Fionn Campbell, 4th year student at Moate Community School Winner of the EirGrid’s Cleaner Climate Award and Runner Up for Best Project with Rachel O’Loughlin, EirGrid Graduate at SciFest Regional Competition, Athlone.

Double award for Moate student at SciFest

Published: Thu 25 Apr 2024, 11:19 AM

Last updated: Thu 25 Apr 2024, 1:33 PM

A local student has taken home two awards after impressing judges at the SciFest regional competition in TUS Athlone recently.

Fionn Campbell from Moate Community School took home both the EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award and overall Runner-up for Best Project following his impressive scientific research presented at the SciFest@College STEM fair at Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone campus.

Hundreds of students from across the region came together with their second-level student peers to compete in the STEM fair showcasing projects on a range of topics from technology and maths to renewable energy.

Fourth-year student Fionn was selected for both prizes from 200 projects displayed at the fair, inspiring judges with his project ‘A crystal clear way to slow down Ireland’s energy crisis’. This involved the design a small-scale prototype for an electricity-generating speed ramp which uses piezoelectricity (an electric charge from solid materials) to harvest the kinetic energy of road vehicles.

SciFest@College is a programme of STEM fairs for second-level students, taking place in 16 regional colleges across Ireland. The SciFest programme is open to second-level students, with the aim of promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) education and providing a platform for students to present and display their scientific insights.

EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, partnered with SciFest to develop the EirGrid Cleaner Climate award which celebrates students who research and design projects to address challenges posed by climate or energy.

Congratulating the winner on his awards Claire Wallace, Interim Head of Strategy and Sustainability with EirGrid, said, “At EirGrid we are passionate about giving young people the opportunity to showcase their ambitious and solution-driven ideas to addressing climate change. Many congratulations to Fionn for his double win at today’s event.

“Through our partnership with SciFest, EirGrid are proud to support the promotion of STEM subjects as the next generation is inspired to seek solutions to climate change and the energy transition.”

As a result of his successful project and awards, Fionn will go on to compete in the SciFest National Final which will take place later this year.