Since 1965, the Young Scientist Exhibition has helped nurture the talent of our future scientists and engineers. The relationship between Irish Universities and the Exhibition is a long one. The competition was originally founded by two UCD physics researchers, Rev. Dr. Tom Burke and Dr. Tony Scott, who were inspired by the idea of science fairs while conducting research in the United States in the 1960’s and decided to tailor the idea for Ireland.
IUA’s 8 Universities are proud to sponsor the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) University scholarship scheme. These scholarships aims to encourage and reward participation by second-level school students in science and technology as well as to raise awareness of the importance of these areas in Irish education and society. Since 2015 more than 45 second-level students have been awarded entrance scholarships to their choice of IUA member universities.
IUA BT Young Scientist & Technologist Scholarships
The overall winner of the BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year Award will receive a €2,000 scholarship. Additional scholarships, worth €1,000 each, are awarded to all winners of the senior individual and group categories, as follows:
- Biological and Ecological Sciences
- Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences
- Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Technology
In 2019, the Irish universities expanded the scholarship scheme to include two new categories of scholarships worth €1,000 to each student:
- Overall runner up (Group, Senior Level)
- Overall runner up (Individual, Senior Level)
*The scheme applies to NI and ROI students
**If a winning student is in 5th year, they can ‘bank’ the award until their CAO application in 6th