Catherine Conlon: As a former winner of the Young Scientist, it still gives me hope in a troubled and unstable world 

In a world that fosters greed, individualism and fake news, the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition fosters curiosity and collaboration underpinned by robust evidence,  diligence, creativity, questioning and entertainment

Student and campaigner Cara Darmody with her project about addressing and combating misconceptions and misinformation about autism diagnoses at this year's Stripe Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS. Pictures: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie

The Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, which begins on Thursday, is much more than a competition. It is an unforgettable lifetime experience that was one of the formative events of my adolescence, when I won the overall prize in 1981 at the age of 17.

The competition is the complete antithesis of the society we live in today. In a world that fosters greed, individualism and fake news, the Young Scientist fosters curiosity and collaboration underpinned by robust evidence, dump-loads of diligence, a large dollop of creativity, a dash of questioning and lashings of entertainment.