Sci-Fest discovering the best local minds

THE SciFest@DkIT 2017 saw 140 projects exhibiting at the hugely popular local event, where the top prize went to Dearbhla McCourt and Ruth Clarke from St Vincent’s Secondary School, for their project, ‘Park and Stride - The Hidden Hazards’.

The innovative project aimed to discover a link between the inhalation of elevated car emissions from a young age on a repetitive basis.

The St Vincent students received the Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award and will compete against all other regional finalists in the national SciFest competition which will be held in November of this Year.

As one of the 16 regional venues hosting a SciFest science fair, SciFest@DkIT saw more than 300 students from 22 schools across the North East participate in the show and put their knowledge of science to the test. During the show ten major SciFest awards and four DkIT student awards were granted to students. Other winners from County Louth included: Barry Dunne, Peter Suresh and Oliver McGuinness of Bush Post Primary won the Intel Award Best Physical Science or Technology Award for their project, ‘Ultra Clean Caps’.

Meanwhile Rachel Campbell, Bronagh Cassidy and Aoife Lowth of St Vincent’s Secondary School won the DkIT Best Senior or Intermediate Project for their project ‘ARIA or Manual?: A statistical analysis into which method of grading retinal images for diabetic retinopathy is the most effective.’

Also scooping a Sci-Fest award were Hazel MacMarrow and Niamh Flynn of St Louis’ Secondary School who took the DkIT Best Junior Life Sciences Project for their project, ‘ Tea for two, tea for who?’.

In addition to showcasing their projects, the students attended a variety of science and STEM careers talks delivered by Science Gallery, Dublin and SFI Smart Futures. Many stu- dents participated in tours of the campus and visited DkIT’s state-of-the-art laboratory and technical facilities.

SciFest@DkIT co-ordinator and Head of School of Health and Science at DkIT, Dr. Edel Healy praised all who took part.

‘We are delighted to organise our largest ever SciFest event this year and as always we have been blown away by the calibre and inventiveness of the projects. The standard of projects was incredibly high.’