STUDENTS FROM every county in Ireland are about to descend on the RDS as the venerable institutions prepares to host the 46th annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
Record numbers of students submitted projects hoping for a chance to exhibit, and a record number, 520 projects, will be assembled for display tomorrow and Wednesday, in time for formal judging which gets under way on Wednesday afternoon.
The 520 projects were shortlisted from 1,588 that were submitted from 39 schools, representing the work of thousands of students who commit anything from a number of weeks to more than a year to their research efforts.
Dublin students will begin to set up their projects on Tuesday afternoon and then the remainder of students will arrive to register and set up their stands on Wednesday morning.
Judging takes place from Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning and then more than 80 judges, scientists and business people who provide their expertise free of charge, retire to select category winners and choose the top four winning projects.
These include the best individual and group awards and runners up individual and group. These will be announced with all other prize winners at a major presentation at the RDS on Friday evening.
The winning individual or group will receive a trophy and a cash prize of €5,000, and the second placed prize is worth €2,400. The two runner-up prizes are worth €1,200 each.
Aside from these there are another 72 category winners, all of whom receive cash prizes, pushing the prize fund well above €10,000. There are also valuable special travel awards that will also be announced at the presentation on Friday.
There will be a new face at this year’s awards ceremony. Aidan Power of RTÉ’s The Cafe and the All-Ireland Talent Show takes over from Ray Darcy, and as in previous years, physicist, teacher and former Rose of Tralee Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin will co-present the gala event.
BT will serve as main sponsor and organiser at the exhibition for the 10th successive year. Each year the company makes a significant financial and organisational commitment to the exhibition, including the contribution made by company employees who volunteer each year to serve as ground staff to help the event run smoothly.
Young scientist: opening times
The public may attend from 1.30-5.30pm on Thursday, 9.30am-5pm on Friday and 9.30am-5.30pm on Saturday.
Adult tickets cost €12 and students and concessions are €6. Family tickets for two adults and three children cost €25. Secondary school parties of 20 or more cost €4.50 per ticket and primary groups of 20 or more are €4 per ticket.