A mathematics postgraduate from University College Cork is this year’s winner of the Intervarsity Science Speak Competition.
Julie O’Donovan from Inniscarra, Co Cork, took the top prize of €1,000 with her talk, titled “Collections of spherical obstacles that Brownian motion can avoid”.
That might sound complicated, but the aim of the competition is to encourage young scientists to describe their research to the general public in an easily understandable manner.
PhD candidates from all seven Irish universities took part in the final of the competition, which took place at the RDS. This is the second year in a row that UCC has taken the title.
University heats
All of the finalists were already winners in their respective universities, having gone through selection competitions to reach the Science Speak final.
RTÉ presenter Pat Kenny hosted the event, and the panel of judges included Peter Brabazon, Director of Discover Science & Engineering (DSE), as well as science journalists Dick Ahlstrom and Mary Mulvihill, meteorologist Evelyn Cusack and teacher Aoibheann Ni Shúilleabháin.
The annual event is supported by DSE and Wyeth Ireland, and is jointly organised by the RDS and The Irish Times.
