Kerry sisters win top prize at BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

The sisters won the top prize with their project, ACT (Aid Care Treat): App-timising emergency response

This year’s winners of the BT Young Scientist of the Year award has gone to a trio of sisters from Tralee for their development of a smartphone app aimed at improving the response of health services in emergency situations.

This year’s winners of the BT Young Scientist of the Year award has gone to a trio of sisters from Tralee for their development of a smartphone app aimed at improving the response of health services in emergency situations.

The overall award for the 61st edition of the exhibition went to sisters Ciara, Saoirse, and Laoise Murphy from Presentation Secondary School in Tralee, who received their award from Minister for Education Norma Foley at the event in the RDS, Dublin.

Speaking after the award announcement, Professor Joe Barry, the chair of the Health & Wellbeing Group of Judges said: "The use of this technology has the potential to save lives and reduce recovery times. This project with the support of the emergency services has the potential to make a real difference in helping citizens in an emergency situation.”

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, Ciara, Saoirse and Laoise as the overall BTYSTE winners, together with the Best Individual winner, will be awarded a trip to the World Expo, in Osaka, Japan.

There was joy for Cork meanwhile after this year’s individual Young Scientist award was won by a teen from Bandon for his project focused on removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Tomás Markey, an 18-year-old student at St Brogan’s College in the town and a serial winner at the annual Young Scientist exhibition, was awarded first prize in the individual category for his innovative approach to extracting harmful gases from the air.

Leonard Hobbs, the chair of Technology Individual Judges, said: "The judges were very impressed with the level of innovation demonstrated by 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.”