EU announces young scientific winners

Top young scientific minds in Europe have met in Prague for the 25th annual ‘EU Contest for Young Scientists’. A total of 126 promising young scientists aged 14 to 21 presented their projects in the hope of impressing an international jury. The winners shared a total of €54,500 in prize money, as well as other rewards such as science trips.

The three first prizes of €7,000 each were awarded to Perttu Pölönen from Finland for ‘Music A’ Clock”; Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow from Ireland for ‘A statistical investigation of the effects of diazotroph bacteria on plant germination’; and Frederick Turner from the United Kingdom for ‘Genetics at home: Building a PCR machine and other equipment for setting up a home genetics lab’.

The three second prizes were awarded to projects from Austria, Germany and Switzerland; three third prizes were to given projects from Hungary, Germany and Belarus. This year’s jury was chaired by Dr Henrik Aronsson from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “The future is bright if this is the level of talent we are producing in Europe. It is particularly great to see the mix of curiosity-driven research and more applied projects. We need more young people to take up STEM subjects at school and I especially want to encourage more young women to pursue careers in science and technology.”

The contest brought 85 projects from 37 countries to the Czech Republic capital, including EU member states, associated countries and global partners. The project topics covered a broad spectrum of scientific areas, including biology, physics, chemistry, computing, social sciences, environment, mathematics, materials, engineering and medicine. As well as the awards ceremony, the young scientists were able to display their projects at a four day exhibition and take part in a number of workshops and side conferences.