DCU SciFest 2023 rewards creativity of secondary school scientists
The overall winner of this year's SciFest DCU prize was Jack Shannon from Clongowes Wood College in Clane, whose teacher was Yvonne Nolan.
Jack won the overall prize for a project entitled ‘Ireland’s carbon sinks - remote sensing for monitoring peatland restoration’.
“I aim to use remote sensing to monitor and assess the progress of peatland restoration in Ireland,” said Jack.
“With Bord-na-mona's commitment to restoring 8,100 hectares of peatlands, my project will focus on evaluating the extent and success of their attempts.”
Kamaya was awarded the runner up prize for a project entitled, ‘Using machine learning to identify radiolucencies on panoramic dental radiographs.’
“Radiolucencies look similar on X-rays but they can be anything from normal cysts to something as serious as malignant tumours,” said Kamaya.
“Dentists use flowcharts to find what a radiolucency is but it can lead to indefinite results. They have to conduct biopsies that take a lot of time. I want to use machine learning to identify types of radiolucencies so our health system is relaxed and patients treated quickly.”
“We were delighted to host 288 students from 22 second level schools to present their SciFest projects in the Faculty of Science and Health at DCU," said Dr Eilish McLoughlin, co-ordinator of SciFest@DCU.
"The judges were impressed by the student’s understanding and interests across a diverse range of STEM topics. Participation in SciFest supports students developing their STEM identity and it is a competition that DCU are very proud to support”.
All Island
SciFest is an all-island STEM initiative which fosters active, collaborative and inquiry-based
learning among second-level students. The programme operates throughout the school year and, being locally and regionally based and free-to-enter, is highly inclusive and accessible.
Winners from each regional STEM fair go on to compete at a National Final in November.
Winners from the national final compete at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in America and in the Hong Kong Global Youth Science and Technology Bowl (GYSTB) and attend the Long Night of Science in Berlin.
The SciFest programme is funded primarily by Intel Ireland, Boston Scientific and EirGrid.
DCU SciFest 2023 Awards
DCU Junior Life Sciences
Leah McNulty, Grace Kearney, Mount Anville Secondary School, “Applying polyvagal theory in the classroom to support students to improve their well-being.”
DCU Junior Physical Sciences
Raisin Singh, Rayann Narensamy, Clongowes Wood College, “Is there a relationship between bottle shape, opening time and fizziness of a carbonated drink?”
DCU Junior Technology
Fionnán Boyle, Clongowes Wood College, “A.I. versus humans, which is better at recognising human emotions?”
DCU Merit Intermediate
Abigail Buckley, Community College Dunshaughlin, “Cancer awareness.”
DCU Merit Senior
Sarah Campbell, Leah Loughlin Carraher, Rockford Manor Secondary School, “A statistical analysis of the impact of the menstrual cycle syncing on performance in elite females’s sports teams.”
DCU Merit Group
Alicia Duffy, Emma Gojak, Maeve Bilag, Rockford Manor Secondary School, “Flower Power: An investigation into the antimicrobial properties of rose petals and their effectiveness in treating acne.”
DCU Merit Individual (Senior)
Matthew Kelly, Clongowes Wood College, “Should all farmers be made to plant trees?”
DCU Merit Individual (Intermediate)
Azil Meral, The Donahies Community School, “Automatic fire extinguisher.”
DCU Merit Individual (Junior)
Catarina Nepomuceno, Coláiste Naomh Mhuire, “Towards a greener future: mapping the age-environmental concern correlation in Irish schools.”