Silver Science Success in Spain
11 May 2009

EUSO 2009 Medals Winners with Dr. Paul van Kampen and Dr. Odilla Finlayson

A team of three students who represented Ireland at the 7th European Union Science Olympiad (EUSO 2009) in Murcia, Spain on 28 March – 5 April 2009 won silver medals and the second team was awarded bronze medals.

The silver medals winning team members were Killian Donovan, Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin 6: Anna Page Lawless; Rathdown School, Glenageary, Co. Dublin, and Ramia Jameel, St Andrew’s College, Booterstown, Co. Dublin. The bronze medal winning team members were Donnacha O'Sullivan, Christian Brothers College, Sydney Hill, Cork: Ciarán Deasy; Bruce College, Cork and Paul Stewart, Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co. Cork. The six students were the individual winners at the Irish national completion (IrEUSO) held in DCU on Saturday 29th November 2008. Congratulations for this success must also go to Dr. Odilla Finlayson (Country Coordinator and Chemistry Mentor), Dr. Paul van Kampen (Physics Mentor) and Dr. Christine Loscher (Biology Mentor) who were responsible for the selection and training of the teams. Training and support was also provided by Mary Canavan and Ciara McCarthy (Biology), Dr. Pat O’Malley and John McLoughlin (Chemistry) and Tommy Wemyss, David Smith and Paddy Browne (Physics)

IrEUSO 2008
The Irish European Union Science Olympiad (IrEUSO) Letters & Nomination Forms were sent to all schools on October 13th 2008 and the names of the 150 finalists were published on the web on October 30th. The IrEUSO, an individual, subject based, science competition for sixteen year old students, was held in Dublin City University (DCU) on Saturday 29th November 2008. The top three students were awarded gold medals, the next three silver and the next three bronze. The gold & silver medal winners were invited to represent Ireland at the EUSO 2009 Murcia, Spain on 28th March – 5th April 2009. The six bronze medal winners were on the reserve list.

Gold
Biology Donnacha O'Sullivan; Christian Brothers College, Sydney Hill, Cork
Chemistry Killian Donovan; Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
Physics Ciaran Deasy; Bruce College, Cork

Silver
Biology Ramia Jameel; St Andrew’s College, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
Chemistry Paul Stewart; Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co. Cork
Physics Anna Lawless; Rathdown School, Glenageary, Co. Dublin

Bronze
Biology Sean O'Leary: Christian Brothers College, Sidney Hill, Cork
Chemistry Dermot Gillen; Marist College, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
Physics Sean Tong; Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
Biology James Stewart; Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co. Cork
Chemistry Rory O'Reilly; St. Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda, Co. Louth
Physics Aodhbha Schüttke: Holy Faith Convent, Clontarf, Dublin 3

Because each EUSO team comprises three students with an expertise in the three sciences they were asked to select their best science subject and were chosen on a subject basis. The three tests began at 12.00 noon, ran simultaneously and ended at 3.00 p.m. All participants received a Certificate. The two teams continued to do assignments on Moodle and intensive residential training programmes took place in DCU. Training Programme 1 took place on the 26th and 27th January and Training Programme 2 on the 18th and 19th March. B&B accommodation was provided at the Skylon Hotel. Some countries allow their schools select teams of three and they compete in their national competitions as school teams, not as individuals.

EUSO 2009
The theme of EUSO 2009 was “Fiber”. Each team had to work together to solve a set of problems, submit an answer sheet and were given a single grads. The two experiments were developed by the Scientific Committee which included academics and post graduate students from the departments of biology, chemistry and physics at Murcia University. The Director was Professor Juan Antonio Rodríguez Renuncio and the Coordinator was Dr. Jorge Molero Fernández. Twenty-one EU countries were represented by a total of 40 teams (120 Students). Delegations included one or two teams of three students and a mentor for each discipline. One mentor was the Country Coordinator and Head of the Delegation. Romania and France sent Scientific Observers for the first time and will participate with a full delegation in 2010.

Teams: Austria (2 teams) Belgium (2 teams), Bulgaria (2 teams), Cyprus (2 teams), Czech Republic (2 teams), Denmark (2 teams), Estonia (2 teams), Germany (2 teams), Greece (2 teams), Ireland (2 teams), Latvia (1 team), Lithuania (2 teams), Luxembourg (2 teams), Netherlands (2 teams), Portugal (2 teams), Slovakia (2 teams), Slovenia (1 team), Spain (2 teams), Sweden (2 teams) and the United Kingdom (2 teams).

EUSO 2010 will be held in Gothenburg University, Sweden.

Michael A. Cotter
EUSO President
michael.cotter@dcu.ie