STEM Stars success for local students
St Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh’s promotion of STEM subjects has seen them recognised by one of the world’s leading med-tech companies in a competition for schools across Munster.
The Tipperary school was one of five winners of the 2026 BD STEM Stars competition and walked away with a prize of €2,000 for their project ‘Mapping Ireland’s Future Care Gap’.
Developed by students Daniel Groome, Jack Groome and Luke Ryan, the project, which claimed the ‘Best Poster’ award, focused on identifying future care challenges for Ireland’s ageing population through data-driven analysis.
As part of their research, the students designed and developed a composite metric known as the ‘Ageing Support Gap Index’ (ASGI), which integrates demographic and access-related indicators to identify potential gaps in care provision for older adults.
Using County Tipperary as a case study, the team applied the ASGI Index across each small area in the county, demonstrating its effectiveness in identifying significant local variations in vulnerability and its potential for national application to help pinpoint the most vulnerable communities across Ireland.
Five St Joseph’s College teams made it to the final and teacher Mary Gorey said that this reflects interest in STEM in the school and the encouragement given by BD to students with the STEM Stars competition.
“I'm a huge fan of the BD STEM Stars,” Ms Gorey said. “I think this is our third year here and I suppose over the last three years I've noticed a huge push in development in the medical devices and the health science. What I love most about the Bd STEM Stars is it's more about preventative than cure. It's how can we stop these conditions from happening in an early stage or letting things progress to a worse stage and it's really helping students become better problem solvers and innovators and yeah that's really why I love the competition here.”
The Borrisoleigh project was one of 16 that made it to the finals from across Munster, with the overall award going to Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, Tralee.
Held at the BD RCI site at the National Technology Park, Limerick, the seventh annual BD STEM Stars awards were presented by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless .
Approximately 60 students and teachers were involved in 16 shortlisted projects from counties Cork, Clare, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary attended the event.
Launched in 2019 and supported by Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB), BD STEM Stars challenges students to devise solutions that positively impact delivery of healthcare — reflecting BD’s global purpose of advancing the world of health™. The programme aligns closely with Ireland’s national STEM Education Policy, which was introduced in 2017 and has been strengthened over the past decade to encourage greater participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.
Addressing students and teachers from schools that made the finals, Minister James Lawless said: “The BD STEM Stars competition is an outstanding example of how industry and education can work together to inspire the next generation of innovators. Over the past decade, Government has prioritised the promotion of STEM subjects to ensure Ireland continues to build the skills base required for a modern, innovation-driven economy.”
“BD Research Centre Ireland Site Lead Owen O’Neill said, “We never ceased to be amazed by the desire, the commitment and the application of the students who enter this competition to have an impact on the world of STEM. Our mission in BD is all about advancing the world of health and we apply ourselves to that daily here in our Research Centre in Limerick, so to have students coming in here with that intent and with the quality of projects that they have built is hugely encouraging for the future.”