Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan from Colaiste Colm in County Cork have been crowned the overall winners of this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.
Some 1,100 students from 244 schools right around the country took part in this year’s competition.
The 16-year-olds took home the top prize for their research on gender bias among young children.
The project also put forward a number of resources to help primary school teachers combat gender bias among young children.
The winners of the 56th #BTYSTE are Cormac Harris & Alan O’Sullivan, both aged 16, @colaistechoilm Cork, for a project entitled “A statistical investigation into the prevalence of gender stereotyping in 5-7 year olds & the development of an initiative to combat gender bias” pic.twitter.com/RZTSOJLlXk
— BT Young Scientist (@BTYSTE) January 10, 2020
Professor Joe Barry, Head Judge of the Social and Behavioural Sciences Group category, said the project shed new light on why there continues to be fewer women than men pursuing STEM careers.
“The aim of Cormac and Alan’s project was to determine how early gender stereotyping can be identified,” he said.
The pair conducted workshops with hundreds of children between the ages of five and seven-years-old from a range of backgrounds and asked them to complete a number of tasks – including choosing between gender specific toys, drawing and naming an engineer and rating how good men and women are at different jobs.
“One of the most striking findings emerging from the research was that 96% of boys drew a male engineer while just over 50% of girls drew a female engineer,” said Professor Barry.
“This, along with the other data, indicates that gender stereotypes emerge in young children and that they are particularly strong among boys.
“Cormac and Alan’s findings are important as intervention typically focuses on girls – but the project recognises the need to focus on all children, boys and girls, from a young age in order to combat the development of gender stereotyping.”
He said the “very pertinent and useable resources” the students created for primary teachers made the project “particularly impressive.”
The Group runners-up award was presented to Cathal O’Mara and James O’Malley, both aged 13, first year students at @CastletroyC Limerick for their project entitled ‘Bin Buddy – A SMART Sorting Bin‘. The students were in the Technology category at Junior level. #BTYSTE2020 pic.twitter.com/4rZPaL9uQh
— BT Young Scientist (@BTYSTE) January 10, 2020
The Group runners-up award was presented to 13-year-olds Cathal O’Mara and James O’Malley from Castletroy College in Limerick for their project entitled: Bin Buddy – A SMART Sorting Bin.”
They delivered a “fully functioning, integrated technological solution” that sorts household rubbish into the correct bins using a sophisticated image recognition system.
17-year-old Oscar Despard from Sandford Park in Dublin won the individual award for his project entitled “Applying Data-Driven Experimental Analysis to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging.”
He analysed data from a large database of Irish people and found that higher levels of a protein called LDL may help reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation.
The Individual runner-up award was presented to Ava Hynes, 14, @colaistetreasa Cork for her project entitled ‘A statistical analysis of the impact of adolescent smartphone use on adolescent social anxiety & social isolation’ in the Social& Behavioural category at Junior level. pic.twitter.com/3tOFqSxIxh
— BT Young Scientist (@BTYSTE) January 10, 2020
14-year-old Ava Hynes took the Individual runner-up award for her project: ‘A statistical analysis of the impact of adolescent smartphone use on adolescent social anxiety and social isolation.’
By studying data from hundreds of secondary school students she found that smartphone use can affect adolescent social phobia levels.
The winners of the 56th #BTYSTE are Cormac Harris & Alan O’Sullivan, both aged 16, from @colaistechoilm, Cork, for a project entitled “A statistical investigation into the prevalence of gender stereotyping in 5-7 year olds & the development of an initiative to combat gender bias” pic.twitter.com/zJKFipPnLf
— BT Young Scientist (@BTYSTE) January 10, 2020
Top prize
For taking the top prize, Cormac and Alan were awarded the BTYSTE perpetual trophy and a cash award of €7,500 by the Minister for Education Joe McHugh at the RDS this evening.
“It is an honour to be here for a second year in a row and to present the BT Young Scientist and Technologist of the Year perpetual trophy to Alan and Cormac,” he said.
“It is a phenomenal achievement and their work should be an inspiration to us all.”
He said the “atmosphere of excitement, creativity and fun” at this year’s event has been “incredible.”
“It is a pleasure to meet with these students who are able to expertly articulate the thinking behind their projects and I would encourage anyone who hasn’t already visited the exhibition to take the opportunity to see the projects,” he said.
Cormac and Alan will now represent Ireland at the EU Contest for Young Scientists in Santander, Spain next September.
They will also get to attend the 62nd Annual London International Youth Science Forum later in the year.
Their project was 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.”
