Shane Curran, a fifth-year student from Terenure College in Dublin, took home the top prize for his project qCrypt: The quantum-secure, encrypted, data storage solution with multijurisdictional quorum sharding technology.
The announcement was made in the BT Arena at Dublin’s RDS by Minister for Education & Skills Richard Bruton and Shay Walsh, managing director, BT Ireland.
The top award includes a prize-fund of €5,000, the BTYSTE perpetual trophy, and a trip to the European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands. In addition, Curran will represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Estonia later this year.
Minister Bruton, said, “It is wonderful to see so many students entering the world of STEM through the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Initiatives such as this have a critical role to play in raising awareness and engagement around science and technology and the impact it has on every aspect of our lives.
“I would like to congratulate every student, teacher and school community involved for their fantastic work this week. The Exhibition is a highlight for the education calendar every year, and I am delighted that BT will continue to support this event until 2020.”
Speaking about the winning entry, BT Young Scientist judge John Dunnion said: “QCrypt is a novel distributed data storage system that provides greater protection for user data than is currently available. It addresses a number of shortfalls of current data encryption systems. In particular, the algorithm used in the system has been demonstrated to be resistant to attacks by quantum computers in the future. As part of the qCrypt project, an entire software platform with an intuitive user interface has been developed. The application has been written using state-of-the-art coding techniques.”
Over 1,100 students from 375 schools across the island of Ireland competed for the coveted title of BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year 2017.
The award for Group winner went to students Michael Sheehan and Jack Murphy from Colaiste Treasa, Kanturk, Co. Cork for their project Prey Availability for Hen Harriers in Managed Farmland.
The Individual runner-up award was presented to Cormac Larkin from Colaiste An Spioraid Naoimh, Bishopstown, Co. Cork, for his project Case study of Data Mining in Observational Astronomy: The search for new OB stars in the small magellanic cloud.
The Group runners-up award was presented to Matthew Blakeney and Mark McDermott from Jesus & Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo for their project Flint on the Moy? A geological study of an area of Shoreline on the Moy Estuary.
TechCentral Reporters
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers