Media Centre
2006 Winners
The BT Young Scientist of the Year 2006 is Aisling Judge, a 2nd year student from Kinsale, Co. Cork. Aisling is the youngest ever winner in the exhibition’s 42 year history and her winning project, entitled “The development and evaluation of a biological food spoilage indicator” was announced by Minister for Education & Science, Mary Hanafin TD and Mike Maloney, COO, BT Ireland at the awards ceremony held this evening at the RDS, Dublin. Aisling was entered in the Biological & Ecological Sciences category, Junior Section.
In describing Aisling’s project, the judges explained, “We all know that food spoils easily if it is stored at the wrong temperature. This project developed and evaluated an easy way by which the consumer can tell whether food has gone off. Using classical microbiological techniques, Aisling established that at a range of household temperatures, more bacteria grow, producing more acid. She used this production of acid by the bacteria to develop a food spoilage indicator kit. This kit may alert consumers to the fact that the food has been left at too high a temperature and may present a potential hazard.” The judges went on to remark, “This very impressive project demonstrated to us a highly innovative and creative use of experimental biology, together with a very novel use of technology.”
Catrina Sheridan, BT and Chairperson of the judging panel said, “Our 2006 winner, our youngest ever, has presented a project that is both imaginative and has practical uses in today’s households. After 42 years, the quality and sheer knowledge of these students continues to impress all of our judges.”
Minister for Education & Science, Mary Hanafin TD accompanied by Mike Maloney, COO, BT Ireland presented Aisling with a cheque for €5,000, a Waterford Crystal trophy and the opportunity to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists taking place in Sweden this coming September.
“Tonight is the culmination of a fantastic week at the RDS where Ireland’s youth displayed their talent and skills in the fields of science and technology. Each year this prestigious event continues to grow in size and stature, attracting more and more schools and students to partake in what is the largest exhibition of its kind in the world. BT would like to thank everyone who played a role and congratulate all of our entrants and winners,” said Mike Maloney, COO BT Ireland.
The award for individual runner-up went to Gohar Abbasi from Synge Street CBS, Dublin 8 for his project entitled “Efficient parameterisation of the binomial option pricing model” entered in the Intermediate Section of the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category. He was awarded €1,000 and a BT Perpetual Trophy.
Best Group were named as Keith Florea, Adrian Chisa and Sandeep Sihag, from Synge Street CBS, Dublin 8 for their Chemical, Physical & Mathematical project in the Senior Section entitled “Estimation of simulation error in the Kelper problem using hodographs.” They received a prize of €2,000 and a BT Perpetual Trophy.
The runner-up group were named as Tara McGrath, Vanessa McGrath and Nicola Woodgate from Presentation Secondary School, Loughboy, Co Kilkenny. They were awarded €1,000 and a BT Perpetual trophy for their project entitled “Inventing Machine - Fun Triz For Kids” entered in the Intermediate Section of the Technology category.
Awards were also presented at Junior, Intermediate and Senior levels in the following categories:
- Biological and Ecological Sciences – Individual and Group
- Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences – Individual and Group
- Social and Behavioural Sciences – Individual and Group
- Technology – Individual and Group
1,200 students competed this week in 500 projects from 29 counties across Ireland.
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