Today (Tuesday 15 October 2024) the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is delighted to host an Awards Ceremony for students from around the country who took part in our competitions throughout the year.
Today we celebrate the winners of the Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), the CSO Special Award at the Young Economist of the Year, and the John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition. The ceremony is being held in Croke Park today from 12p.m. to 1.30p.m.
Addison Carey from Celbridge, Co. Kildare is 15 and in third year in Celbridge Community School. Her winning project involved using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to explore the link between factors influencing the cost of living in Ireland and the subsequent development of interactive heatmaps.
She said: “It feels amazing to have won this award, and I am very proud that all of my hard work went towards winning it.” Addison would love to study computer science in the future and hopefully pursue a career in that area. She received a silver medal and a trophy.
Sarah Hannon, Fionnán Murray, and Bria Daly are fifth year students from Tullamore College, Co. Offaly. They won the Award for the Use of Open Data at the Young Economist of the Year 2024. Their project involved investigating the amount the pharmaceutical industry contributed to the total Irish economy and what would happen if it suddenly all went away. This involved looking into aspects such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, and various other economic indicators and how they are affected by the pharmaceutical industry.
On winning the award, they said: “We were so proud of each other for the team effort we put in. It was a surprise to get a gold medal at YEOTY as it was our first time entering that competition and we didn’t know what other projects would be like.”
Looking ahead, Bria would like to pursue a career in pharmacy, Sarah would like to pursue a career in economics, and Fionnán would like to pursue a career in biomedical science. The winners received silver medals and a trophy.
Students Emilie Dowdall and Nick Kuzmin (both 16) of Dundalk Grammar School, Co. Louth, won the John Hooper Medal for Statistics for their poster ‘Background Radiation and its Sources in Dundalk’. They were each presented with a silver medal and share a cash prize of €600. They also won €1,000 for their school.
When asked about their win, Emilie and Nick, now both fifth-year students, said: “It was incredible to see our hard work pay off, we felt ecstatic when we received the news!”
The goal of the poster was to measure and record the different levels of radioactivity across Dundalk and its environs. They measured radiation all over the town to see if there are any patterns. They learned that the background radiation around the town is completely safe to humans, and that radiation is slightly higher around sources of radon such as granite.
Their win at national level meant they were eligible to represent Ireland in the European Statistics Competition, in the Junior Category. Nick is considering a career in Computer Science or perhaps in a medical related field, whilst Emilie is still undecided.
Second prize in the John Hooper Competition went to Nicole Bujnowska and Hannah Vaughan, who are both in third year in Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare. They took second prize for their poster ‘An investigation into the covering behaviour of the Purple Sea urchin’. Covering is where sea urchins place pieces of shells, small stones, or bits of seaweed on top of them. They shared a cash prize of €350 while their school will receive €650. Nicole is considering a career in architecture, whilst Hannah is still unsure.
Third prize in the John Hooper Competition went to Eilidh Lawless and Caoimhe McCarthy, who are third year students also from Mary Immaculate Secondary School. They came third for their poster ‘Does water temperature affect the righting ability of two species of starfish?’. They share a cash prize of €200 and won €400 for their school. Eilidh hopes to study law while Caoimhe is considering secondary school teaching.
The runners-up in the John Hooper Competition were also honoured for their projects. All of today’s winners and runners-up received a framed certificate to mark their achievements.
Presenting the awards, Director General of the CSO Jennifer Banim praised all those who entered the competitions for thinking about new ways to show how data and statistics can be used to inform our lives.
“Every year we see a very high standard of entries for the CSO Competitions and Awards. Students consistently demonstrate resourcefulness, creativity, and original thinking by exploring a vast range of subjects and this year is no exception.
Promoting the understanding and use of statistics is an integral part of the CSO’s Educational Outreach programme which includes the John Hooper Medal, the Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition, and the Award at the Young Economist of the Year,” Ms. Banim said.
The goal of the CSO’s John Hooper competition is to improve students' abilities to describe, explore, and investigate their environment using statistics. This national competition, now in its fourteenth year, is open to teams of two or three students, aged up to 18 years old.
The competition is named in recognition of Cork man John Hooper, who was the first Director of Statistics for the newly formed Irish State, Saorstát Éireann, in 1923. Until his untimely death in 1930 at the age of just 51, Mr. Hooper shaped the development of official statistics in Ireland. His work led to the development of new statistics (e.g., first Census of Population and Census of Industrial Production in 1926), and the 1926 Statistics Act.
The Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition is now in its tenth year. This competition aims to encourage young people to use open data. Open data is data that can be accessed, used, or shared. Governments, businesses, and individuals can use open data to bring about social, economic, and environmental benefits.
The award is for the most innovative use, or potential use, of CSO data, whether it is in statistical analyses, processes or outputs, a piece of research, a visualisation, or a data map, the development of a device, a software application, or the use of CSO data in any other innovative way.
The YEOTY National Awards are organised by Oide. The CSO is proud to partner with YEOTY as a sponsor of the Medal for the Best Use of Data. The YEOTY invites students to explore real-life issues by submitting projects on any area of economics, but projects must refer to at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Economic, Social or Environmental goals).
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Editor's Note
For further information or interview requests for any of the winners contact:
Marketing, Graphic Design and Events Manager Aeidín Sheppard on (+353) 85 800 2267
or email: information@cso.ie