Irish students take top prizes at European Union Contest for Young Scientists

Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan become Ireland’s 16th winners in the competition’s history

Life

BT Young Scientist 2020 winners, Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan, and BT Young Scientist 2021 winner Gregory Tarr. Photo Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography

Winners of the 2020 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan, took home first prize at the 2021 European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS)

Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan become Ireland’s 16th winners in the competition’s history with their project entitled: A statistical investigation into the prevalence of gender stereotyping in 5-7 year olds and the development of an initiative to combat gender bias.

The students from Coláiste Choilm, Co. Cork won the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2020 with their social science project that aimed to identify how early gender stereotyping can be identified. The findings of their project identified the need to focus on all children, boys and girls, from a young age, in order to combat the development of gender stereotyping.

The winner of the 2021 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, Gregory Tarr, took third prize for his technology project Towards detecting state-of-the-art deepfakes.

Gregory Tarr from Bandon, Co. Cork won the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2021 with a project that uses artificial intelligence to detect ‘deepfake’ videos which have become harmful in spreading disinformation across social media channels.

“I am incredibly proud of our BTYSTE alumni Cormac, Alan and Gregory who have represented Ireland so well at this year’s European Union Contest for Young Scientists,” said Mari Cahalane, head of the BTYSTE. “Cormac and Alan are now Ireland’s 16th winners in the competition’s history, and it is Ireland’s second consecutive first prize win – a fantastic achievement and a credit to level of innovative and STEM talent that the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition showcases each year”.

This year’s EUCYS was hosted virtually in Salamanca, Spain and young scientists, aged between 14 and 20 years, competed from 39 countries across Europe and the world. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s event brought together contestants from 2020 and 2021.

TechCentral Reporters

Read More: BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition BTYSTE STEM students