SciFest Ezine, Volume 8, Number 4, June 2017

Volume 8, Number 4, June 2017

SciFest Ezine

SciFest Where Creativity meets Innovation INSIDE THIS ISSUE Intel ISEF 2017 - SciFest Award Winner, Caolann Brady..................2 Smart Futures ..................……….…..3 SciFest SEAI Award Winners Triumph at INESPO……………….......3 SciFest 2017 National Final………....4 SciFest Berlin Long Night of Science Award…………………………………….

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SciFest and GAISCE .............. ……...5 SciFest@TCPID 2017... .......... ……...6 Dates for Your Diary…………..……….6 Contact Us……………………….………...6

“Skills have become the global currency of the 21st century. Without proper investment in skills, people languish on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into economic growth, and countries can no longer compete in an increasingly knowledgebased global society” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, OECD Innovation Strategy 2015

SciFest

Where Creativity Meets Innovation

SCIFEST WINNER CAOLANN BRADY TRIUMPHS AT INTEL ISEF 2017 IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA The overall winner of SciFest 2016, Caolann Brady from St Wolstan’s Community School, Celbridge participated in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles (May 15-19). Caolann was awarded second place in her category, Biomedical and Health Sciences. She was awarded $1500 and will also have an asteroid named after her. Caolann’s award brings to eight the number of awards won by SciFest students at Intel ISEF since the programme first participated in 2012.

Speaking about her award, Caolann said: “The Intel ISEF experience has been absolutely amazing. I got the

opportunity to meet people of my own age from around the world who have done some incredible work across a huge variety of areas. I really enjoyed presenting my project alongside theirs and also hearing from world famous scientists who have really encouraged me to develop my love of STEM. I am very grateful to everyone at SciFest, including Sheila and George Porter for this opportunity, as well as all my family and my teacher Ms O’Callaghan, without whom none of this would have been possible.”

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SMART FUTURES STEM CAREER TALKS FOR SCHOOLS

Smart Futures offers free career talks to all post-

primary schools in Ireland to give guidance counsellors and students the chance to ask practical questions about working in STEM.

SCIFEST SEAI WINNERS CIARA MAC CARTHY AND CLAIRE LEMASS, TRIUMPH AT THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT OLYMPIAD (INESPO) 2017 'The winners of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) INESPO award at the SciFest 2016 national final, Ciara Mac Carthy and Claire Lemass, from Our Lady's Bower, Athlone have been awarded a gold medal first place award by INESPO and will travel with their teacher, Ciaran Mac

In collaboration with Smart Futures these career talks have been available for a number of years at regional

SciFest science fairs.

SciFest is now working closely with Smart Futures to encourage all schools, especially schools hosting a SciFest@School science fair, to register with Smart

Carthy to the Netherlands in September to attend a special INESPO pro-

Futures for free career talks

gramme which will include educational and cultural excursions and activi-

via the ‘Resources’ section of

ties.

the SciFest website

Click here Ciara’s and Claire’s project was called ‘Caonach Cliste’ (Smart Moss). Their results demonstrated how Sphagnum moss could be used as a natural filter for harvested rainwater. Rainwater was collected from gutters and diverted into a storage

or www.SmartFutures.ie

tank. The water was then pumped through a Sphagnum moss filter. A number of tests were carried out on the moss filtered water including an E.D.T.A. Test for water hardness, tests for dissolved and suspended solids, a pH test and Winkler's test to measure dissolved oxygen. The filtered water was found to be suitable for commercial, industrial and domestic use thus showing Caonach Cliste to be an environmentally friendly, sustainable, water filtration system.

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SCIFEST SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND INTEL ISEF AWARD WINNERS

2011-2016

SCIFEST 2017 NATIONAL FINAL The Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award winners from the 16 regional SciFest@College 2017 science fairs will participate in a national final competition on 10 November 2017 in Dublin.

As in SciFest 2016 a number of the Abbott-runner Best Project Award winners will also be invited to participate in the national final. Following the completion of the regional SciFest@College 2017 science fairs the runners-up were invited to submit their project report books to SciFest Ltd by 29 Sep-

The top prize on the day is the SciFest 2017 Science Foundation Ireland Intel ISEF Award. This consists of a trophy and an all-expenses-paid trip for the winning student(s) (accompanied by their teacher) to represent Ireland at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in May 2018.

tember. A panel of judges appointed by SciFest will

A competition for the Boston Scientific Medical Devices

assess the projects, based on the report books, and

Grand Award will also take place at the national final.

will select the projects to go forward to participate

The winner/s of this award will be

in the national final.

trophy and an award to the value of €500.

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presented with a

SciFest@College 2017 Regional Coordinators Meeting

The annual meeting of the SciFest@College 2017

THE SCIFEST BERLIN LONG NIGHT OF SCIENCE AWARD

Regional Coordinators took place in IT Tallaght on 14 June. Thank you to the coordinators for taking the

Fifth Year students Heather Murphy and Naoise Tobin from Sutton Park School in

time out of their busy

Dublin are heading to Berlin this week to attend the Berlin Long Night of Science

schedules to attend the day-

accompanied by their teacher Catherine Tattersall. Heather and Naoise were the

long meeting and for organ-

recipients of the Runner-up Award at the SciFest national final last November. The

ising the SciFest@College

award is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A number of

science fairs in their

activities have been organised for them by the Irish Embassy in Berlin including a

colleges.

visit to the embassy, lunch with the embassy staff, a visit to to the German parliament (Reichstag Building) and VIP tickets for the Berlin Long Night of Science.

Thank you also to Simon Bluett, Naoise Tobin and Heather Murphy, SciFest

ORGANISING GAISCE

alumni who spoke at the

IN YOUR SCHOOL?

meeting about what participating in SciFest

meant to them.

Second level students preparing and presenting a project at a SciFest science fair can use their participation as their ‘Personal Skill’ element.

Students involved in organising SciFest

www.scifest.ie

events can use their activities to meet the ‘Community Involvement’ element of their Gaisce award.

SciFest is proud to be a GAISCE Challenge Partner 5

SciFest@TCPID 2017 The inaugural SciFest@TCPID took place in the Science Gallery on 30 May. TCPID (The Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities) is situated within the School of Education in Trinity College and aims to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in education and society. The science fair was a collaboration between SciFest, Abbott Ireland and the School of Education, TCD. The event was opened by the Dean of Development of Trinity College, Professor Gerard McHugh followed by the Head of the School of Education, Dr Andrew Loxley. The course is new, so this year only six students were involved but it is hoped that there will be up to 15 students in next year ’s group.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Your Organization

Contact Us e: sheila.porter@scifest.ie e: george.porter@scifest.ie m: 086 379 6143 w: www.scifest.ie Please check the website regularly for updates Closing date for receipt of entries to SciFest@College 2018 is: Friday 9 March 2018

SciFest

SciFest@TY EXPO

11/12 Sept. 2017

SciFest@AIT

25 April 2018

SciFest@Frontiers of Physics

23 Sept. 2017

SciFest@DCU

1 May 2018

SciFest@Féilte

7 Oct. 2017

SciFest@GMIT

3 May 2018

SciFest National Final 2017

10 Nov. 2017

SciFest@IT Tralee

9 May 2018

SciFest Launch 2018

Jan. 2018

SciFest@ITB

9 May 2018

SciFest@College 2018 —Closing date for entry forms

9 March 2018

SciFest@LyIT

TBD

SciFest@ITSligo

TBD

SciFest@LIT Thurles

TBD

SciFest@DkIT

TBD

SciFest@ITCarlow

TBD

SciFest@CIT

TBD

SciFest@DIT

TBD

SciFest@LIT

TBD

SciFest@ITT

TBD

SciFest@WIT

TBD

SciFest@NW (Derry)

TBD

is supported by The Institutes of Technology, DCU and St Mary’s College, Derry