And the best film in the Biology category of the competition shows a rat being dissected. Don’t panic though – it’s not a real rat but a Plasticine one.

SciCast helps and encourages young people to make and share videos about science experiments. It aims to get school students, teachers, parents and science communicators all making short, entertaining films about practical science.

The annual competition is open to students in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. A group of Transition Year students from St Joseph’s College in Lucan, Co Dublin, reached the 2008 finals in the physics category – read more about their video on the school’s website.

Online resources

The SciCast website also has plenty of great resources to help budding film-makers in their projects.

Its  “film school” and handbook will help you on your way, with advice about how to  plan your film, what equipment you will need, how to organise your team, and what sorts of things seem to work most reliably.

View the winning entries about rockets and rats.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jack Carey and Jamie Raleigh from O’Carolan College in Nobber, Co Meath talk about their project that investigates alternative materials being used in the retrieval of crime scene footprints.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tommy Collison, brother of 2005 winner Patrick Collison, from Castletroy College, Limerick, tells DSE about his project that examines the attitudes of secondary school students towards blogging.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Calvin McLoughlin, Frank Armstrong and Thomas Endersby from Summerhill College in Sligo explain their project on non-Newtonian fluids and their uses in modern society.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hannah Hayes in fourth year in Midelton College in Cork explains her project exploring the principle of harnessing kinetic energy to recharge batteries.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eoin McAuley, Stefan Farrell and Ciaran Fagan from Castleknock College, Dublin, talk about their project that uses piezoelectric sensors to generate electricity for street lighting.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mairin Ryan, in second year at Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone, talks about her project on the physics of the musical saw.

All you have to do is watch three short (three-minute) videos, then decide which researcher deserves to get a grant supporting their research.

Three researchers pitch their proposals via short (three-minute) videos, and you can cast their vote on what you think is the best proposal.

The “Your Science Your Say” experiment is taking place in two places: at the new Science Gallery in Dublin – and here on the Science.ie website (see below).

The aim of the experiment is to give the public an active role in deciding a small bit of the research agenda in non-medical sciences – where the direct benefit to everyday life is not typically well publicised.

The participating scientists gain experience from the process too, and the winning proposal gets a modest grant.

And who knows? If the experiment works well, this type of approach could be tried in other funding initiatives.

Take part

Watch each of the three videos below. Then take part in our online poll to decide who should get the funding.

1 September 2008: Please note – the poll is now closed.

Video A: One-Dimensional Nanotubes (Shane Bergin)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video B: Quantum superfluid whirlpools (Suzanne McEndoo)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video C: Gaussian Sums (Ciaran MacanBhaird)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Background to the project

The project is the culmination of a MSc thesis in Science Communication by Ian Brunswick at Dublin City University. Ian received a BA with honours from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Comparative Literature with a minor in Environmental studies, and later studied international cultures at the University of Oslo.

His thesis proposal encompasses the project “Your Science Your Say”, as well as an analysis of the project as a pilot piece of Public Engagement with Science and Technology.

The proposal was founded on the growing calls in Europe to involve the public earlier in the research agenda-setting process.

The views expressed in these videos are the personal views of the individual researchers, and are not reflective of Discover Science & Engineering or any organisation that they are associated with.