Thousands of students will descend Dublin’s RDS tomorrow (Wednesday) as the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition begins. The event brings together some of the country’s brightest young minds as they compete to take home the coveted title of the BT Young Scientist & Technologist(s) of the Year 2018.
President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins will officially open the exhibition at a special ceremony on Wednesday evening attended by students, teachers, exhibition partners and stakeholders, and presented by broadcaster Aidan Power and TG4’s Roisin Ni Thomáin. The ceremony will be streamed live on Facebookfrom 2pm.
Leading communications and IT Services company, BT, has announced announced an increase in prize money for the winner and a trip to the home of code-breaking in World War II, Bletchley Park. This year winner(s) of the competition, will be announced on Friday, will be presented with a cheque for €7,500, (an increase from €5,000), a trip to the historic Bletchley Park and the BTYSTE perpetual trophy.
The 2018 overall winner(s) will also receive the opportunity to represent Ireland at the 30th EU Contest for Young Scientists when it is hosted in Dublin in September.
This year’s exhibition, which is now one of the largest and most renowned of its kind in Europe, will play host to a festival of science and innovation with guest appearances from people like Dr Norah Patten, Ireland’s astronaut in training, Kevin Mitnick, ‘the world’s most famous hacker’ and broadcaster Jon Snow.
The exhibition will be open to visitors on this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.