Meath students showcase projects at BT Young Scientist and Techology Exhibition

Budding young scientists from Meath are among the thousands of students showcasing their projects at the RDS this week as part of the 61st annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Fifteen projects from seven Meath secondary schools are among 550 projects to make it to the final giving the students involved the opportunity to showcase their projects to the judges and also the visiting public during the four-day event.

A number of local projects caught the media's eye and Sean Finnegan from St Patrick's Classical School in Navan was interviewed on both RTE's Today Show yesterday (Wednesday) and also on RTE's Morning Ireland on this morning (Thursday) about his portable modular crane design.

"Essentially it is a crane for loading and unloading vans and it can also be used on scaffolding and workshop walls. It can be used between different vehicles. It is fully battery powered and patent pending in Ireland," explained Sean on the Today Show.

He told how his father had injured his back from wear and tear working in the construction sector for many years and that he came up with the idea of the lifting aid to prevent more injuries.

Sean said he already has some out on trial and some more ordered and he hopes to start producing in the new year. His design is currently patent pending.

The school is also represented by second year student Rohaan Bhatnagar with his project 'Futuredev'.

Meanwhile, Ashbourne Community School students Alexander Douglas and Adam McMahon featured on RTE's Six-One News yesterday (Wednesday) evening where they told RTE Work and Technology correspondent Brian O'Donovan about their project which analyses the vocabulary used in AI and how to analyse the differences.

Their project “Dickens Vs LLMs" explored whether large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, use a wider vocabulary than the average human writer. By analysing how many unique words appear that aren't on a list of the 1,000 most used words, the boys aimed to uncover patterns that might differentiate AI-generated text from human writing. They are mentored by teacher Linda Ward.

St Joseph's Mercy, Navan, was well represented again this year with four projects by Transition Year students. 'Mouth vs Nose: the Breath Battle' by Eppie Clarke and Saoirse McGovern, explored the impact of breathing techniques on exam performance.

'Is your head in the game' by Maria Mcloughlin and Salomeja Slusnyte, investigated the influence of mental warm-ups on camogie training performance.

'Feel the way' by Caroline Asiruvatham and Niamh Bonallie, aimed to create a visual aid to assist visually impaired individuals in navigating outdoor environments, while 'Chess your IQ' by Manal Fantazi and Grace Gibbs, examined the potential cognitive benefits of learning chess, focusing on the impact of age. The students were mentored by teachers Bronagh Farrell and Fiona Leavy.

Two projects from Boyne Community School, Trim, also made it to the final. 'How do the people around us affect our productivity?' and 'The Trial Of Dave', both of which were in the Social & Behavioural Sciences category.

Ava McEvoy and Zuzanna Pekala aimed to answer the question, how do the people around us affect our productivity? Their goal was to figure out how productive our classrooms and workplaces were when we were around people we knew and people we didn’t.

Max Carty's project, 'The Trial Of Dave', is on the effect bias in the news can have on its viewers, and also looked at if age has any correlation to the susceptibility of bias.

Loreto Secondary School in Navan qualified in the Technology section with 'Gamifying a fun approach to recycling and litter collection.'

Eureka Secondary School, Kells, has three projects showcased in the final.

Hanna Lydon and Saoirse Ward are exhibiting their project 'Neuro Cognitive olfactory programming' in the Health & Wellbeing section.

With anxiety and stress a growing problem among teenagers, the group members agreed that smells can be comforting. Some therapists are using smells as calming mechanism, and the team wanted to see if it was possible to strengthen this calming effect by 'training' the olfactory system over time.

This project investigated the use of inhaling scent as a way of calming a person’s blood pressure when they have been subjected to a stressful situation.

The students also developed an app which describes how to implement the olfactory programming and the benefits of the programming on stress management.

Eureka students Caoimhe Mynes and Caitlin Mynes entered a project entitled 'Shining a light on Stargardts disease'. Their project aims to raise awareness of a rare condition known as Stargardt’s disease. The students realised that there was a scarcity of information available on this condition and they set about trying to rectify this.

The third project from Eureka was "Neuro-Logic: How accommodating are accommodations?" by Eloise Finucane, Bronwyn Corcoran and Danu McGann.

This project researched the different forms of neurodivergence, the needs of neurodivergent people, and what specialists recommend. How the accommodation system works and what is actually offered. It also investigates whether there is an actual or perceived difference in needs versus accommodation. With reference to existing research and best practice, the team make recommendations on how best to support students with neurodivergences.

Coláiste na Mí in Johnstown, Navan, also has two projects in the final. 'Chemical compounds and their balance with nature with mushrooms' is in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category and 'Speechumpy' Speech Development App qualified in the Social and Behavioural Sciences Group.

Over 4,000 students from 352 schools showcased their innovation and ingenuity through the 2,069 project entries received for the BTYSTE 2025, tackling a broad range of topics relating to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

Tomorrow, final judging and deliberation will get underway from early, before the 2025 BTYSTE awards ceremony begins at 5.30pm. Anticipation is already building to find out which projects will be recognised this year, in addition to the announcement of the overall winner for 2025.

For the first time ever, the recipient of the BT Young Scientist & Technologist (s) of the Year Award, along with four other category winners, will be awarded a trip to the World Expo in Osaka, Japan in July, while also representing Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) in September.