Navan students win the EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award

Niamh Kearns and Isobel Grimes-Merrigan are 4th year students at Loreto Secondary School in Navan.

Two students from Navan have taken home the prestigious EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award at the SciFest@College 2024 regional competition at TU Dublin Blanchardstown.

Representing Loreto St. Michael’s School in Navan, fourth year students, Niamh Kearns And Isobel Grimes-Merrigan impressed the jury with their scientific research aimed at investigating the effects of crystals on energy production. Their winning entry was selected from more than 65 projects on display at the North Dublin campus event.

More than 130 students from 12 schools in Meath and Dublin came together with their fellow second level students and teachers to take part in the STEM fair where projects were presented on a range of topics from health and chemistry to renewable energy.

SciFest@College is a program of STEM bursaries for second level students, taking place in 16 regional colleges across Ireland. Now in its 19th year, the SciFest program is open to second-level students, with the aim of promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) education and providing a platform for students to develop their science projects to present and exhibit.

EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, worked with SciFest to develop the EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award, which rewards second-level students who research and design projects to address challenges arising from climate or energy-related issues.

Claire Wallace, Interim Head of Strategy and Sustainability at EirGrid, congratulated the winning entrants on their victory and said: “At EirGrid we are passionate about giving young people the opportunity to present their ambitious and solutions-oriented ideas for tackling climate change. Congratulations to Niamh and Isobel on their prize.

“Through our partnership with Scifest, EirGrid is proud to support the promotion of STEM subjects while inspiring the next generation to pursue solutions to climate change and the energy transition.”

As a result of their successful project, Niamh and Isobel will now progress to the SciFest National Finals in November, where they will have the opportunity to represent Ireland at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.