IBM/DCU Irish Science Olympiad
11 December 2002

Over 500 students from every county in Ireland gathered at Dublin City University this weekend to compete in the 2002-03 finals of the IBM/DCU Irish Science Olympiad. This All-Ireland science competition in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Programming and Physics and is open to all second-level students. These students were also competing for places on the Irish Biology, Chemistry, Computer Programming and Physics teams that will represent Ireland at the International Science Olympiad in July/August.

This year a new competition for students under seventeen years of age was introduced and these students were competing for places on the three teams that will represent Ireland at the first European Union Science Olympiad in DCU in April 2003.

The students began arriving at DCU at 10.00 am to register for each of the individual competitions in the four schools and the three hour tests began at 11.00 am.

Professor Richard O Kennedy and Dr. Lynsey Dunne who are responsible for the Biology Section of the Olympiad had a team of DCU staff and postgraduate students ready to supervise and correct the tests. By 4.00 pm they achieved the almost impossible by being in a position to name the trophy and medal winners and the panel of students from which the International Biology team will be selected.

This feat was also achieved in Chemistry by Dr. Paraic James, Dr Odilla Finlayson and their team, in Computer Programming by Mr. Charlie Daly and his team and in Physics by Dr. Eilish McLoughlin, Dr. Paul Van Kampen and their team. Dr. Enda McGlynn and Mr. David Rea who have a long association with the Physics effort were very much involved.

At 4.00 pm the 500 excited students, many accompanied by their parents and teachers crowded into a packed Larkin Theatre for the Closing Ceremony. Professor Albert Pratt, DCU Vice President, opened the proceedings by welcoming Minister Mary Hanafin td to DCU. He thanked the parents and teachers of the students for their support and encouragement of these talented young Irish scientists and IBM, the Department of Education & Science and Forfás for sponsoring this event. He was particularly appreciative of the tremendous effort put in by the DCU staff and postgraduate students in bringing the 2002-03 Irish Science Olympiad to a successful conclusion.

These sentiments were echoed by Anna McKeown, Corporate Community Relations Manager at IBM and by Minister Mary Hanafin td.

Before proceeding to the allocation of trophies and medals, the winners of the 2002 IBM Scholarships were presented with their cheques by the Minister. These were awarded in recognition of their success at the 2002 International Science Olympiad to Martin Orr, The Methodist College, Belfast (IOI Korea); Vladislav Malofeev, St. Paul's College, Dublin, and Deborah Toner, St. Louis Grammar School, Ballymena (IChO The Netherlands); Lara Dungan, Wesley College, Dublin, and Neil Barrett, CBC Middleton, Cork (IBO Latvia); and Stephen McMahon, St. Colman's College, Newry (IPhO Indonesia).

Anna McKeown, Corporate Community Relations Manager at IBM, was also encouraged by the results of last year's winners. "The performance of the Irish students in this year's International Science Olympiad was the best to date and demonstrates that they can keep Ireland at the forefront of the science and technology sector. As a leader in the technology field, IBM hopes that the University Scholarship prizes will encourage students to pursue further study and even a career in this field."

According to Dublin City University President, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, "Given this university's commitment to science and technology, it is more than encouraging to see this standard being achieved by Irish students in all the four fields. It demonstrates clearly that by fostering an interest in science at second-level, the Science Olympiad is giving students the opportunity to flourish and excel in the international arena."

And then the moment we had all being waiting for had arrived. The announcement of the winners of the 2002-03 IBM/DCU Irish Science Olympiad.

Click to see full list of winners