Inthisissue:
Before COVID 19, it often took ten years or longer to develop and make a vaccine and forittobewidelyavailabletothepublic InresponsetotheCovidpandemicscientists from academia and from the pharmaceutical industry came together and developed, tested and reviewed a number of highly effective vaccines in less than a year This highlighted not only the importance of STEM but also brought home to us the importanceofcollaboration
SciFest enables students to emulate these real scientists and to work together to attempt to come up with innovative solutions of their own to the many threats facing society today. These threats include: climate change, biodiversity loss, food shortages, clean water, and changing disease patterns. Participation in SciFest equips students with essential transferable skills which enable them to use their knowledge to be constructivecitizens,toberesponsiblefortheiractionsandtakecontroloftheirfuture.
WelcomeBack
PartnersandSponsors SciFest Volume14,Number1, September2022 Ezine SciFest@School2022/2023 SciFestNationalFinal2022 SciFestImpactEvaluation SciFest@TCPID2022 GYSTB2022 BerlinLongNightof Science2022 TheMedtronic Foundation DrBillyFlemingJoins theSciFestTeam It Happened this Summer at SciFest 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 6
June
Two SciFest projects represented Ireland in June at the virtual Hong Kong Global Youth Science and Technology Bowl (GYSTB) 2022 and claimed an overall Grand Prize Silver Award and a first place categoryaward
TheGrandAwardwasclaimedbyHariPranavamfromSaintEunan’s College, Letterkenny for his project, 'Building an Automatic Weather Satellite Ground Station with Data Analytics Forecast' Hari will now have the opportunity to have his project published in the STEM Fellowship Journal (SFJ), an open access, peer reviewed journal published by Canadian Science Publishing. Grace Ní Ifearnáin from Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, Tralee won her first place award for her project, 'Nature Takes on Nature: Investigating the Effects of Juglone on Japanese Knotweed' . Grace represented Ireland and SciFest in May at the Broadcom MASTERS International programme in Atlanta, Georgia.
SciFest@TCPID (The Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities) 2022 took place on 2 June in Regent House in Trinity College Dublin. Due to Covid it had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 soitwasreallyspecialtomeetthestudentsface to faceonceagain andhearallabouttheiramazingprojects.Thisyeartheeventturned out to be even more exciting than in previous years with a surprise visit from Minister Simon Harris TD and also the RTE 6.01 News team. Minister Harris took the time to talk with each of the students individuallyabouttheirprojectsandlaterthateveningtheeventwas featuredontheRTE601News
HongKongGlobalYouthScienceandTechnologyBowl(GYSTB)2022
GYSTB is organised by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups. Judging took place online and the awards ceremony was broadcasted live globally on 12 June. The competition attracted 84 projectentriesfrom16countriesorregionsallcompetingforprizes
June SciFest@TCPID 2022
ItHappenedthisSummeratSciFest!
The Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID) is situated within the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin and aimstopromotetheinclusionofpeoplewithintellectualdisabilitiesin education and society Their mission is to enable people with an intellectual disability to develop their potential by a combination of high quality research, dissemination of new knowledge, lifelong learning and professional training. The Centre provides people who have intellectual disabilities with the opportunity to participate in a highereducationprogrammedesignedtoenhancetheircapacityto fullyparticipateinsocietyasindependentadults.
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SciFestisdelightedtoannouncetheappointmentofaSeniorSchool Liaison Officer, Dr Billy Fleming. Billy joined the company in July 2022. Having qualified as a teacher in London in 2011 Billy has worked in Europe, the Middle East and most recently in Woodbrook College, Bray. He has a PhD and a BSc in chemistry from University College Dublin and has worked in the chemical industry. Billy is currently an examiner for the International Baccalaureate Organisation and is a memberoftheAssociateTeamoftheNationalInductionProgramme forTeachers
MedtronicFoundationSupportforSciFestinDEISSchoolsAnnounced
The 2021 Award was won by two sixth year students from the Ursuline College in Sligo, Niamh Carolan and Líle Hensey. They were accompanied on the trip, which took place early in July 2022, by teachers Anthony Carolan and Louise MacSharry The itinerary for the trip was put together by the Embassy of Ireland in Berlin and included visits to the Technische Universität Berlin, the Dome of the Reichstag, theAlteNationalgalerieandtheIlluseum
July:
The Berlin Long Night of Science Award is presented each year at the SciFest National Final and consists of a trophy and an all expenses paidtripforthewinningstudentsandtheirteachertoattendtheLong NightofScienceinBerlin.TheawardissupportedbytheDepartmentof ForeignAffairs.
BerlinLongNightofScienceAward
ItHappenedthisSummeratSciFest!
The highlight of the trip was attendance at the Long Night of Science; when more than 60 scientific and academic institutions in Berlin open their doors to the public. There Niamh and Líle met and talked to a number of undergraduate students about their research. The evening ended on the roof of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine listening to music produced by translating the sequence of amino acids present in specific plants (such as the leaf of a nettle!) into a musical sequence, using the physical properties of the molecules to determinethesoundsproduced
A core principle of the SciFest programme is its accessibility and inclusiveness Addressing inequality in access to STEM has been centraltoSciFest’svisionsinceitsfoundationin2006
TheMedtronicFoundationsupportoverthenexttwoyearswillenable SciFest to increase the number of DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) schools participating in the programme and to provide more support to STEM teachers in these schools. The programme will impact on students from disadvantaged backgrounds, empowering them to continue their study in STEM to LeavingCertificateandonintothirdlevelandbeyond.
Billy will be working closely with the Medtronic Foundation to bring SciFesttoDEISschoolsaroundIreland
DrBillyFlemingJoinsTheSciFestTeamJuly:
July:
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SciFestsuppliesanumberofawardsandrosettesfor winning projects Each participating student receives two SciFest promotional items (pen, wristband, etc) andaSciFest@Schoolcertificate
To qualify for a SciFest STEM School Award a school mustberegisteredwithSciFestandhavehostedfive SciFest@School STEM fairs (Silver Award) and ten SciFest@School STEM fairs (Gold Award). External judges should be employed and the fairs must operate under the SciFest Guidelines. Students and teachers must be aware of these guidelines before theybeginprojects.
Schools qualifying for the awards will receive a framedcertificateandanofficialSciFestSTEMSchool Award digital badge which can be posted on the schoolwebsite.
SciFest@SchoolAwards-Students
SciFest isfreeto allschools
Tolearnmoreaboutorganisinga SciFest@School STEM fair and to registerpleaseclick here
raisestheprofileofSTEMinaschool showcasesstudents’work encouragescollaborationwithintheSTEMdepartment encouragescrosscurricularcollaboration buildsawarenesswithintheschoolandoutsidethe schooloftheexcitingchangesthataretakingplacein theteachingandlearningofSTEM createsvaluablelinkswithlocalindustry createsopportunitiesforparents,retiredteachers, localindustryandpastpupilstobemoreinvolved
WhatisaSciFest@SchoolFair?
A SciFest@School is where a second-level school hoststheirownin houseSciFestSTEMfair.Alistofthe fairsregisteredforthecurrentschoolyear2022/2023 may be viewed here. Resource materials to support the organisation of a SciFest@School fair are available in the resources section of the SciFest website.Inadditiontotheresourcematerialssupport fromSciFestisalsoavailableintheformofadviceon the organisation of a SciFest@School STEM fair, a teacher'spack,certificatesforparticipatingstudents, a number of awards for winning projects, 'freebies' and support on the day of the event. Additional supportisnowavailabletoDEISschools.
ASciFest@SchoolSTEMFair
SciFest@SchoolAwards-Schools
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SciFest@School2022/2023
TheSciFestNationalFinal2022willtakeplaceintheMarinoConferenceCentre,GriffithAvenue,Dublin9onFriday 25 November There will be lots of awards on the day including the SciFest STEM Champion 2022 Award The winner/s of this award will receive a trophy and an all expenses paid trip to Dallas, Texas to compete at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) which takes place from 13 19 May 2023 The mentoringteacherwilltravelwiththestudent/s
OtherawardsincludetheBostonScientificMedicalDevicesGrandAward,theIntelTechnologyGrandAward,the opportunity to attend the Berlin Long Night of Science and to compete in the virtual Hong Kong Global Youth ScienceandTechnologyBowl(GYSTB)2023.
SciFestNationalFinal2022
SciFest@School SciFest@College SciFestNationalFinal SciFestInternational AlllevelsofSciFestarefreetoparticipatein 5
"The projects I presented at SciFest were a personal challenge to tackle advanced material in some area of STEM, and translate my research into a tangible output. Engaging in meaningful conversations about my research with lecturers and professors was exciting, and inspired me to pursueaPhDinSTEM"
SomeAlumniFeedback:.
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"I wasn't sure what to expect But it enables so many students to be recognised and it really helps boost their confidence, both in science but also interpersonally through conversations with peers andjudges".
SomeCommentsfromTeachers:
Website: www.scifest.ie
"My team and I were so blown away by the success of the project The competition was so supportiveandencouragingand it grew our confidence so much. I went on to study science as it was so encouraging as a career and seeing how adults treatedusandlistenedandunderstoodus."
"I gained so much confidence My ability to speak to the public, judges, other students grew I was quiteshyandthecompetitionopenedmeuptosomanypossibilities"
In 2021, an independent external impact evaluation of the SciFest programme was commissioned which focussed on the views of both SciFest alumni and currently participating SciFest teachers The SciFest Ireland ImpactStudywascarriedoutbyUKSTEMConsultancyCompany,GraphicScience
Email: info@scifest.ie
"WehavemadeaconcertedeffortinourSciencedepartmenttoincreasethenumbersofstudentstakingSciencesubjectsat Senior level Our management attended SciFest and other activities we were involved with and were amazed at how big the competitionwasandhowmuchthestudentsbenefittedfromitandwassubsequentlyverysupportivetous"
Contact Details:
SomeCommentsfromAlumni:
Mobile: 0863796143
SciFestImpactEvaluation
"Seeing the enthusiasm of students when they finally completed their own project and the experience they received when presenting to judges It helped build their confidence and understandingthatScienceregardlessofperformanceinclasswasaccessibletoall"
