The Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, commonly called the Young Scientist Exhibition, is an Irish annual school students' science competition that has been held in the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) () is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economically. It was long active as a learned ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, every January since the competition was founded by Tom Burke and

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was a British film director and producer. He made his theatrical film debut with ''The Hunger (1983 film), The Hunger'' (1983) and went on to direct highly successful action and t ...

in 1965.

The competition

The purpose of the competition is to encourage interest in science in secondary schools. For the 51st year of the competition in 2016, there were over 2,000 entries, from 396 schools which was the highest number ever, 550 of which were selected for the Exhibition at the RDS. Students apply to participate in the competition. Their science project entries are evaluated by judges and about one-third of applicants are accepted to participate in the public exhibition. Students are allocated exhibition stands in an exhibition hall where they set up their projects for viewing by the public. Competing projects are judged during the three days of the exhibition, and prizes are awarded. Projects are awarded in five categories: biology, physics, social and behavioural sciences, health and wellbeing and technology. Health and wellbeing is the newest category, only being added in 2023 to celebrate the 60th anniversary and to lower admissions to social and behavioural sciences. Three levels of entry are accepted, junior, intermediate and senior. In each category three main prizes are awarded; other prizes include a display award, highly commended rosettes, and a cancer awareness award. The winners of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition advance to participate in prestigious international events such as the

European Union Contest for Young Scientists The European Union (EU) Contest for Young Scientists is a science fair, initiated by the European Commission. It is a part of the European Union Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, and is managed by the Directorate Gen ...

. John Monahan was the inaugural winner of the Young Scientist Exhibition in 1965; then a student of

Newbridge College Newbridge College (), the Dominican College Newbridge, is a co-educational private fee-paying voluntary secondary school in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, run by the Roman Catholic Dominican Order. The Dominican Friars founded Newbridge Dom ...

, his project was an explanation of the process of digestion in the human stomach. He went on to establish a

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-listed

biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

company in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

after attending

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

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sponsored the competition for the first 33 years. 2021 marked the 21st year in which the Exhibition was sponsored by

BT Ireland BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc. History Esat Telecom The company was founded in 1990 by a consortium headed by business magnate Denis O'Brien a ...

. It has produced at least one author,

Sarah Flannery Sarah Flannery (born 1982, County Cork, Ireland) is an Irish mathematician who was, at sixteen years old, the winner of the 1999 Esat Young Scientist Exhibition for her development of the Cayley–Purser algorithm, based on work she had done wit ...

, and one billionaire,

Patrick Collison Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988) is an Irish entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and current CEO of Stripe, which he started with his younger brother, John, in 2010. He won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 at t ...

. Many of the past winners have gone on to establish international companies in the technology they developed. One of the most notable was

Baltimore Technologies Baltimore Technologies was a leading Irish internet security firm, with its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was briefly part of the FTSE 100 Index during 2000 when Fran Rooney was the CEO. Histor ...

. Tom Burke, who co-founded the exhibition with physicist

, died in March 2008. An award at the event (a bursary offered to senior participants) was named in his memory. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the first ever virtual Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition was held in January 2021 with over 1,000 students representing more than 200 schools taking part. On 11 February 2025,

announced it would step down as organiser and sponsor of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition after 25 years. In May 2025,

Stripe Stripe, striped, or stripes may refer to: Decorations *Stripe (pattern), a line or band that differs in colour or tone from an adjacent surface *Racing stripe, a vehicle decoration * Service stripe, a decoration of the U.S. military Entertainment ...

was announced as the new title sponsor of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, 20 years after co-founder

won the competition.

Overall winners by year

Winners by age

The youngest winners are listed first.

References

External links

*
Official archiveList of past winnersNews article about 1999 projectSlashdot Article on Adnan Osmani's Project
{{BT Group BT Group 1965 establishments in Ireland Competitions in Ireland Education in the Republic of Ireland Recurring events established in 1965 Science competitions Science and technology in the Republic of Ireland Youth science Youth in the Republic of Ireland Science events in Ireland

The competition

Overall winners by year

Winners by age

See also

References

External links