Mullingar student among prize winners at SciFest@DkIT 2025

Katelyn Dunne from Loreto College, Mullingar was named winner of the ESERO Discover Space Student Award at SciFest@DkIT 2025 for her project ‘How to develop the most sustainable planetary rover for Mars’.

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) welcomed more than 300 students from 26 schools in north Leinster and south Ulster for SciFest@DkIT 2025, and 145 innovative projects were on display throughout the competition.

SciFest is a national event to encourage a love of science and provide an opportunity for students to display their scientific discoveries. The event includes an exhibition and competition of projects produced by second-level students.

DkIT has hosted the North Leinster/South Ulster regional finals for the last 10 years.

Katelyn was named winner of the ESERO Discover Space Student Award for her project How to develop the most sustainable planetary rover for Mars.

A TY student in Loreto College, Katelyn has long been interested in technology and space science. She is also concerned about the environmental impact of technology and decided to unite those interests in her project.

She is concerned about the growing amount of space junk above the earth’s atmosphere making space exploration ever more dangerous.

She designed a new rover with materials and abilities that would reduce the amount of littering, which included new appendages to help the longevity and sustainability of the rover.

Part of her project also focussed on raising awareness of the growing problem of space junk. She is planning to develop her project in the future with prototypes of her redesigned rover.

Atish Anandan Srinivasan, St Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda, won the SciFest Best Project Award for ‘EEG based BCI’. He also won the Boston Scientific Medical Devices Award. His project was on creating a more affordable EEG (electroencephalogram) kit that can be used effectively for brain-computer interface (BCI) applications and hardware control and investigated how the performance of his kit compared to scientific and professional EEG devices.

As the winner of the award, Atish will participate in the SciFest national final competition in November in Dublin to compete for the SciFest STEM Champion 2025 Award.

Second prize for the runner-up best project award was presented to Krysztof Kazimierczak, Coláiste Dun an Rí, Cavan, for ‘Hydrelesis’. Krystof was also awarded the SciFest Physics Award. His project addressed the lack of clean and safe drinking water in sub-Saharan and tropical regions, aiming to develop a solution that targets the root of the problem and delivers clean, drinkable water to millions in need.

Event sponsors and supporters include: Intel, Boston Scientific, EirGrid, Mallinckrodt, Dept of Education, Dawn Meats, Regeneron Life Sciences, Irish Science Teachers Association (ISTA), ESERO Ireland and the Business Excellence Institute.

SciFest@DkIT co-ordinator Dr Moira Maguire, head of School of Health and Science, DkIT, said: “SciFest is always one of our calendar highlights at DkIT and the scope of student innovation each year never ceases to amaze us. It is fantastic to see the numbers growing year on year and the increasing interest our second level students have across all areas of the sciences. A huge congratulations to all who took part, and to the teachers and mentors for all of their support and encouragement throughout the competition process. “

Presenters of the SciFest awards included; George Porter, CFO of SciFest; Ciara O’Shea, member of DkIT’s Executive Board; Darragh O’Connor, Dawn Meats; Ronan Keane, Regeneron; Grainne Duffy, EirGrid and Yann Ni Yee, Boston Scientific.

To find out more about SciFest visit: SciFest.