science subjects, something that is at the heart of reforms being undertaken across the education sector.” “We have a number of partners that we know from year to year will continue to be involved.” When she talks about involvement however this is not just cutting a cheque. “We target people we think would make good partners.” Cahalane says. Some sponsors cover the cost of special awards and others take stands at the exhibition that runs alongside the event. A good example is the Institute of Physics in Ireland, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014. They have been present at the RDS from early on, and Young Scientist cofounder Tony Scott in fact was one of the original members of the Institute here as well, says Cahalane.

THE EXHIBITION Ecosystem and partners

“I think that is something that is fundamental to being involved. We try as much as we can to get them into the RDS to talk to the students. It is very important for them to establish some level of engagement with the students.” Others at the exhibition include bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council and the Garda. Companies are there too such as Eli Lily, and they are there only as bodies who rely on science and research to sustain their businesses. “People are not allowed to sell during the exhibition,” she says. The companies themselves are there for lots of reasons, but there is no mistaking their enthusiasm for the exhibition and their desire to see it succeed. Intel plays an important part in sustaining this ecosystem and has a clear view of why it does so. It fosters a genuine interest in science and engineering in the minds and hearts of students, parents and teachers, the company says. It also makes science and engineering look “cool” and helps to address the myth that science and engineering is boring and only for nerds. It believes STEM is vital for a strong economy and to help fill the talent pools of technology companies, it says, adding it has a vested interest to make sure the exhibition thrives. Long-standing sponsor Analog Devices points to the contribution the exhibition makes to society at large in nurturing our youth and developing in them an enthusiasm, positivity and ‘can do’ attitude. It

feels obliged to support initiatives that build an interest in science and technology, while also fostering innovation, inquiry and an inquisitive mind. The exhibition is the catalyst that influences many students to choose careers in the STEM subjects, says Analog Devices. Yet there are other benefits for the students in developing a confidence in their own ability. The Institute of Physics describes the event as a “cornerstone” of the Irish science calendar, one that has entered the public consciousness and has had a real impact on Irish society. It links schools and colleges throughout Ireland and is inspirational to anyone involved in it, and also aligns with the Institute’s own mission to promote physics. The exhibition gives students an unforgettable experience and encourages them to develop their scientific thinking, of value even for those who do not remain in the sciences, the institute says. Sponsor EMC highlights the positive impact on the students who participate, describing the exhibition as a valuable life experience and loads of fun too. It offers young people the chance to think in new ways about careers in science, engineering and technology. It supports education generally by adding an extra dimension to learning, encouraging communication and presentation skills and demonstrating the value of team working.

Fifty years of innovation 25

THE EXHIBITION TEACHERS

Teachers The students who attend the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition are the focal point of the whole event. The contribution made by the teachers cannot be underestimated. They represent a sounding board for ideas, a source of inspiration and help and an encouraging voice when the going gets tough. The teachers themselves have a clear idea of how the exhibition benefits the students who take part, and of the wider impact it has on society. It supports education generally and also inspires students to get involved in science and technology in higher education. “It definitely encourages an interest in science,” says Sean Foley of Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, in Cork. Participation keeps the entire school involved, he says, as the aspiring Young Scientists think up project ideas during the year and discuss them with the science teachers. The fun and friendships are a powerful motivation for taking part, but there are long-lasting gains too, he says. “So many former students have told me that when doing job interviews they have invariably been asked about their Young Scientist projects. Having Young Scientist involvement on a CV is a definite advantage. The increased confidence and ability to communicate effectively are huge personal gains for participating students.” The event helps to show students that science is all around us and not just in the classroom, says Ann Blanking of St Marys College, Derry. “It promotes science and technology in a way that shows connections between them and real life.” It is also an important exhibition for the whole island. It is “embedded into the psyche of Irish Society” she believes. “I want as many of my pupils as possible to experience the phenomenon that is the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in order to stimulate their love of science and see the possibilities.” Those that take part become “brilliant ambassadors both for science and technology and the exhibition itself.” Catherine Tattersall who heads up science at Sutton Park School has seen a number of national science

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

competitions, but none compare with the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition which she ranks as “a world leader”. “It places a focus directly on the student and gives them a platform for exhibiting their creative scientific research and design which could see them becoming the inventors of tomorrow,” she says. The event itself seems a source of inspiration for the students and this lasts for years afterwards, says Tattersall. “What we see in our school is that the students who participate develop huge confidence, a sense of pride in their work and a feeling of being valued members of their community. They come away with a stronger vision of where their futures lie.” Yet they also admit to the event being “the best time of their lives so far,” she adds. Jim Cooke, formerly of CBS Synge Street, has for many years been a stalwart supporter of the exhibition, taking many successful students to the event and bringing back numerous awards. He argues it has had a real impact on student engagement with the sciences and research. “It is one of the most visionary and effective developments ever in Irish education,” he believes. “It provides secondlevel students with the opportunity to integrate ideas from various science subjects, mathematics and other disciplines in an exciting and challenging event that encourages creativity, innovation and original research.” Taking part is a challenge for these young people, yet they come away saying it “was one of the best experiences that they ever had,” Cooke says. “All of them would say that the opportunity to engage in original scientific research provided by the exhibition has affected their lives in a very positive way.” The exhibition helps students to develop skills for life, says Mary Mullaghy, the current chair of the Irish Science Teachers’ Association. “It allows students to participate in hands-on science that is relevant to their lives, and research has shown that student participation in science-related extracurricular activities leads to better student performance, by building confidence and creating enjoyment of learning,” she says. Taking part helps communication skills, fosters creativity and team working, she says. It allows the student to take ownership of their own learning. “It has helped make science cool and created a more informed Irish society who can appreciate the applications of scientific discovery,” she adds, saying the Association was proud to be a strategic partner in the event.

Fifty years of innovation 27

THE EXHIBITION EUROPEAN UNION CONTEST FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS

European Union Contest For Young Scientists The Young Scientist Exhibition was already 25 years old when its European equivalent, the European Contest for Young Scientists, held its first event. And from the very beginning, the Irish Young Scientists selected to attend the international contest have had a major impact. In its inaugural year, Grace O’Connor and Sinead Finn captured a first prize for their project on a crop fractionation industry. Since then Irish participants have won 35 prizes including 15 first prizes, the most recent in Prague in 2013 when Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow won a first in biology for their project on the effects of bacteria on plant germination. The Contest is an initiative of the European Commission, its goal to promote contacts and cooperation between Europe’s Young Scientists. Only students who have won national competitions can take part, so those who participate are there with the very best of their peers from across Europe. The event is a central part of the Commission’s efforts amongst young people to promote science as a career given it is managed by the Directorate-General for Research, the body that coordinates the EU’s research budget. It falls within the Science and Society activities that are part of DG Research’s role in building a good relationship between researchers and wider European society. The contest uses a judging panel of 18 people who all have an international reputation and who carry

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

out their duties as individuals. They are not there as representatives of any company, institution or country. They are selected on the basis of scientific criteria and come from both academia and from industry. The Commission appoints them, taking note of geographical and gender balance and up to a third of this panel of members is replaced each year. Ireland’s remarkable performance in the contest over the past 25 European contests is testimony to the success of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. The Irish event starts with an initial 2,000 projects submitted and this is shortlisted to the current 550 participating projects. This ensures that the winning entry will be of a very high standard and of a quality that can match or better any competing Young Scientists that our students come up against. In the main our winners are in their teens, as young as 14, yet they face projects where the students are in their early 20s. They do not get any special treatment for possibly being younger than other contestants however and the European judges apply the same very high standards for all. Their criteria includes originality and creativity when approaching the initial problem; skill, care and thoroughness in designing and conducting the study; the contestant’s follow-through to a project’s conclusion; reasoning and clarity in the interpretation of the results; and the quality of the written presentation. And key to all of these criteria, the participant must be able to discuss their project with the judges and explain it with clarity and assurance. This is a tall order for our Young Scientists but year after year they rise to the occasion. As co-founder of the Irish Young Scientist Exhibition Tony Scott puts it, the judges and the event itself must be doing something right to have achieved our enviable record at the European Contest for Young Scientists.

“The contest opened my mind to new ideas and inspirations and I have become even more aware of the importance of new research, both pure and applied.”

Abdul Abubakar EUCYS FIRST PRIZE WINNER 2007 ‘An Extension of Wiener’s Attack on RSA Encryption’

Fifty years of innovation 29

THE EXHIBITION THE BT RED COATS

The BT Red Coats The unsung heroes of the annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition are the volunteer helpers, BT staff members drafted in to assist during the event. They provide information, usher students in and out of the events in the arena and help make the whole exhibition run smoothly. Providing these “red coats” represents no small contribution on the part of the company who loses the normal work of these staffers for a week. And those who volunteer to take part can be certain of being run off their feet once the exhibition is in full swing. Why do they do it? The reasons vary but the enthusiasm of the students is a key ingredient which in turn inspires the red coats. “What do I get out of volunteering? Sore feet, backache, exhaustion,” says nine-year veteran of the event, Dan Selfridge. He enjoys the buzz and the banter with BT colleagues that wouldn’t happen in the formal work environment. “The sheer inventiveness of the projects inspires me,” he says. Colin McWilliams has been a volunteer for the past five years. He likes seeing BT people at their best and he talks about the student’s enthusiasm. “It is impossible to come away from the RDS after the show and not be at once very tired, very happy and very inspired. It’s the highlight of my year.” For Claire Donnelly it is a mixture of things given the range of roles she has played during her 14 years volunteering as a red coat. She likes working directly with the students and helping them feel at ease while waiting for the judges. She likes working on the registration desk. “I get to speak with the

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

students about their projects and feel their enthusiasm as they arrive into the RDS,” she says. She looks forward to taking part in the milestone 50th exhibition. “After working at this event, we all come away full of energy and ready for the year ahead.” Sharon Ní Cheallaigh feels lucky to have been a part of the team for the past 16 years. She was amongst the first cohort of red coats to take part. A key part is helping the students enjoy the experience, she believes. “Every year we come back, it is very hard to explain the energy, team work and sheer excitement that is felt in the run-up to and during the event itself,” she says. “It is such a positive experience it out-weighs the long days and exhausted feet.” It is impossible to walk away from the event without feeling a sense of pride in a job well done, says Claire Hanrahan who in January will be participating in her 15th exhibition. It is the highlight of her working year she says, “And it makes coming back to work after Christmas so much easier”. “Every single year I am amazed and inspired by what these students do – they come up with amazing ideas, produce fantastic projects and confidently tell their story to the judges and the thousands of people visiting the exhibition.” The buzz and energy is contagious and it encourages Sue Byrne to participate year after year. About to take part in her 6th event she is proud to be a part of it. “It is great to be working with the students and judges, and of course with our own BT teams, some of whom I only meet once a year at the event,” she says. “It is hard work but the commitment, camaraderie and just plain good old fun is what makes it work and what makes me come back every year.”

Fifty years of innovation 31

THE EXHIBITION YOUNG SCIENTISTS TANZANIA

Young Scientists Tanzania A good idea is a good idea no matter where you plant it and this has proven to be true of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. A duplicate of the all-Irish exhibition has been successfully transplanted to Dar Es Salaam and Young Scientists Tanzania has just completed its second year. “If I close my eyes I could have been in the RDS, the buzz was exactly the same and the children want to tell you about their projects and they are so excited,” says Tony Scott, co-founder of the original Dublin event. “We have taken seeds and sowed them in there and they are now tending the crops and watching them grow and it can only be good for the students,” he says. Young Scientist Tanzania was floated as an idea in 2009 at NUI Maynooth. It arose during a meeting of the Combat Diseases of Poverty Consortium, a group in Maynooth working against poverty in east Africa. The Consortium’s co-chairs, Dr. Jamie Saris and Dr. Noel Murphy went to Scott to see if such a radical, unexpected idea might work and he was immediately receptive. Government officials from Tanzania came to visit the exhibition and were impressed and the project got underway. “We talked and I put down what they needed to do and the first thing was to go out and find sponsors to support the project financially,” says Scott. “They came back with backing from the Pearson Foundation and Radar Education in Tanzania. We then started to put the programme together.” The project had to be cleared by the board of the Young Scientist Exhibition, but this was readily given along with all of the logistics behind the event, for example the application forms, judges’ marking sheets and of course all the methodology of running it. It even came down to the design of the stands used at the RDS and a unique Young Scientist Tanzania logo provided under licence and modelled on the one used in Ireland. “They then adapted all of this for use in Tanzania. We didn’t want them having to reinvent the wheel,” says Scott. There was much to-ing and fro-ing to make it all happen, and Scott was full of praise for government

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

support body Irish Aid. “They have been wonderful in helping us to do this, and also Fionnuala Gilsenen, the Irish ambassador there. Government aid has been the rock on which it was based.” The Consortium at Maynooth had a constant stream of staff and supporters travelling to Dar Es Salaam to set up networks with teachers there and getting schools to enter. The logistics for the organisers but also the schools are a considerable challenge, says Scott. “Tanzania is 11 times the size of Ireland with 10 times the population of Ireland. You can reach Dublin from most parts of Ireland in three hours, but reaching Dar Es Salaam from a distant school might be a 30 hour bus journey. We had to get support and teachers out into the regions where there might not be computers and wi-fi connections.” The first Young Scientist Tanzania event in 2012 had 95 projects from 18 of the country’s 21 regions, and the 2013 exhibition attracted 60 projects. The lower number was based on a lack of funding to help get the students up to the exhibition, but the organisers have found fresh backers willing to support the project. “Next year we have new sponsors including British Gas, and Irish Aid is there, and that is going to make a huge difference in so many ways. It will fund people to go around the schools and give help and advice,” says Scott. “Something truly unique and important has developed in Tanzania,” says Saris of the Consortium. Tanzania is up and running and other countries are now interested in setting up Young Scientist exhibitions including Uganda and Kenya. In some ways it has been a difficult journey says Murphy of the Consortium but one that has delivered something important. “By any measure, Young Scientist Tanzania is a remarkable achievement for all concerned.” Meanwhile the winners of the Young Scientist Tanzania 2013 were Jafari Ndagula and Fidel Samwel from Ilongero Secondary School in Singida. They won with a project entitled “A Drip Irrigation System Using Recycled Materials”, a project the judges praised as combining both technical and scientific content while dealing with a real issue, water shortages in their home region. Their win means they will travel to Dublin in January 2014 to attend the 50th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the RDS.

2012 Tanzania Young Scientists, Aisha Nduku, Monica Shinina and Nengai Moses with the 2013 BT Young Scientists, Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow from Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork.

YOUNG SCIENTISTS TANZANIA Fifty years of innovation 33

THE EXHIBITION SPECIAL ACTS

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

THE EXHIBITION SPECIAL ACTS

Fifty years of innovation 35

PAST WINNERS YOUNG SCIENTISTS OF THE YEAR

JOHN MONAHAN 1965 No matter how long the exhibition runs there can only ever be one first winner of the Young Science accolade and that one person is John Monahan. The inaugural exhibition took place in the Mansion House Round Room, one of the few places in central Dublin big enough to handle the 230 or so students in attendance in that first year. John won the prize with an “artificial stomach”, a collection of flasks and tubing all connected together. “As I remember it, it was an apparatus to examine and describe how enzymes digest food in the body,” John says today. He recollects it as a “relatively small affair”, but he was immediately interested in participating. “I was a nerdy kid at home with my own lab. This was just another thing to play at. I never even thought of winning.” He had no bother with the initial round of cursory questions, but the judges came back with tougher ones, “to be convinced I knew what I was talking about”, he says. Security was perhaps not quite as tight back then as it is today. The students were all sent to another room after judging and were told to go home and come back the next day, but John went back to the exhibition room later while the cleaners were there and saw his project had a star attached to it. He thought little of it until the next day when the Young Scientist for 1965 was announced. “It was only the next morning when I realised good heavens I did actually win. I was totally surprised.” Needless to say John stuck with science. “I had always been interested in science and it was very clear to me from the get go I wanted to be a scientist. After the Young Scientist there was no looking back. After that I was totally motivated, and the fact that I was first that year gave me a little boost.” John completed a BSc at University College Dublin and then a PhD in Canada. He moved to Houston,

The concept was born at a science fair in New Mexico, USA

1963 36

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

John Monahan

First ever Young Scientist was held in the Round Room at the Mansion House and attracted 230 entries

1965

Newbridge College, Co. Kildare

Máire Caitríona Ní Dhomhnaill / Mary Finn

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

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

Ursuline Convent, Co. Sligo

1966

“One of the things that always strikes me when I come back is the creativity of young Irish students. It is really exceptional. It just creates an atmosphere of creativity and a little bit of competition. It allows students interested in science to get motivated and get involved at an early age.”

JOHN MONAHAN Young Scientist of the year 1965

Walter Hayes

George Andrew Reynolds

Luke Drury

Maria Edgeworth

St Vincent’s CBS, Glasnevin, Dublin

St James’ CBS, Dublin

Wesley College, 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

The construction and use of a spectro-photometer to investigate complex ion formation in a transition metal

Convent of Mercy, Co. Longford

Salmonellis in Mice: A study of etiology, course and effect of the disease on the host

1967

1968

1969

To extract pigments from various flowers and investigate their possible practical use

1970 Fifty years of innovation 37

PAST WINNERS YOUNG SCIENTISTS OF THE YEAR

Texas and worked in recombinant DNA and was at the Roche research institute in New Jersey. He later moved to the San Francisco Bay area and worked for a number of biotech firms until he set up his own Nasdaq-listed company in the 1990s. John is now semi-retired but still serves on the boards of a number of US and Irish-based biotech companies, but he still remembers that trip to the Round Room and the impact it had on him. “To my mind it gave you a certain a real level of self confidence and motivation,” he says. “One of the things that always strikes me when I come back is the creativity of young Irish students. It is really exceptional. It just creates an atmosphere of creativity and a little bit of competition. It allows students interested in science to get motivated and get involved at an early age.”

1974 A bit of maths, a bit of biology and lots of computer science merged to deliver a Young Scientist win for Richard Elliott, the first student from Northern Ireland to win the top prize. His project was about using computer modelling to track how a hypothetical insect species might evolve over time, making one think it must be about biology. But in reality the project was made because of his interest in computer science. Describing it today, Elliott is a bit dismissive of what he accomplished, suggesting that any A-level biology student would have realised he was theorising about a real insect that formed part of the curriculum, the peppered moth that changes colour over time depending on the colour of the plants it visits. And the maths bit, the Hardy-Weinberg equation, could enable that student to calculate how that theoretical bug might evolve.

Peter Short

Seán Mac Fheorais

Presentation Convent Clane, Co. Kildare

Coláiste Mhuire, Baile Atha Cliath

A survey of Lough Bollard, near Clane, to determine its history and the reason for its disappearance in the 18th century

Grinn- staidéar ar pterostigmata

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

He made the project his own however when he got a line printer to deliver attractive graphics. This was in the days before computer screens if such a thing can be imagined. He had to programme the printer to deliver the graphics he wanted using the old Fortran language. He entered the maths section with his project, never thinking for a moment he might win. His win provided proof that it all comes down to the project and the work put into by the student.

RICHARD ELLIOTT

1971

No typical student would have taken the next step however, to merge the bug and the maths and shove them through a computer. “My insight was to realise that tedious, repetitive calculations are just the thing computers are good at so it would be an ideal demonstration of how computers could be applied to a biological problem,” says Elliott. “Once written and tested the programme could be fed a few bits of information about the insect population and it would churn out the results for hundreds, or thousands, of generations in seconds.”

1972

He did not feel the win affected his plans for the future much. “My A-level subjects were long since decided and my initial university applications, to study medicine, had been made,” he says. Even so he could see how the exhibition “gives students an opportunity to think like a scientist and to conduct a scientific investigation in a way that is not easy within the confines of a school academic curriculum.” Then there is the confidence building of having to explain and defend a project with the judges. “In all these things it is the participation rather than the hope of prizes that is important, and I think most contestants enter it in that spirit,” he says. He completed his medical degree in Edinburgh and then held surgical posts in Scotland before moving to England and a change of career direction. He entered government service in the Health and Safety Executive where he worked for almost 20 years. Now retired, he still enjoys working with computers, but he builds rather than programmes them nowadays.

Tadhg Begley

Schools from Northern Ireland participated for the first time

1972

North Monastery CBS, Co. Cork

1973

A painstaking search for minerals and pollutants in water samples collected in jars over a number of years from the sea off Youghal

“In all these things it is the participation rather than the hope of prizes that is important, and I think most contestants enter it in that spirit..”

RICHARD ELLIOTT Young Scientist of the year 1974

1974

Richard Elliott

Noel Boyle

Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh

St Finian’s College, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath

The use of computer techniques to provide mathematical models of biological situations

A study of photoelectric cells and construction of a spectrophotometer

1975

Mary Kelly-Quinn

Group projects introduced for first time

1976

Our Lady’s Secondary School, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan

1976

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

Fifty years of innovation 39

PAST WINNERS YOUNG SCIENTISTS OF THE YEAR

CATHERINE CONLON 1981 Not everyone admits it but many people live in dread of spiders. But spiders were Catherine Conlon’s best friends when she entered the Young Scientist Exhibition, helping her to win the top award with a study on spider webs. “The original title was quite long, a study of the physical, anatomical and biochemical aspects of the spider and its web making processes,” says Conlon. If the title was detailed the actual research was even more complicated. She looked at the web and its physical attributes, and the spider’s method when building a web. In particular she wanted to see how two common spider species adapted to changes in their specific environment over a two year period. This meant having to get up close and personal with the arachnids and their complex webs. She measured the strength of individual fibres, noting how the “scaffold” strands were particularly strong – stronger by weight than steel cable – while the “connector” strands were more elastic. She used a device that could measure the tiny force needed to break a strand and went into even more detail, studying the angles formed between the web strands to see how this might change through the year in varying wind and rain conditions as the seasons came and went. She also looked at the differences in web design adopted by the two spider species under study. Try to imagine doing all of this analysis for a week with all the note taking and measurements and drawings. Now expand that effort into the two years she spent on the project and you see why the Young Scientist judges might have been impressed. The exhibition helped her to crystallise what she wanted to do in the future and although in the realms of science it wasn’t in physics or chemistry. “It didn’t guide me toward a science career, but it

New range of categorisation for projects

Micheal Og O’Briain

Donald P. McDonnell

Jervis Good

Colaiste Mhuire, Dublin

Crescent College Comp, Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick

Midleton College, Co. Cork

An integrated study of the scientific conservation of Rogerstown Estuary, County Dublin

1977 40

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

1977

The concept of Ecopolemiology as Illustrated by a Preliminary Study of the Bionomics of the Earwig

A study of effect of proven pollution on ecological balance in the Shannon at Limerick

1978

1979

“It is a great platform for students to stand up and express their opinions, and it increases your confidence in being able to do this on any stage”

CATHERINE CONLON Young Scientist of the year 1981

Karen Ruddock

Catherine Conlon

Martynn Sheehan

Alexandra College, Milltown, Dublin

Muckross Park, Dublin

Convent of Mercy, Moate, Co. Westmeath

A study of physical, biochemical and anatomical aspects of the spider and its web, and its adaptation to its environment

Lichens in relation to their environment

1980

1981

Participated in International Science & Engineering Fair for first time

Lichens may be used for medicine

1982

1983 Fifty years of innovation 41

PAST WINNERS YOUNG SCIENTISTS OF THE YEAR

helped in more general terms,” she says. Participation served her in many different ways. “It is a great platform for students to stand up and express their opinions, and it increases your confidence in being able to do this on any stage. I wasn’t used to standing and expressing opinions and having the confidence to do that,” she says. “Maybe that is one of the reasons I am in the occupation I am in, lecturing. I have never had any fears of standing up and that is a major aspect.” The career she pursued is in public health and epidemiology. She qualified as a medical doctor at University College Dublin and did GP training before moving into the public health area with the health board. She did further degrees in public health and moved into academia, lecturing in public health and epidemiology. Despite a career in health, she still finds time for writing, both fiction and non-fiction, yet another area where she can stand up and express an opinion.

RONAN McNULTY

His father was blind and, although he could readily work on a keyboard and build a composition, he would then need his son to sit down alongside him and write out the musical note as his father played the piece. “There was no way for him to get his thoughts onto paper,” he says. “It was slow work so I wanted to find a way to automate the process.” He found an old keyboard and started to make a few additions, putting in switches at the base of each key so he could wire up all the notes. The ZX Spectrum was at the heart of the project, taking keyboard input data and converting each keystroke and pause into an output signal to the printer. So when his father played a new composition, the system would deliver a full printout of the music at the other end. The resultant project was a great help to his father, but it also enabled McNulty to take the top prize at the exhibition. “The win really wasn’t life-changing, I had always wanted to do science anyway and so the win didn’t have an impact on that.” Participation did however provide him with new skills. “What it does do is give you confidence, something that stays with you. It also makes you focus for six months and work hard on a project like that. These are characteristics that a scientist needs,” he says.

1985

The exhibition does something else, it celebrates science. There are lots of awards and financial rewards for those involved in sports, music, dance and other pursuits but few for science, he says. “The guy in the corner doing the science is a nerd.”

Who remembers the famous ZX Spectrum computer? If you have one in the attic it might be valuable as a collector’s item but it was the latest computer technology in its day. And it proved central to the project put together by 1985 Young Scientist winner Ronan McNulty.

The exhibition does however turn science and research into a mainstream activity, one affecting all the students but also society at large. “That kind of recognition is important. It went out on national television and the message was science is good,” he says.

The project involved building a keyboard which when played could deliver a printout of the played music in full musical note notation. It was sensitive enough to include pauses and get the tempo correct as well. He decided to build the device for very personal reasons. He comes from a very musical family and his father at the time liked to compose music, McNulty says.

He went on to get degrees in physics and is now a lecturer in the subject at University College Dublin. His specialisation however is particle physics and he is a researcher at the European home of particle physics, Cern. He is an author on the paper describing the discovery of the Higgs Boson, and he heads a team from UCD working at Cern.

William Murphy Gareth Clarke Turan Mirza

Eoin Walsh

Ronan McNulty

Carrickfergus Grammar School, Co. Antrim

Colaiste Choilm CBS, Swords, Dublin

St Mary’s College, Rathmines, Dublin

Simulation of Drude Electron Theory and Kinetic Theory of Gases

The Musical Typewriter (A system which prints music as you play)

Microcomputer based robotics

1983 42

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

1984

1985

Breda Maguire Niamh Mulvany Rosary College, Raheny, Dublin Focus on the Viola Tricolour - an Indepth study on Bull Island

1986

“That kind of recognition is important. It went out on national television and the message was science is good”

RONAN McNULTY Young Scientist of the year 1985

Fifty years of innovation 43

PAST WINNERS YOUNG SCIENTISTS OF THE YEAR

PETER TAYLOR 2001 Going round in circles is what happens when you are lost, but not when that person is Peter Taylor. He and his fellow researchers, Shane Browne and Michael O’Toole, won the 2001 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition with a project about making circles.

“We didn’t use computers, it was pencil and paper and that was the beauty of the project for me, it was totally analytical,” he said. “It took several months to do it, but we didn’t know the project would be considered so good or be regarded so highly.”

These were no ordinary circles, they were circles made from many small pieces put together like a puzzle to form the circle shape. Each piece was a polygon and the challenge for the three was to find a way to calculate the lowest number of pieces needed for a given polygon to make a circle. These were not circles with a smooth round edge but they had to satisfy a requirement of being “invariant under rotation”, as Taylor puts it.

Winning was an “incredible experience”, but he had form as they say. The year before he was part of a team that took second place as best group with a project on Pascal’s Triangle. This win spurred him to want to take a top prize, which his group did the following year.

Sounds easy? Not really. Polygons come in countless forms depending on how many sides they have. Pentagons have five and hexagons have six, but what if the polygon had 55 sides or 100 sides? Taylor and his group from St Kilian’s Community School in Bray developed a way to calculate this and discovered no matter how many sides a polygon had, ultimately you could form a circle. And for the record a 100-sided polygon needs a minimum 100 pieces while a 55-sided polygon also needs 100 pieces, Taylor says. His teacher suggested the challenge after spotting it in a maths magazine. “I would not have been reading maths journals,” he admits, but he was willing to attempt the project because of the challenge. “All of what you needed could be found in the basic maths curriculum, but it took creativity to deliver a proof,” Taylor says.

Henry Byrne Emma Donnellan

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Grace O’Connor Sinead Finn

First year of EU Union Contest for Young Scientists, which Ireland has won 15 times!

Navan Community College, Co. Meath

Ursuline Convent, Thurles, Co. Tipperary

Geothermal Study of the River Skane

Fibre Optic Liquid Analyser

“The exhibition is so important because it allows the student to engage with science out of the school context and that is important. It shows there is more than what you learn out of a text book.”

Siobhan Lanigan O’Keeffe

FCJ Secondary School, Bunclody, Co. Wexford

1987

The Young Scientist Exhibition had a lasting impact on him. “For me personally the exhibition really crystallised my interest in maths and I decided to pursue it at third level. I was thinking of engineering but the win gave me confidence to stick with the more abstract maths.” He did a bachelors in maths/ science at University College Dublin, then went to Cambridge University where he completed “part three of the mathematical tripos” the oldest masters level maths course in the world, he says. Taylor completed a PhD back at UCD and is now an assistant professor in Trinity College Dublin’s school of maths.

1988

A Study on a Crop Fractionation Industry

1989

PETER TAYLOR Young Scientist of the year 2001

Anna Minchin-Dalton Alexandra College, Milltown, Dublin Studies of the Oyster Thief

1990

1991

Barry O’Doherty Daniel Dundas

Elizabeth Dowling Jean Byrne

Donal Keane Rodger Toner

St. Patrick’s College, Maghera, Co. Derry

St. Paul’s Secondary School, Dublin

Abbey Grammar School, Newry, Co. Down

Dynamics of a Two-Well Potential Oscillator

A Picture Winged Insect - Population Dynamics of a Thistle Predator Terellia Serratulae

Assessment of Female Quality by Male Gammarus

1992

1993 Fifty years of innovation 45

PAST WINNERS YOUNG SCIENTISTS OF THE YEAR

PATRICK COLLISON 2005 Meteoric is certainly one word that comes to mind when considering the early career trajectory of the 41st Young Scientist. In January 2005 he held aloft the top prize at the exhibition smiling for the photographers. Three years later he was again smiling for the photographers, but this time was holding a cheque for €3.2 million. He and his brother John had just sold their company Auctomatic to a Canadian firm. And Patrick was happy to attribute his inspiration and success to his BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition win. He has no hesitation in his support for the exhibition and what it does for young people. “It is the best outlet I know for Irish students to pursue meaningful, original, creative science work...which is about the most interesting pursuit there is,” he says. For Patrick Collison it was always about computing. He started programming computers at the age of 10 and attended a programmers’ class at the nearby University of Limerick as a youngster. He brought a project to the Young Scientist Exhibition in 2004, one involving artificial intelligence, and took the runner up individual award in that year, one of the four top prizes. He won the exhibition outright the following year with yet another computer project. He created a new programming language he called Croma, a dialect of the Lisp language originally developed in 1958 by John McCarthy. Collison reworked the language to make it easier to write web applications, something the judges agreed made for a very good project and he captured the top prize in 2005.

Jane Feehan

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Collison believes he got a tremendous boost from his win at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. It wasn’t just the confidence boost and the satisfaction of winning such a challenging event, it was also the fact that he could add the accolade to his curriculum vitae, something that helped him convince backers to invest in his ventures. “It was easily the most important thing that happened in my secondary school career and opened a lot of doors and opportunities. I remember it fondly,” he says.

Abbey Grammar School, Newry, Co. Down

The Secret Life of the Calluna Case-Carrier

After selling it the two brothers set up a new company in 2009, Stripe, which provides a service for individuals and companies making it easier to take in payments made over the internet. Based in Palo Alto in California, the company employs 75 people, he says.

Brian Fitzpatrick Shane Markey

St. Brendan’s Community School, Birr, Co. Offaly

1994

Having started with computing he was hardly going to switch careers and move to something else. He started studying maths and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but left to set up Auctomatic with his brother John. The company developed software that could be used to track sales on eBay and they had hoped to raise funds and establish the firm in Ireland. When the financial support wasn’t forthcoming they headed for California and won backing to get the company up and running.

1995

Factors Affecting Cavitation in Whole Plants, Leaves and Vascular Bundles using Acoustic Detection

1996

Elsie O’Sullivan Rowena Mooney Patricia Lyle

Ciara McGoldrick Emma McQuillan Fiona Fraser

Scoil Mhuire Portarlington (Colaiste Iosagain), Co. Laois

Dominican College, Belfast, Co. Antrim

The Perfect Queen Bee

The preservation of Biological Data in European Bog Bodies

1997

“It is the best outlet I know for Irish students to pursue meaningful, original, creative science work...which is about the most interesting pursuit there is”

PATRICK COLLISON Young Scientist of the year 2005

Esat Telecom took over as sponsors from Aer Lingus after 33 years.

1998

Raphael Hurley

Sarah Flannery

Thomas Gernon

Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh, Bishopstown, Co. Cork

Scoil Mhuire Gan Smals, Blarney, Co. Cork

Colaiste Ris, Dundalk, Co. Louth

The Mathematics of Monopoly

Cryptography - a new algorithm versus the RSA

The Geography and Mathematics of the Earths Urban Centres

1999

2000 Fifty years of innovation 47

PAST WINNERS THE JUDGE FAMILY

The Judge Family Three siblings took part over a 12-year period, with one becoming the first in his school to take part, and two sisters declared the outright winners as Young Scientists in 2006 and then in 2013. “I thought it would be a boring science fair but it was so cool it blew me away when I got there,” says Aisling, the BT Young Scientist of the year for 2006. She was more interested in sport than anything to do with science, she says, and readily admits avoiding anything that looked nerdy or involved too much work. Yet it was a life-changing moment when Aisling’s parents insisted she travel up to Dublin to see her older brother Edward who in 2002 took part in the exhibition, becoming the first student to participate from their local Kinsale Community School. Also in tow was four-year-old sister Ciara who would also be impacted by the exhibition in a way none of the family could have expected. “I think it was my brother who paved the way for us,” says Ciara of her brother’s earlier participation in the event. “The two of us went on and won, but our brother was the first to take part from our school and enter in 2002. Edward was naturally the most inquisitive of us and he asked our parents if he could go and then asked the teacher and they got behind him. Now the school is very successful. And it really all started with my brother going.” Aisling describes being dragged to the event. “My brother was four years older than me and my parents said we all had to go up to Dublin and have a look. I can still remember saying ‘I hope you don’t think I am going to do it’,” says Aisling.

From left to right; Aisling and Ciara Judge

BT became the organisers and sponsors of the exhibition

Shane Browne Peter Taylor Michael O’ Toole

Investigating symmetrical shapes formed by polygons

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

Adnan Osmani

Gonzaga, Dublin

St Finian’s College, Co. Westmeath

The Distribution of the Primes and the underlying order of chaos

St. Killian’s Community School, Co. Wicklow

2001

David Michael O’Doherty

2001

2002

The graphical technological and user-friendly advancement of the Internet browser

2003

When it comes to having an impact at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition it is tough to beat the record of the Judge family from Kinsale, Co. Cork.

2004

Ronan Larkin

Patrick Collison

Aisling Judge

Abdusalam Abubakar

CBS, Synge Street, Dublin 8

Castletroy College, Castletroy, Co. Limerick

Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork

CBS, Synge Street, Dublin 8

Generalised Continued Fractions

CROMA: A new dialect of lisp

The development and evaluation of a biological food spoilage indicator

An Extension of Wiener’s Attack on RSA

2005

2006

2007 Fifty years of innovation 49

PAST WINNERS THE JUDGE FAMILY

Everything changed once she got to the RDS in Dublin through. As a 10-year-old she wasn’t interested in traditional science, but she remembers looking at a project about football boots and the best way to kick a ball. “I looked at this project and it was in a science exhibition but I never realised this could be science too,” she says. “And the atmosphere at the exhibition is great and I saw how much fun everyone was having. From then on all I wanted to do was enter.” The exhibition was also working its magic on little Ciara who at four was making a decidedly early first visit to the RDS. That visit lit a spark that eventually led to her Young Scientist win in 2013 and it all came down to a goldfish. “I remember being delighted by the bright colours at the exhibition, all the people running around,” she says. “I am very into animals and I saw a project about goldfish memory and they had a tank with a goldfish in it. I was enthralled and spent 20 minutes staring at the tank. I thought if this is science then I want to do it,” she adds. “After that it just became second nature, taking part in the exhibition was something I was going to do as a matter of fact.” Aisling became BT Young Scientist of the year in 2006 on her second attempt with a clever new way to detect potentially spoiled food using milk bacteria. She viewed it as a simple project, one that would hardly attract a top prize but the judges thought differently, making her at 14 the youngest Young Scientist yet.

From left to right; Aisling and Ciara Judge

“It was completely surreal,” Aisling says. “At the time I was quite young. I had seen some of the previous winners and they were older kids with complex projects, but mine was simple and I was so young I never thought I had a chance of winning.” Emer Jones

John D. O’Callaghan Liam McCarthy

Presentation School, Tralee, Co. Kerry

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

2009

The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and its Importance in Milk Production

New BT Business Bootcamp launched

Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Blarney, Co. Cork

Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork

Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters

2008

Richard O’Shea

A biomass fired cooking stove for developing countries

2010

PAST WINNERS THE JUDGE FAMILY

So convinced was she that Aisling didn’t realise her name had been called until her friends started pushing her up the central aisle in the BT Theatre at the RDS. “That whole evening was such a blur. It was a shock and I had lost my voice with all the cheering,” she says. Her project went on to take a third place at the European Contest for Young Scientists, a great accomplishment. Meanwhile that goldfish had worked its magic on Ciara who in 2013 was attending her third Young Scientist as a contestant with a group project on seed germination. “I never thought I could ever win with any project because Aisling had won it before me,” she says. “It is still pretty fresh in my mind. Everyone around us began screaming. The main thing I remember is being on stage and how heavy the trophy was. We managed to hold it up but only for 20 or 30 seconds.” She and her fellow group winners, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow put in more work on their project before taking it to the European competition where they took a first place prize for their efforts. “I think the thing that prodded me into science was that goldfish,” Ciara acknowledges. Her love of animals means her great ambition now is to go on and study veterinary science. The science bug also bit Aisling thanks to the exhibition. “Even without winning, taking part in the exhibition is the highlight of my time in secondary school,” she says. “It is very much a confidence builder and you learn presentation skills second to none.” She is studying bioprocess engineering at University College Dublin and plans to pursue a masters in biochemical engineering at University College London.

From left to right; Colm O’Neill CEO BT Ireland, Emer Hickey, Sophie Healy-Thow and Ciara Judge

Alexander Amini

Eric Doyle Mark Kelly

Castleknock College, Dublin

Ciara Judge Emer Hickey Sophie Healy-Thow

CBS, Synge Street, Dublin 8

Tennis sensor data analysis

Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork

Simulation accuracy in the gravitational many-body problem

2011

2012

2000 entries received, the highest number ever

2013

A statistical investigation of the effects of Diazotroph bacteria on plant germination

2014 Fifty years of innovation 51

50 YEARS the BTYSTE Archive

the BTYSTE Archive The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) will celebrate its 50th competition in 2014. The online archive is a tribute to all the past participants, their teachers, friends and families, all the visitors, judges, VIPs and everyone connected to the exhibition over the past 50 years. We have included almost all of the exhibition guides from the past 50 years and made them searchable so you can look up student names and schools. There are lots of photos and a few newspaper articles that are bound to bring back a memory or two as well. There are also some interesting original stories from the Irish Times, going back to the very first front page story in 1965! We hope you enjoy the archive and will contribute to its further development.

http://archive.btyoungscientist.com The archive was developed in association with the Digital Skills Academy’s Webelevate programme. Find out more here: http://www.digitalskillsacademy.com/courses/webelevate/

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

50 YEARS BTYSTE Birthday Wall

BTYSTE Birthday Wall A few of the messages posted on our online birthday wall, helping us celebrate a very special year.

Enda Kenny

Happy 50th Birthday BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition! Enda Kenny, An Taoiseach.

RDS Dublin

Congratulations to Dr. Tony Scott, the late Dr. Tom Burke, BT and all who have been involved in YSTE over the last 50 years inspiring young people to question, investigate and explore the world around them. The RDS has been privileged to be a part of this wonderful journey.

Catherine Conlon Happy Birthday to the BT

Young Scientist of the Year. Congratulations on 50 years of excellence, on shaping the lives of young people all over Ireland, and on being the best in Europe! Special congrats to Prof Tony Scott for his innovation all those years ago.

usembassydublin Happy 50th Birthday to @BTYSTE We have been proud to be involved the last two years with our Space Camp competitions!

Dr. Tony Scott Congratulations on achieving the half century of the Young Scientist Exhibition, long may it continue. It has exceeded our wildest dreams if indeed we had a dream at the time. It is a great pity that Fr. Tom is no longer with us to enjoy its success.

niexecutive Happy 50th birthday to @BTYSTE

from @niexecutive Minister O’Dowd. Thousands of our young people inspired to get into STEM #btyste50

Joan Burton

Congratulations on 50 years of innovations, ideas and wonderful enthusiasm. Here’s to the next 50 years.

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Congratulations and Happy 50th Birthday to BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Very best wishes for another successful year from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).

Mairead McGuinness MEP Happy 50th Birthday to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition! Congratulations to all who have participated in the last 50 years. Wishing you many more years of continued success.

Desmond College Happy 50th Birthday to

BTYSTE from all of the Young Scientists of Desmond College past and present. Hope to be there in 2014.

John Monahan (The First Young Scientist of the Year, 1965) Congratulations to all people

over the years that have made this event such a success. The Young Scientist of The Year event is a great opportunity to motivate and encourage young people to pursue a career in science. Equally important is the often thankless effort, the supporters and organizers of the event put into this effort over the years. Please keep up the good work. This is an Irish Treasure.

Minister Michael Ring Many congratulations and a very Happy 50th Birthday to the BT Young Scientist Exhibition. Best wishes for the future Michael Ring TD, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport.

Clare Balding Follow the path that makes your heart sing and your brain go zing. Best wishes, Clare Balding

RTÉ Happy Birthday to @

BTYSTE - Celebrating 50 years today!

Fifty years of innovation 53

50 YEARS BTYSTE Birthday Wall

Liam Aylward MEP Congratulations to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition on its 50th Birthday. I have very fond memories of participating in the exhibition in 1970 and I still look forward to visiting the exhibition and meeting the Young Scientists each year. Best of luck for the continued success of this great event. It’s always a pleasure to visit the exhibition and meet the talented students who have such excellent and unique projects on display.

Neil Watson A very happy birthday to the

Exhibition from Lord Puttnam, Neil Watson and all involved with Atticus Education! This is a brilliant initiative, which grows ever more valuable as innovation becomes more and more important to the health and prosperity of society.

Ann Blanking I have been involved with the competition for more than 12 years. I was present at the 40th anniversary and I hope that I can make it to the 50th! I was never prouder than seeing my students get up on the stage to collect their awards. The pride, happiness and indeed surprise shone out of their faces! The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition has grown from strength to strength and every student I have brought to the competition has lasting memories and indeed new friendships that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It doesn’t matter whether they got an award or not. Happy Birthday and many happy returns. Love It!

Mary Mullaghy

Comhghairdeas to @BTYSTE on your success. Looking forward to celebrating the 50th with you. Le meas, Mary Mullaghy (ISTA National Chairperson) www.ista.ie

Kinsale Happy 50th Birthday to BT Young Scientist from all those in Kinsale. We’re all looking forward to cheering (the loudest) next year. See ye there, and bring cake.

Dr. Adrian Somerfield Congratulations. It

seems a long time since I sat in on the original meeting when this scheme was projected, and I am delighted to see how it has all developed. Bravo.

David Norris To all at the BT Young Scientist, My heartiest congratulations on reaching this your 50th Birthday!! have always enjoyed my visits to the BT Young Scientist Exhibition and look forward to many more in the future.

from Minister Quinn & the Department of Education. Congratulations on all your years of success! #BTYSTE50

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

HEAnet Congrats to BT who are celebrating the 50th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition; inspiring kids everywhere.

congratulations from everyone at the Institute of Physics. Looking forward to at least another 50 years!

Professor John O’Halloran, BEES, UCC Congratulations Fantastic event, people and ideas Roll on the next 20 years It will be exciting - the young people will be illustrating their work as holograms, it will be visible and smellable (smellavision!) across the world and in space- why not a virtual RDS with some posters in space! Judging will be interesting.

Dr. Thomas Gernon Sheila Porter

Education_Ire Happy 50th Birthday @BTYSTE

Sheila Gilheany Very many

Happy 50th Birthday BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. It’s almost 40 years since I first got involved, first while teaching in Our Lady’s Grove, Goatstown and later in Loreto College, St Stephen’s Green. I still enjoy the week in the RDS. Good luck with the celebrations in January 2014.

Happy Birthday to the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, and congratulations on inspiring and transforming the careers of so many young, talented Irish people. This institution must be nurtured and preserved for our future generations. Life begins at 50! (2000 winner)

Fifty years of innovation 55

50 YEARS

Founded by

THE FACTS

Dr Tony Scott and Rev Dr Tom Burke the exhibition has attracted worldwide acclaim and recognition.

1977

New range of categorisation for projects

NINETEEN

the concept was born at a Science Fair in

Schools from Northern Ireland participated for the ﬁrst time

SIXTY-THREE New Mexico, USA NEW MEXICO

SEVENTY-TWO

First ever Young Scientist was held in the Round Room at the Mansion House

230

entries were submitted for the ﬁrst exhibition

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

1976

Group projects introduced for ﬁrst time

50 YEARS

YOUNG SCIENTIST(S) OF THE YEAR

THE FACTS

DERRY / LONDONDERRY

DONEGAL

winners by county

ANTRIM

TYRONE

DOWN

FERMANAGH

ARMAGH

LEITRIM

Dublin

Cork

Kd Kildare

Tipperary

Dy L/Derry

Ww Mh Wicklow

Meath

Westmeath

Limerick

Kerry

Antrim

Oy Oﬀaly

Longford

Laois

CAVAN MAYO ROSCOMMON

LOUTH LONGFORD MEATH

Sligo

GALWAY

Louth

MONAGHAN

SLIGO

Down

Fermanagh

WESTMEATH

OFFALY

DUBLIN

Mn Wx

Monaghan

KILDARE

WICKLOW

LAOIS

Wexford

CLARE CARLOW TIPPERARY LIMERICK

KILKENNY WEXFORD

WATERFORD KERRY CORK

Fifty years of innovation 57

50 YEARS

1983

THE FACTS

1998

participated in International Science & Engineering Fair for ﬁrst time

Technology category added

Supported by

NINETEEN EIGHTY-NINE

Individual winners

won 15 times!

Group winners

First year of European Union Contest for Young Scientists, which Ireland has

1998

Esat Telecom took over as sponsors from Aer Lingus after 33 years

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

2001

BT became the organisers and sponsors of the exhibition

606 to 2000 in 14 yea rs From

606

2014

Highest number of entries received

60%

50 YEARS 2000

40%

Over the past 50 years, 40 boys and 27 girls have been awarded Young Scientist(s) of the year

THE FACTS

YEARS Organised and sponsored by

FIFTY YEARS Celebrating our 50th anniversary in the RDS, Dublin

2010

---------------MCMLXV-MMXIV

65,000

People have entered the competition in ﬁfty years

BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp introduced

Fifty years of innovation 59

BT BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

BT is the world’s oldest communications company, with a direct line of descent from the first national telecommunications undertaking in the world. Incorporated in 1846, it was the first anywhere to develop a nationwide communications network exploiting leading edge telegraphy technology. Within ten years an international network had been developed, making communications possible within minutes and hours instead of days and weeks. The consequences for every aspect of society were dramatic and profound.

BT has gone on to become one of the world’s leading communications services companies. Every day we touch the lives of thousands of people on the island of Ireland, helping them communicate, do business and be entertained and informed. In Northern Ireland, we continually lead the way in bringing exciting new services to our customers - everything from TV to high speed fibre broadband to IT services for some of the largest organisations in the market. In the Republic of Ireland, BT has grown from a challenger brand to a highly successful company with a breadth of services that we believe is unrivalled. We operate the 999/112 emergency call answering service on behalf of the Irish State, connect ATMs for banking institutions, build networks for other communications companies, process millions of transactions through our data centres, train thousands in our ICT Training Centre – and the list goes on.

Fast forward to today and technology is more central to BT’s business than ever before as it builds on the foundation of the digital era to create the information age. Innovation - the combination of technical know-how with commercial acumen - becomes even more crucial in a competitive world.

If you’d like to learn more about BT and how we strive to make a positive impact on the organisations and people we work with every day, visit www.btireland.com and www.btplc.com.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

And then there is our role in the community. We believe we have a responsibility to give something back to the communities in which we operate – over E1m in time, cash and in-kind support here on the island of Ireland. And the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition – which we organise ourselves in BT – is something we are very proud of as it continues to flourish under our stewardship.

50 YEARS OF INNOVATION

The story of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we would like to share our story and some of the experiences and key events that have shaped our history.

BT, Grand Canal Plaza, Upper Grand Canal Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Tel: 1800 924 362 Email: youngscientist@bt.com BT, Riverside Tower, 5 Lanyon Place, Belfast BT1 3BT, Northern Ireland. Tel: 0800 917 1297 Email: youngscientist@bt.com Copyright © British Telecommunications plc 2013. Printed in Northern Ireland.

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition - Fifty years of innovation

Articles inside

The BT Red Coats

50 Years The BTYSTE Archive

The BTYSTE Birthday Wall

BT Bringing it all together

PasT WInners Young Scientists of the Year 1965 - 2013

The Judge Family

Young Scientists Tanzania

European Union Competition

Colm O’Neill, Chief Executive Officer, BT Ireland

The Judges

Ecosystem and Partners

Teachers

Dr. Tony Scott and Reverend Dr. Tom Burke

hIsTorY The story of the Young Scientist Exhibition

ForeWorD Enda Kenny TD, Taoiseach

Famous milestones through the years