Greystones Community College wins big at Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2026
After 4 days of exhibition where Irelands brightest and best scientific minds gathered in the RDS to showcase their work, 4 major awards were secured by Greystones Community College at the Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition this year. Commenting on the awards, Cllr. Louise Fenelon Gaskin, Chairperson of the Board of Management said that ‘This weekend, at Greystones Community College, we are not only celebrating the phenomenal success of our amazing students, with so many finalists and awards coming back to the school, but we are also recognising our dedicated teachers who leave no stone unturned in always going that extra mile. I am so proud to be Chairperson of the Board of Management at such a progressive school that achieves at this high level” she said.
One major winner was a project focused on AstroRim which demonstrated the reconstruction of source objects in gravitational lenses via physics informed machine learning. This project claimed the top prize in the Senior Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences section for 18-year-old Greystones Community College student Jack Walsh. Describing his award-winning project, Jack who is in 6th year student explained that he used ‘machine learning to study the bending of light and determine the dark matter profiles present”. Commenting on his big win, Jack said “Given this is my third year competing in the Young Scientist finalists, I am overjoyed to have received first place overall in my category, and I am proud and elated that all the years I have put into research have finally paid off”.
Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton TD presented some of the awards and commented “Given the extremely high standard of entries presented by students at the RDS this week, it is a tremendous achievement to be awarded a prize. It is a wonderful testament to the student’s hard work and dedication to their chosen field of research, as well as to the unwavering support of their families, teachers and school. It was a delight to meet with students and their teachers from schools right across the country this week and to witness the wide-ranging, insightful and groundbreaking research they have conducted, and I am in no doubt that their work will be of so much benefit to our country and indeed our world”.
This exhibition is very much a celebration of the talents of young people across our schools – not just the 500 exhibitors here but also the over 2,000 projects that enter every year. In celebrating this energy and excitement in the sciences.
Another winner was 14-year-old Tyler Fergusan, a 2nd year student who secured 3rd place in the Junior Health and Wellbeing Section with his nifty design ‘Sure Step Mat’, an innovative product to help elderly and those with dementia to sit down safely. Tyler explained in his own words the story behind his award winning project, ‘Back in 2022, my Granny was diagnosed with early stages dementia, and one of the first things I noticed was that she struggled to sit down. This led to loads of close falls and my Grandad had to be in the room to help her and I wanted a way to fix this. I created an anti-slip mat with yellow footprints which is placed at the correct distance from the chair. There is an initial cue in the form of a recording of my grandad’s voice which sounds automatically when she steps on the mat to remind her to find to yellow footprints and when the pressure pad under the footprints is activated when her feet are in the correct place, the second cue activates. This is a recording of my Grandads voice telling my Granny it is now safe to sit down”.
“I have really enjoyed the Young Scientist exhibition this year, it has been great fun creating my project and everyone in school has been so supportive’ Tyler concluded.
18-year-old Richie Johnson also achieved success in the Senior Biological and Ecological category securing 3rd place overall for his project titled ‘Electric Evolution’. Richie investigated the use of cold plasma for plasmid mediated DNA transfer achieving highly commended in his competitive category. “I have made genetic engineering more accessible to the general public by creating a cold plasma that makes it cheaper and more accessible to everyone”.
Commenting on the success of Greystones Community College students, Principal Ruairi Farrell said ‘It is a fantastic achievement for any student to make the National Final of the Stripe Young Scientist Competition and Greystones Community College are very proud to have 15 students representing the school on the National Stage showcasing an outstanding 9 exceptional projects across all age categories Junior, Intermediate and Senior. When only over 500 projects from 200 schools make the finals out of thousands of entries nationally, there is great pride for a school when a student is announced as a finalist. For our school to pick up such big awards is phenomenal and testament to the students’ hard work and the dedication and support from our amazing Science teachers, Rebecca Wray, Oisin Cullen and Caoimhe Hardiman who all mentored students to the finals at the RDS this year. I want to thank our teachers who have perhaps given the students the spark that has lit the fire of exploration and investigation in their minds. It has been a privilege for me to see their innovation, creativity and attention to detail in their projects”.
Teacher Ms Rebecca Wray was delighted to attend the finals with a strong contingent of Greystones Community College students. “It has been an absolute privilege to work with such talented and dedicated students. Their hard work, creativity, and passion for Science have truly been inspiring, a testament to what collaboration can achieve. Attending the finals with such a strong representation from Greystones Community College fills our school community with immense pride” remarked Ms. Wray.
The icing on the cake this weekend was the announcement of GCC Teacher Ms. Rebecca Wray as the recipient of the Educator of Excellence Award 2026 to recognise her inspirational work across the field of social and behavioural sciences. Ms. Wray has motivated and inspired many young scientists over the past 6 years and this is amazing national recognition that is so well deserved.
Greystones Community College BT Young Scientist Finalists 2026:
1.Helper AI (An app to identify and advise on injuries) – Callum Farrell and Natahn Hernandez Rovira in Junior Technology.
2.Bringing Return to Travel: ‘Does the public want to use their bottle return deposits to top up their Leap Cards’? – Sofia Flores and Jenny Given in Senior Social and Behavioural Sciences
3.The unseen healthcare: An investigation into Trans Healthcare in Ireland – Annie Macek in the Senior Social and Behavioural Sciences
4.AstromRim: Reconstruction of source objects in Gravitational Lenses via Physics Informed Machine Learning – Jack Walsh in the Senior Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
5.Vibrations to Voltage: Piezoelectric power generation – Jude Meenan and Oscar Moran in the Intermediate Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
6.Geoimpact: Geometric 3D printing for shock absorption – Harrison Lynch Reynolds and Elliot Wright in the Intermediate Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
7.Too hot to handle: A deep dive into burns – Jack Real and Benjamin Junge in the Junior Health and Wellbeing Sciences
8.Sure Step Mat: Designed to help the elderly sit down safely – Tyler Ferguson in the Junior Health and Wellbeing Sciences.
9.Electric Evolution: using cold plasma for plasmid mediated DNA transfer – Richie Johnson in the Senior Biological and Ecological Sciences.