Day one of the BT Young Scientist competiton has concluded and our students are off to a great start. Sean and Aisling were both interviewed early in the day by EastCoast FM. Further media attention came with reporters from Virgin Media and AgriLand focusing in on our projects. We then attended the opening ceremony where the keynote speaker was none other than President Michael D. Higgins. After the ceremony both students were put through their paces by their judges and did themselves proud. We now look forward to tomorrow when the exhibition will be open to the public and Sean and Aisling will get the opportunity to present their projects to two more judges. A great day was had by all with the highlight being a handshake for Aisling from the president himself!

The very best of luck to the Aisling Byrne, 2nd Year and Sean Byrne, 6th Year who are participating in the BT Young Scientist Competiton this week.
Sean’s project titled ‘An Eggshell Filtration System to Remove Pollutants from Water’ investigates eggshells potential to remove heavy metal ions and microplastics from water. The project provides a low cost, accessible method of water purification in both developed and developing countries.
Aisling’s project titled ‘Are Farmers Wasting Money on Footbath Solutions’ investigates a low cost preventive method for reducing lameness in dairy cows. The results have shown that recycled milking machine wash is as effective as commercially bought footbath solution at preventing lameness.
We are very proud of them for their achievement in qualifying for the competiton and we look forward to hearing all about their experience over the next three days.