News Update!

This year 130 projects were presented by 300 second-level school students. The overall Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award was presented to students from the North Monastery Secondary School, Cork. Congratulations to students Elvis Nzekwe, Harold Ibarlin, and Filip Gajda and their teacher Frank Murphy. The winning project was titled “A remote smoke alarm system'. The students will represent Cork in the National Finals later in the year.

Scifest 2016 - 22nd April 

Please visit www.scifest.ie for further information.

♦ How the Media affects Teenagers and young Adults ♦The affects of Sugar and Hidden Sugar ♦ An investigations in to Player Burnout in the GAA ♦To give or not to give: the role of charity in a local community are just some project ideas being presented at SciFest 2016, which will take place at Cork Institute of Technology on Friday, 22nd April 2016.

Scifest is an all-inclusive, all island, science initiative which fosters active, collaborative and inquiry-based learning among second level students. Scifest is funded primarily by Science Foundation Ireland, Intel and Boston Scientific. This year’s event in CIT showcases 140 projects from 300 Second-level School Students, ranging from 1st Year to 5th Year,from 26 schools across Cork City and County and 1 school from Co. Wicklow. Mr Seán Sherlock TD, will open SciFest 2016.

Dr Hugh McGlynn, Head of School of Science & Informatics at CIT says: “As always, the projects entered by the students in Scifest are impressive, engaging and thought-provoking.  Secondary school students from across the region are demonstrating their passion for science, technology, engineering and maths, which is clearly evident from the high standard of research that has gone into the entries this year.  Scifest is a competition that aims to encourage students to develop an interest in STEM, which is prioritising inclusivity and inquiry-based learning.  We are proud to support such a valuable programme”

Commenting on SciFest at CIT, Sheila Porter, CEO SciFest Ltd, says, “2015 was a hugely successful year for Scifest with a record number of students taking part.  In total 7,200 students exhibited their projects in local science fairs across the country.  This year we intend to build on this success and have another record year. Scifest gives students an excellent opportunity to develop their interest in STEM and inquiry-based approaches to learning, whle developing their creative and problem-solving skills and learning to work in a team”

I would like to thank our partners including Science Foundation Ireland, Intel Ireland and Boston Scientific and our sponsors Newstalk, BioPharmaChem Ireland, Abbott SEAI, ESERO Ireland, ISTA, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, iJoin, Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Physics and the Institutes of Technology. Without their support, none of this would be possible.”

Prizes being awarded on the day are

• Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award
• Abbott Runner-up Best Project Award 
• Intel Award 
• Boston Scientic Medical Devices Award 
• Newstalk Best Communicator Award 
• BioPharmaChem Ireland Chemistry Award 
• EPI-STEM Maths in Science Award
• Sustainable Energy (SEAI) Award 
• Discover Space Award (ESERO Ireland) Award
• RSC School Chemistry Award  
• Irish Science Teachers’ Association Award 

Additional prizes will also be presented by Eli-Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Bank of Ireland and Cork City Football Club.

Winners from each regional science fair will have an opportunity to represent Ireland at two international science fairs:  the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2017 in Los Angeles, California and the International Environment and Sustainability Project Olympiad (INESPO) 2017 in the Netherlands.

Scifest 2015 winner

Congratulations to Sarah Sweeney and teacher Seán Foley from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Blarney, on winning the SFI Discover Best Project Award at SciFest. Sarah’s project was titled Maths Behind Music, an investigation into the simulation of music instrument timbres by spectral analysis and reconstruction using Fourier series.   She exhibited at the National Scifest Finals later in the year. Sarah studies music theory and piano at the CIT Cork School of Music.