Mark Restan, Director at Jack Restan Displays, presents the Jack Restan award to Sarah Hennessy, Megan Freeney and Eah O'Gorman of St Mary's Secondary School, Newport. Photograph: Chris Bellew/Fennell Photography

Young Scientist awards for Tipp students

Students of St Joseph's College, Borrisoleigh, and St Mary's Secondary School, Newport, received awards at the 2018 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition last week.


St Joseph's group Ailsing Dwyer, Hazel Reynolds and Kiara Hearty won a Highly Commended award in the Technology category for their project, 'No Mower Accidents'. the project involved a sensor that would shut off the blades of a ride-on lawn mower if a human or animal fell within a 1m radius, thus reducing accidents.


A special award sponsored by Jack Restan Displays was won by the St Mary's of Newport trio of  Megan Freeney, Sarah Hennessy and Eah O’Gorman. The Transition Year trio had a project titled 'An investigation of the effects of different beehive materials on bee health'.


The girls had worked tirelessly over the last five months to establish which type of bee hive has the best impact on bee health. They conducted an investigation on two different beehives, one being a polystyrene hive and the second a western red cedarwood hive. They investigated the different levels of temperature and humidity in the hives over a two-month timescale using sensors. 


The polystyrene beehive came out as the overall winner in the research due to its fantastic insulating abilities. It also maintains a drier climate within the beehive in comparison to the western red cedarwood beehive.


The girls are hoping that following their success at this year’s event, they will extend the project next year to include the impact of these factors on beehive weight, hive audio frequency, gas concentration and also using an internal high-speed infrared camera to further their research.