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St Joseph’s Secondary School, Rush
Europe's first CFES School of Distinction

SciFest 2025 Report

Congratulations to Our SciFest 2025 Participants and Award Winners!
13-May-25
SciFest 2025 Report

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the remarkable achievements of our students who participated in the SciFest@College 2025 events at TU Dublin Grangegorman and DCU. Their creativity, scientific inquiry, and innovation were on full display through a diverse range of exciting projects. Congratulations to all students who presented their projects and earned well-deserved recognition for their hard work!

SciFest@College TUD Grangegorman – 2nd May, 2025

Nine teams represented St. Joseph’s Secondary School at the TUD Grangegorman event, impressing the judges and attendees with a range of thoughtful and imaginative projects. All participating students received SciFest Certificates of Achievement.

' The School of Mathematics and Statistics, TU Dublin, was proud to take part in this year’s SciFest event in Central Quad, Grangegorman, on Friday 2 May. The School annually supports this exciting event at which young people get to experience science and showcase their work and talent.

With 75 impressive posters from 14 secondary schools, the event showcased the creativity, curiosity, and commitment of young scientists. Projects ranged from using coding to teach sustainability to exploring perceptions of AI-generated art - a true reflection of the breadth and relevance of STEM today.

The School of Mathematics & Statistics was delighted to have three of our colleagues, Dr Nicole Bieseigel, Dr John Butler and Dr Pierce Ryan, serve as judges alongside 50 academics and industry experts.

Dr Butler presented the opening talk to the SciFest attendees about his project with artist Cian McLoughlin, “Digital Mirror: AI and the evolution of Portraiture” which links art, maths, neuroscience and machine learning.

At the lunch break, Dr Butler made eigenfaces (ownfaces) portraits of the attendees to show the maths of face recognition in action - a big hit with students, teachers and TU staff alike.

A huge "well done" to all the students who participated - your hard work and enthusiasm were truly inspiring. We hope to see many of you again at TU Dublin in the future!'

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Projects Presented:

  • Let Us Cook – Liam Stuart, Cody Guinan, Raivo Sirmelis (Teacher: Mr James Delaney)

  • Go With the Flow – Developing a Reliable and Robust Water Current Monitoring System to Prevent Drowning – Louis Monks (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • Marine Medicine: Uncovering Nature’s Antibiotics in Seaweed Found Along the Irish Coast – Asha Cleary, Judy Burke, Aoife Smyth (Teacher: Mr Kevin Delahunty)

  • Colour and Emotion – Does This Affect How We Feel? – Sophia Mangan, Sarah McKeown, Róisín Grant (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • Does Chewing Gum Affect Test Performance? – Teodora Frantsova, Emer Smail, Alannah Cronin (Teacher: Mr James Delaney)

  • Your Clothes Might Outlive You! – Giuliana Cassidy, Eva Maria Ghiuzan, Hazel Brown (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • AI Art Vs. “Real Art” – A Study on the Public’s Perceptions of the Arts and Awareness of Dangers Associated with AI – Emily McKenzie Roach, Allison Joyce (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • Rush Against the Tide: Battling Coastal Erosion – Aidan Murphy, Senan Goold (Teacher: Mr Chris O’Connell)

  • Evaluating the Cleanliness of My Local Stream – Daniel Bierca (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

Special Congratulations to Our Award Winners:

Dawn Meats Agricultural Science Award
Marine Medicine: Uncovering Nature’s Antibiotics in Seaweed Found Along the Irish Coast
Asha Cleary, Judy Burke, Aoife Smyth
Trophy and One4All Gift Cards

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Irish Science Teachers Association Award (Best Junior Project)
Colour and Emotion – Does This Affect How We Feel?
Sophia Mangan, Sarah McKeown, Róisín Grant
Trophy and One4All Gift Cards

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SciFest@College DCU – 8th May 2025

Fifteen innovative projects from St. Joseph’s were showcased at the SciFest@DCU event, which hosted over 390 students from 32 schools. Every student who participated demonstrated strong scientific and technological understanding and received a Certificate of Achievement.

Projects Presented:

  • Leftover AI: Intelligent Recipes from Your Fridge – Felicity McGuinness, Emma McKeown (Teacher: Mr Danny Murray)

  • The Role of Predatory Invertebrates in Managing Flatworm Invasions – Martha Feely (Teacher: Mr Kevin Delahunty)

  • Enhancing the Reliability and Accuracy of the UV Index Formula Through Machine Learning – Éabha McBride, Leah Mullen, Layla Nolan (Teacher: Mr Danny Murray)

  • Melody in Motion: An Interactive Learning Experience – Sophie Monks (Teacher: Mr Chris O’Connell)

  • An Investigation to Verify the Claim That Laser Golf Putters Improve Accuracy – George Connolly (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • Fundamental Movement Skills – Louie Masterson, Mark Wilson, Evan McGee (Teacher: Ms Chloe Ryan)

  • Cadence and Stride – Isabelle Kelly Knowles, Tamika Murphy Hill (Teacher: Ms Sarah Ryan)

  • Using Seaweed as a Feed Additive to Reduce Methane Levels – Kyle Rock, Daniel Nixon, Shane Ryan (Teacher: Ms Sarah Ryan)

  • Investigating People’s Understanding of the Materials Around Us – Harry Holden Bobbett (Teacher: Ms Sarah Ryan)

  • Wave-Powered Energy: Assessing WEC Performance – Stephanie Cherish Dan (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • Investigating Sensory Processing Patterns in Adolescents (Ages 12–18) – Billie Rickard (Teacher: Ms Helen Teehan)

  • How Different Variables Affect Your Bench Press – Alex Ficau, Kristians Bergmanis, Andis Apsitis (Teacher: Ms Chloe Ryan)

  • How Does Music Tempo Affect Exercise Volume? – Max Thomson, Connor Weldon, James Eric Martin (Teacher: Ms Chloe Ryan)

  • How Does Sustaining a Long-Term Injury Affect the Mental Health of Athletes? – Cillian Farrell, Christian Goold, Michael Doyle (Teacher: Ms Chloe Ryan)

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SciFest at College awards 13 Special Awards. St Joseph's was honoured to receive two of these awards. Congratulations to our award winners.

🏆 EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award
Enhancing the Reliability and Accuracy of the UV Index Formula Through Machine Learning and Classification Algorithms
Éabha McBride, Leah Mullen, Layla Nolan
Teacher: Mr Danny Murray
SciFest@College DCU

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This prestigious award is presented to the project that best demonstrates a creative and innovative approach toward a cleaner energy future. Éabha, Leah, and Layla’s project used machine learning techniques to improve the accuracy of the UV index formula, with implications for climate awareness, health, and safety.

As winners of the EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award, these students will now be considered for the SciFest National Final 2025, where they will compete not only for the EirGrid Cleaner Climate Grand Award but also for the SciFest STEM Champion 2025 Award, provided their project continues to meet the judging criteria. This is a major achievement and an exciting opportunity to showcase their work on a national stage alongside the best young scientists in the country.

We wish Éabha, Leah, and Layla the very best of luck as they advance to the next phase of competition!

🏆 SciFest Physics Award
Wave-Powered Energy: Assessing WEC Performance
Stephanie Cherish Dan
Trophy and One4All Gift Cards

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SciFest @College DCU made eleven Special Recognition Awards congratulations to these award winners .
Leftover AI: Intelligent Recipes from Your Fridge
Felicity McGuinness, Emma McKeown

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Special Recognition Award
The Role of Predatory Invertebrates in Managing Flatworm Invasions
Martha Feely

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We extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated teachers for mentoring and supporting these budding scientists. And to all our students: Congratulations on your achievements! You’ve made our school proud by contributing to the future of STEM through your innovation, teamwork, and passion. We look forward to what you’ll do next!



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24-Jun-2025
Key Information is available regarding ; Book & Equipment lists, Uniform details, Return to school dates, Newsletter.
11-Jun-2025
The school is organizing its annual Uniform Drive to promote sustainability and reduce uniform costs, and is inviting donations of clean, good-condition uniform items between June 12th and June 25th, 2025. Uniform Shop August 18th & 19th
15-May-2025
Congratulations to the four TY students whose ‘Water is Life’ video won the Runner-Up Award.
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