Kerry sisters claim BTYSTE top honour for emergency response app
The winners of the 61st BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) were been announced at a ceremony last Friday. Sisters Ciara (17), Saoirse (15), and Laoise Murphy (12) from Presentation Secondary School Tralee in Kerry have won the top prize with their project, ACT (Aid Care Treat): App-timising emergency response.
ACT is a medical assistance app designed to support emergency healthcare responses. It integrates crucial features to provide swift and effective aid during critical situations. This is the second year this project has been recognised at the exhibition having previously been awarded runner-up group in 2024.
The sisters spent the last 12 months working on their project along with public and private sector stakeholders. The transformative app is designed to tackle challenges in transferring medical data effectively and efficiently to the emergency services. The app also has the capability to share precise geolocation co-ordinates. Once the data reaches the emergency services, there is the possibility for onward transmission to the dispatch control centres, the attending mobile units, and the hospitals in a matter of seconds.
During the project Ciara, Saoirse and Laoise built a working relationship with the Department of Health, the HSE and the National Ambulance Service and the Gardai, to maximise the potential of the app.
Prof Joe Barry, chair of the health & wellbeing group judges, said: “This project with the support of the emergency services has the potential to make a real difference in helping citizens in an emergency situation.”
Tomás Markey, a sixth year in St. Brogan’s College, Bandon in Cork, won the prize for best individual, with his project, PM-DAC: A system for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. PM-DAC is a passive & modular direct air capture framework that reduces the cost of carbon dioxide sequestration in the fight against climate change.
Leonard Hobbs, chair of technology individual judges, said: “The judges were very impressed with the level of innovation demonstrated by the best overall individual winner, Tomás Markey who addressed one of the greatest challenges currently facing the world in the excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Tomás demonstrated his prototype at the exhibition which showcased an impressive mechanical and scalable design and novel carbon capture technology, which resulted in a cost effective approach to this challenging and topical issue.”
In addition to receiving the top prize of €7,500, Ciara, Saoirse and Laoise will represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) this year in Riga, Latvia. Also, this year for the first time the overall BTYSTE winners together with the best individual winner, will be awarded a trip to the World Expo, in Osaka, Japan.
Luke Blackwell, a fourth year student in CBS Thurles in Tipperary, won the prize for individual runner-up, with his project, A novel approach to regenerative agriculture through the use of comfrey as a sustainable soil enhancer. As part of his project, Blackwell undertook a comprehensive investigation into the use of comfrey, a sustainable biological soil enhancer, as an alternative to artificial fertilisers in agriculture.
Dr Eoin Lettice, advocate judge for the biological & ecological category, said: “The project by Luke Blackwell of CBS Thurles uses comfrey, a native Irish plant, as a source of liquid fertiliser that can be an alternative to synthetic chemical fertilisers. The project represents a very broad and detailed piece of work which has the potential to make a significant contribution to regenerative agriculture and to sustainable food production generally. It demonstrates the significant role plants can play in solving global problems, and it impressed the judges with its rigorous approach.”
Aoife Fadian and Jessica O’Connor, both in fourth year at Ursuline College in Sligo, won the prize for runner-up group, with their project, Sheep Strength: Using wool to reinforce concrete. Their project involved testing the feasibility of mixing sheep wool with concrete as a more sustainable strengthening agent instead of polypropylene.
Barry Kennedy, chair of the technology group judges, said: “Aoife and Jessica carried out this excellent research project into the use of wool fibres, as a sustainable and renewable resource to strengthen concrete. Such use could potentially replace the current materials such as polypropylene fibres which are in use today. The students used extensive and rigorous testing techniques such as compression, tensile, drop, extreme heat, and freeze thaw. Their results have shown very positive potential for the use of wool in concrete. They demonstrated great skill, knowledge and hard work in investigating this more sustainable solution which could make valuable use of this renewable resource within Ireland.”
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