BT Young Scientist Exhibition 2024

11 May 2023: BT Ireland, the communications services company, and the education charity, Young Scientist & Technology of the Year Limited (YSE ltd), have announced that they have extended their partnership for a further three years through to the 2026 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people on the island of Ireland. It is an all-encompassing celebration of science and technology under one roof. The four-day exhibition event returns to the RDS from January 10 to 13, 2024, and will celebrate 60 years of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

The three-year sponsorship extension will see BT Ireland continue as custodian and organiser of the exhibition. BT Ireland has been the title partner of the Young Scientist & Technology exhibition since 2001 and will mark 25 years as custodian and organiser of the exhibition in 2025.

Commenting on the announcement, Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland said, “At BT Ireland we’re extremely proud of our history with the exhibition and we are thrilled to be extending our partnership with the Young Scientist and Technology of the Year for another three years. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition has become part of our organisation’s DNA, with 200 of our colleagues volunteering their time each January to help make the exhibition a success.

“The exhibition is much more than a competition, it is an unforgettable experience of a lifetime for the students who take part. We continue to see the positive impact the exhibition has on fostering young talent in the areas of science, technology, engineering and maths in Ireland, and we look forward to growing the exhibition further in the years to come with our exhibition partners.”

UCD Professor Pat Guiry, Chair of YSE Ltd, commented, “On behalf of the board of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition we’re delighted to be continuing our partnership with BT Ireland. BT Ireland has helped the exhibition reach new heights since it became the custodian of the exhibition 23 years ago, increasing engagement levels amongst students and the public and strengthening relationships with exhibition partners.  They have introduced a science festival around the annual exhibition as well as extending the exhibition to primary school students through the Primary School Science Fair and developed a business skills extension programme for exhibition alumni. We look forward to celebrating 60 years of the exhibition in January and our partnership with BT Ireland.”

Under its tenure BT Ireland has helped grow the exhibition over the past 20 years to reach new audiences and further the STEM agenda in Ireland. BT Ireland has introduced a science festival at the exhibition with live acts appearing daily. Since 2001, the Primary Science Fair has been a core component of exhibition week.  It encourages 3rd to 6th class primary school students to develop their interest in STEM in a non-competitive environment. The Primary Science Fair takes place on the Thursday and Friday of exhibition week at the RDS.

The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp has been a very successful initiative, which has been an extension programme of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for fourteen years. It was created by BT as a way to encourage participating BTYSTE students to develop key business and innovation skills.

Applications for the 2024 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition will open in late August 2024 and students from across the island of Ireland are encouraged to submit project proposals and be part of the country’s leading live STEM event.

ENDS

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is much more than a competition – it is the experience of a lifetime for the students and teachers who take part. Designed to raise schools’ engagement in the critical subjects of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM), the Exhibition calls upon students aged 12-19 years from all over the island of Ireland to showcase innovative science and technology project. In 2022, the Exhibition reached almost 8 million visitors around the world through its virtual portal. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is supported by several valued partners including the Department of Education, Analog Devices, Horizon, Stripe, and RTE. Learn more at www.btyoungscientist.com

 

About BT

BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.

BT Group consists of three customer-facing units: Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; Business* covers companies and public services in the UK and internationally; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers – over 650 communication providers across the UK.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/about

*Business was formed on 1 January 2023 from the combination of the former Enterprise and Global units.  It commenced reporting as a single unit from 1 April 2023, with pro forma reporting information to be produced ahead of BT Group’s Q1 FY24 results.

Photo caption: Pictured at the call for entries for BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2023 is Darcy MacGillivray.

52% of students who responded to a survey carried out at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2023 are worried or sad about climate change, while 8% say it makes them angry. More than 500 students took part in the survey by BT Ireland and Global Action Plan, which found that concern for the consequences of global warming is widespread among the next generation of Irish scientists and technologists.

However, despite their alarm, it appears Ireland’s ‘Young Scientists’ remain optimistic with a massive 91% saying they believe that science and technology can help with solving the climate crisis. 72% say that they’ve personally taken action in the past six months to help tackle the crisis, while more than 71% say that their scientific knowledge makes them more confident about the issue of climate change.

Speaking about the findings of the survey, Priscilla O’Regan, Head of Communications at BT Ireland said: “It’s vital that young people’s voices are heard when it comes to one of most pressing issues facing the world.  We’ve seen from the students’ projects at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition that climate change and environmental issues are top of mind for many students. This survey by BT Ireland and Global Action Plan indicates that many young people are worried and feel powerless in the face of global warming.”

“However, it is heartening that our young scientists are optimistic that the fruits of human ingenuity will help provide answers, either in the form of new technologies or new insights into behavioural and societal change.”

The eight-question survey was sent to more than 1,100 finalists in the 2023 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, and 515 students took part. The youngest respondents were 11 and the eldest 18 years old, with almost two-thirds of respondents identifying as female and one-third identifying as male.

Hans Zomer, CEO of Global Action Plan, the environmental organisation that partnered with BT Ireland on the survey, commented, “One of the striking features of the survey results is that young people are determined to find solutions to the climate crisis. While many have negative feelings about the situation, the vast majority of respondents are optimistic that we can find solutions to the climate crisis and are already taking actions in their own lives.”

“When asked what they are doing to help fight climate change, young people listed actions they have influence on, such as reducing waste and walking/cycling to school, and actions where they use their voice and influence, such as asking the adults in their lives to reduce energy consumption. What this shows is that young people are aware that their actions count, and that they want to contribute to the solutions”.

The survey results:

1 Anger, hopelessness but also determination

In their responses, a high proportion of the 515 of the 1,100 contestants in the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the RDS indicated that they feel sad and angry about climate change: 52% said they felt sad or worried, 8% said climate change made them angry, 5% indicated they felt “ignored” and a further 5% experienced a sense of hopelessness. Importantly, 16% of respondents said that global warming made them more “determined” to take action.

Girls were more “sad or worried” than boys, with 59% of girls in this category, versus 38% of boys. Girls were also more likely than boys to feel “ignored” (14% versus 7%), and less likely to feel “determined” (14% versus 21%).

The feeling of sadness and worry did not differ greatly with age. However, 13-year-olds and 18-year-olds were much more likely to feel “ignored” than the other respondents, with 13% of 13-year-olds and 17% of 18-year-olds choosing this answer.

2 Climate change is very serious

Respondents to the BT Ireland/Global Action Plan survey among BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition participants said that climate change is a very serious issue. Asked to rate seriousness of the issue on a scale from 1 to 10, students ranked it 8.75 on average.

45% of respondents gave the issue a maximum ‘seriousness’ score of 10, and 22% rated it at 9 out of 10.

Particularly girls found climate change very serious, with 52% of girls giving the issue a maximum 10 out of 10 on the scale. In contrast, only 30% of boys ranked climate change as the most serious.

3 A strong belief in the power of science

Unsurprisingly for participants in a science exhibition, respondents were very confident that science can help solve climate change: 91% of respondents said Yes to the question ‘Do you think we can help to solve the climate crisis using science and technology?’

When asked follow-up questions, many explained that they felt behavioural and social sciences were part of the solution, too.

71% of the respondents said that their knowledge of science makes them ‘more confident about the climate crisis’.

4 Students are not confident in their ability to affect global warming

When asked ‘who is the most responsible for tackling climate change?’, students listed the Government, the EU and the business world as the main actors.

Yet, 40% of the respondents listed “Me Personally” or “Everyone Needs To Do Their Bit” as the most important answer to this question.

5 Students are taking action

72% of respondents said that they had personally taken action in the past six months to help fight climate change.  Among the actions undertaken by students were reducing waste and increasing recycling (67%), cutting down on use of plastics (52%), walking or cycling to school instead of getting a lift in the car (26%).  Twenty-three percent of surveyed students also consider the carbon footprint of the food they buy, and have changed their eating habits.

The survey results also show that students are encouraging their parents to take positive action, including asking parents to install solar panels (20%), asking parents to insulate homes (20%), and asking parents to switch energy supplier (10%).

6 Important to focus on climate change and environment in schools

When asked if they think that it is important for climate change and environmental issues to be a focus area in the Irish school system, 91% of students said it was important, while 5% said it wasn’t.

[ENDS]

Detailed survey results can be found below. If you have any further queries, require information, or would like to coordinate any interviews, please don’t hesitate to contact the following:

Hanover Communications for BTYSTE: btyste@hanovercomms.com

Claire Regan: cregan@hanovercomms.com  / 086 2093536

Arlen Noonan: anoonan@hanovercomms.com /   +353 1 582 5189

Heather Bruton: hbruton@hanovercomms.com / 083 459 8173

About Global Action Plan Ireland

Global Action Plan Ireland is an environmental organisation supporting sustainable communities across Ireland. Based in Ballymun, Global Action Plan aims to inspire people to become ‘change makers’ by equipping individuals and communities with knowledge and skills to develop solutions to the environmental and climate crises.

For more information, see www.globalactionplan.ie

About BT

BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.

BT Group consists of three customer-facing units: Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; BT Business* covers companies and public services in the UK and internationally; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers – over 650 communication providers across the UK.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/about.

*BT Business was formed on 1 January 2023 from the combination of the former Enterprise and Global units.  It will commence reporting as a single unit from 1 April 2023, with pro forma reporting information to be produced ahead of BT Group’s Q1 FY24 results.

Friday, 13^th January: The winners of the 59^th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) have been announced. Shane O’Connor and Liam Carew, aged 18 and in sixth year in the Abbey School, Tipperary won with their project Assessing the impact of second-level education on key aspects of adolescents’ life and development. The coveted prize was presented to the winners this evening in the RDS in Dublin by Minister for Education Norma Foley TD, and Managing Director of BT Ireland, Shay Walsh.

Chair of the Social and Behavioural Sciences Group Judging Panel, Professor Joe Barry said, ‘What we are looking at here is a very impressive survey conducted in three waves over 24 months with more than 2,000 responses examining how secondary school students perceived school to impact on their social, physical and mental wellbeing. One of the key findings coming out of the research was that whilst inequality is prevalent in DEIS[1] schools, exponential improvements in areas of pastoral care and physical health are quickly closing this gap. To quote directly from the students’ research, ‘Secondary school is a vital social outlet for students and this can be seen across our interviews, focus groups and in particular in our survey.’

The 2023 BT Young Scientist & Technology winners received the BTYSTE perpetual trophy and the top prize of €7,500. The winners will also represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, which takes place in Brussels, Belgium in September 2023. They’ll also get to attend the 64^th Annual London International Youth Science Forum this summer.

Speaking at the awards ceremony this evening, Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD said “I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Shane and Liam on winning this truly prestigious trophy and award, in what has been another inspiring year of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. With the BTYSTE back in person for the first time since before the pandemic, I have had the pleasure to witness first-hand the level of innovation and creativity demonstrated by this year’s entrants, across a range of important and relevant topics. To every participant – you have been an excellent representative of yourself, your family and your school, and you should be incredibly proud of your achievements. The calibre of each entry is a testament to the tenacity and talent of the students behind them, and it is this constant high standard that makes BT Young Scientist one of the longest running, and most successful STEM events in Europe. From my time in the classroom, I am aware of the enormous work and support required to participate in competitions like this, and I wish to acknowledge your teachers and school communities who have also generously given their time and expertise to support you on your journey. A special thank you also to the parents and families of students for their constant encouragement and outstanding support.”

Ayush Tambde, aged 17 and in sixth year in Stratford College in Dublin won the prize for Best Individual, with his project, Analysis of single-cell proteomic data to understand the mechanisms of oncogenic transformation and how to control them.

Dr John Monahan, Biological and Ecological Sciences Group Judge said, ‘This project studied the problems of breast cancer. As many know there are two major groups of breast cancer, one of which can be targeted by drugs for treatment (Luminal cell types; Receptor positive) and one of which is more difficult to treat (Basal cell types; Receptor negative). The project has taken new protein biology approaches to relook at an important existing data set and come up with novel insights into potential treatments for these difficult to treat basal cell breast cancers.’

Adrian Drogomir, aged 19 and in sixth year in Adamstown Community College in Dublin won the prize for Runner-up Individual, with his project, AL-energy.

Prof Orla Feely, Chair of Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Individual Judging Panel said, ‘Aluminium-based batteries could play a role in the provision of sustainable energy. This project demonstrates through very detailed experiments how the design of the electrode impacts the battery performance and points the way to future design. The judges were very impressed by Adrian’s passion for the subject and his detailed implementation of the scientific method.’

Olivia O’Shea, Erica O’Brien Murray and Abigail O’Brien Murray, aged 17 and in fifth year in Loreto College, Balbriggan won the prize for Runners-up Group, with their project, Can we save the common ash?

Dr Richard O’Hanlon, Biological and Ecological Sciences Group Judge said, ‘Ash dieback is the most serious tree disease to arrive in Ireland in over 50 years. These young scientists have provided robust data to highlight potential treatments which could, in combination with other actions, protect our native ash trees.’

Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland said, ‘On behalf of the entire team at BT Ireland, I wish to thank each and every student who took part in this year’s exhibition for sharing your ideas with us. After a long three years, it has been a pleasure to welcome you all back to the event in person. The past week has been truly inspiring, and I am in awe of your unique and individual talents. The level of creativity, innovation and research displayed over the last number of days has been nothing short of remarkable, and I am humbled and grateful to be a part of it.

I would also like to extend my congratulations to all our winners, who join a special group of some of Ireland’s brightest minds. I have no doubt this is only the beginning of all the brilliant work you will go on to do. To all the teachers, parents, guardians and everyone who supported the students who entered on their journeys, I express my sincere thanks. We are hugely grateful also to our panel of esteemed judges, our sponsors and partners, and of course, our own BT team, without whom this magnificent Exhibition would not be possible.’

 

[ENDS]

If you have any further queries, require information or would like to coordinate any interviews, please don’t hesitate to contact the following: 

Hanover Communications for BTYSTE: btyste@hanovercomms.com

Claire Regan: cregan@hanovercomms.com / 086 2093536

Lorna Jennings on 086 363 0576 / ljennings@hanovercomms.com

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is much more than a competition – it is the experience of a lifetime for the students and teachers who take part. Designed to raise schools’ engagement in the critical subjects of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM), the Exhibition calls upon students aged 12-19 years from all over the island of Ireland to showcase innovative science and technology project. In 2022, the Exhibition reached almost 8 million visitors around the world through its virtual portal. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is supported by several valued partners including the Department of Education, Analog Devices, Horizon, Stripe, and RTE. Learn more at www.btyoungscientist.com

About BT

BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.

BT Group consists of three customer-facing units: Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; BT Business* covers companies and public services in the UK and internationally; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers – over 650 communication providers across the UK.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/about.

*BT Business was formed on 1 January 2023 from the combination of the former Enterprise and Global units.  It will commence reporting as a single unit from 1 April 2023, with pro forma reporting information to be produced ahead of BT Group’s Q1 FY24 results.

[1] Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Programme