STEM Stars Competition

Stem Stars 2021

What do innovative ways to encourage exercise, discussing mental health, reducing salt in the diet, tackling Seasonal Affective Disorder and the daily challenges posed by cerebral palsy all have in common? These topics saw our #BDSTEMStars establish themselves as our next generation of leaders in science, technology, engineering and maths through inventive proposals seeking to improve both physical and mental health. BD Research Centre Ireland was delighted to award €10,000 to the winners at Desmond College and 2 runner up prizes of €5000 to Colaiste Muire and Salesian Secondary College to spend on STEM resources and education!

Explore our past events

2021 Winners-Desmond College

Desmond College won the 2020/2021 STEM-STARS competition with their brilliant project tackling teenage obesity. They highlighted the average time spent online and how it contributed to areas such poor achievement of development milestones, higher likelihood of inadequate sleep, lower scores on thinking and language tests and emotional stability issues. They gathered data using the Central Statistics Office and they’re own survey which showed a lack of exercise in young people caused by an increase in screen time. They then developed a device, using a Micro:bit computer that would be worn like an activity tracker and monitors active minutes such as running or walking. Once a goal was reached the device would reward the teenager 15 minutes to use a smart device or console by enabling the power to the device. They also developed another device that allowed the parents to reward the teenagers with additional time to be used on their devices.

2019 Winners-Thomond College

Thomond won the inaugural STEM-STARS competition in 2019 with their amazing entry where they tackled stress and anxiety in teenagers. They performed interviews and online surveys with students to gain more data on what causes stress and anxiety in students among which, tests and teachers scored highly. They also designed an experiment to prove that tests cause stress whereby they gave one of their classes a surprise Maths test, which showed higher heart rates and stress afterwards. Aiming to reduce stress they researched sensory environments and light therapy to reduce this stress. They deduced that light therapy, specifically blue light can be therapeutic and calming. They programmed a Micro:bitMicro:bit microcontroller to control a ZIP halo LED ring light to output blue light, and designed a phone case that would enable students to use their phone to output a blue light therapy. They used 7 subjects to understand mental health and stress and how to tackle it in students.