Offaly student discusses science project with President

Tullamore College student Emily McDarby was selected to present her project to the President Michael D. Higgins when he visited the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition on Wednesday.

Emily's project 'Perimenopause Uncovered: Empowering women through knowledge' is entered in the Health & Wellbeing category.

It is among ten Offaly projects competing in this year's exhibition, which is underway this week.

There are five projects from Tullamore College, three from Cistercian College, outside Roscrea, and one each from St Brendan's Community School and Gallen Community School.

Two of the Tullamore College entries are group projects: 'Liver Lifeline' by : Tess Flynn, Anna Maunsell, and Clodagh Hynes is taking part in the Biological & Ecological category, as is 'Green Sheets: Sustainable Paper from Grass' by Ryan Plunkett, and Cillian Farrell.

There are three individual projects representing the school: 'Little Steps: Understanding height and growth differences' by Andrea Mecionyte is competing in the Social & Behavioural Sciences category, 'Investigating the effectiveness of zeolites as a soil amendment to reduce nitrate runoff from fertilisers' by Fionnán Murray is in the Biological & Ecological category and Emily McDarby's project.

Two of the three projects from Cistercian College, Roscrea, are group projects.

These are 'Are Slurry Additives the future of farming?' by Thomas Deegan, Ronan O’Neill, and Jack Duggan is competing in the Biological & Ecological Group category, in the Social and Behavioural Science category is 'The impact of Blue Light Exposure on mental health in teenagers' by Jaafar El Kateb, and Unai Guibert.

The third project from the school is 'It’s Spreading Time: Are GPS fertiliser spreaders really more economical and environmentally friendly than their cheaper counterparts?' by James Hyland. This is an individual project in the Technology category.

Gallen Community School has a group project in the Health and Wellbeing category entitled 'Subcutaneous Semaglutide: The new fashion trend' by Grace Fallon, and Ava Murray, while 'Chicken Talk' is the name of the group project from St Brendan’s Community School in Birr which is in the Biological & Ecological category by students André Mulcahy Viegas, Alex Loughnane, and Alfie McGrath.

Some 1,062 secondary school student finalists are presenting their STEM-focused ideas on how to change the world for the better to a panel of 85 expert judges, as the first round of judging began.

After officially opening the event on Wednesday and addressing students and their teachers, President Michael D. Higgins and wife Sabina toured the exhibition, hearing directly from the finalists about their inspiring and innovative projects.

The event continues to Saturday, with results being announced on Friday evening.