Waterford schools hoping to be recognised at BT Young Scientist Exhibition

The winners of the BT Young Scientist Exhibition are being announced later today.

Around 140 awards will be handed out this afternoonon at Dublin's RDS, with one of the 550 projects taking the top prize.

Young students from Ardscoil Na Mara in Tramore carried out an investigation of the sexist conditioning of children through TV and Film.

Waterford has four other projects through to the finals, three are from Ardscoil Na Mara and one is from De La Salle College.

Waterford’s Minister of State with responsibility for Research and Development John Halligan T.D. has commended the five local entrants in this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for their innovative approach to pressing scientific questions.

Minister Halligan visited the projects of all the Waterford teenagers from De La Salle College in the city and Ard Scoil na Mara in Tramore - during a visit to the event in the RDS yesterday (Thursday) and met with the entrants.

He said he was highly impressed both by the talent of these young Waterford scientists and also by the enthusiasm with which they explained their projects to members of the public:

"The standard of the work at this year’s exhibition is fantastic, there is no doubt that these young people are the future leaders in Irish STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). Waterford schools were represented in three of the four categories at the event - technology; biological and ecological sciences; and social and behavioural sciences and the quality of their work was hugely impressive. These talented young people are excellent ambassadors for Waterford. They are an absolute credit to their teachers and parents and I have no doubt we will hear more from them in the future."

Daniel Farrell and Cian Troy, De La Salle College, Waterford explain their project ‘The Impact of Zero Grazing on Soil Nutrient Levels’ to Minister John Halligan.