Cork Student Wins Young Scientist

Richard O'Shea, an 18-year-old sixth year student from Co Cork, has been named the winner of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2010.

The coveted prize was awarded to the student for his project entitled, 'A biomass fired cooking stove for developing countries'.

Richard was presented with a cheque for €5,000, a Waterford Crystal trophy and the opportunity to represent Ireland at the 21st European Union Contest for Young Scientists taking place in Lisbon, Portugal this coming September.

The entry made a strong impression on the judges with its detailed research into the chemical processes involved in burning timber, and with the various designs Richard came up with using very simple materials such as tin cans and nails which are very easy to find in Third World countries.

The announcement was made by Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation & Natural Resources with special responsibility for the Knowledge Society, Conor Lenihan TD, and Chris Clark, Chief Executive Officer, BT Ireland, at the awards ceremony held this evening at the RDS, Dublin on Friday.

Leonard Hobbs, Chief Judge, Technology category said: "Richard received the prestigious honour for his pioneering work on the design of a biomass-fueled cooking stove for use in developing countries.

"Over 2 billion people in the world depend on stoves to cook their meals every day, and his project built a new one which uses as little fuel as possible and which ideally produces no smoke.

"An added bonus is that his stoves can be built using simple tools such as a Swiss army knife. Richard impressed us with both his science knowledge and the engineering skill he showed in his construction work."

Chris Clark continued an said it had been an "incredibly successful" exhibition and that he was delighted schools from both the Republic and Northern Ireland won top prizes.

"The 2010 exhibition has really resonated with those that participated this year, perhaps due to the increasing realisation that its focus on skills and innovation has never been as important for our economic growth.

"It certainly stands out as a breakthrough year for entrepreneurship with a large number of students seeing for themselves the commercial potential of their work."

Further awards presented included Best Group which went to Paul McKeever and Bryan Murphy, Abbey Christian Brothers Gs, Co Down for their project entitled 'Specs Detector' which was entered in the Intermediate section of the Technology category.

They receive a prize of €2,400 and a BT Perpetual Trophy. This project also won the NI award, new in 2010, which was presented to the best overall project from entries throughout Northern Ireland.

(DW/BMcc)