There is still time to be involved in the premier STEM competition in NSW. Despite the challenges of the extended COVID lockdown, we are excited to have received close to 600 scientific investigations from very dedicated and committed young scientists from across the state.
Judging of secondary projects begins on Saturday October 9th and judging of primary projects begins on Saturday October 16th. All judging (and training) is online and details can be found here.
Participating in Young Scientist Training and Judging is excellent professional development and a wonderful opportunity to view first-hand the extraordinary scientific investigative skills and creativity of NSW students. Come and be involved – we promise you will be inspired!
Given the ongoing situation with COVID related lockdowns, we have made the decision to extend the submission deadline by another week. This will also ensure there is no clash with HSC Science extension deadlines.
ALL projects – Primary and Secondary in all three categories – Scientific and mathematical Investigations and Technology Projects – are now due on Friday, 24th September, 2021.
We would like to put a call out to all teachers to register for judging the awards this year. Please visit the Opportunities for Teachers page for more information and to sign up.
In light of the ongoing lockdown situation in Sydney and other parts of NSW, the committee has made the decision to extend the deadline for project submissions to the end of Term 3.
ALL projects (Primary and Secondary Scientific and Mathematical investigations as well as Technology projects) will now need to be submitted before midnight, Friday, 17th September, 2021.
We hope that this additional time for students who cannot access materials and equipment at school, or have limited access to teachers and mentors will prove beneficial.
As a consequence of this change, our training and judging schedule will also be pushed back into Term 4. Please visit the Opportunities for Teachers Page for details of timings of judging sessions. All schools entering projects are required to provide at least one teacher per 10 projects for judging.
Our Presentation Ceremony will also need to be held in the last week of November (Week of November 22nd).
Thank you for your understanding and support of our competition in these difficult times.
What a wonderful night we have experienced! The Grand Awards of the 2021 Virtual Regeneron ISEF were announced last night. A group of excited and nervous Young Scientist finalists and supporters gathered online to watch as $5 million (US dollars) worth of prizes were handed out to students from across the world. The late night proved completely worth it as we were able to cheer the wonderful achievements of our own NSW young scientists on this most prestigious of international stages. NSW students came away with 5 Grand Awards at the end of the night.
Alex Gray, Barker College – Fourth Place Award in Physics
A General Vector Theory of the Dynamics of a Rapidly Spinning Top
Proving that good science can be conducted on even the simplest of toys, Alex explored the physics of the spinning top. He researched all the different elements that contribute to the top’s motion and used this to build a computer simulation.
Liam Davies, Gosford High School – Third Place Award in Engineering Mechanics
The CycleHub – A Prototype for the Future of Cycling
A keen cyclist himself, Liam’s project was motivated by a desire to make this environmentally friendly mode of transport as safe as possible. He designed and built a 3D printed product that mounts on a bicycle and houses everything needed to cycle on the road safely. The CycleHub incorporates a front and rear lighting system with six programmable settings, ultraviolet glow wheels and many more features, all controlled by a touchscreen trip computer.
Hannah Jones, St. Columba Anglican College– Third Place Award in Robotics and Intelligent Machines
RoboBall
Hannah – who hails from Port Macquarie – is keenly aware of the huge disadvantage elite soccer players from regional areas have in that they often don’t have training facilities or even training partners to do basic skills as passing a ball. This situation was exacerbated even further by the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. In response, Hannah designed a robotic soccer trainer that has the ability to retrieve balls, deliver balls to different heights and can provide simulated passing practice. Hannah was competing as part of the BHPFSEA team at ISEF.
Maja Dalby Ball-Olson, Barrenjoey High School – Second Place Award in Plant Sciences
Maja conducted a flammability study of twenty two native plant species common to the Sydney sandstone bushland. The plants were tested for various aspects of flammability: including temperature of ignition, time of ignition, duration of visible flame, and time to return to pre burn temperature. Her results showed that there is a significant difference between species. Species identified by her research can be used to augment existing Rural Fire Service (RFS) recommendations for plantings in urban areas as well as to retain biodiversity in bushland close to human habitation.
Maja was competing as part of the BHPFSEA team at ISEF.
Sarah Hens, Menai High School – First Place Award in Behavioural and Social Sciences
A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Differential Efficacy of Ginkgo biloba, Ginseng, Curcuma longa Linn. and Vinpocetine on Spatial Learning and Memory in Mice
Many traditional health products are promoted as improving memory and preventing age related memory loss. In an extensive and highly detailed study, Sarah investigated whether these traditional herbal remedies had any efficacy. She tested their effects on the memories of mice by administering them in their food and water and then testing their ability to navigate a water maze by memory. Sarah found that these herbal remedies had no significant effect on the memory of mice.
A sixth Australian student, Hadia Bizham from Lyneham High School, ACT also won a Second Place Grand Award in Chemistry for her project Thrown – But will it break down? Hadia was also part of the BHPFSEA team at ISEF.
We couldn’t be more proud of the achievements of these young scientists and engineers and we look forward to seeing where they go to next. Congratulations to all of them as well as the entire team. You have done your country proud.
Antonio Rajaratnam – our 2020 Young Scientist of the Year has just won a Special Award at the 2021 Virtual Regeneron ISEF. His project – Survival of the Fairy – impressed the judges from the University of Arizona who have awarded him a scholarship valued at $40,000 to the university.
Antonio’s project demonstrated a long term commitment over two years in documenting the habitat of the Sand Fairy Cicada – a little known species that had not been seen in Sydney for 100 years. Antonio’s research highlighted the fragility and importance of its sand dune habitat as well as providing evidence for many previously undocumented aspects of its behaviour and lifecycle. Well done, Antonio!
Conrad Petrovic from Broughton Anglican College was also awarded the American Statistical Association’s Special Award in Statistics earlier this week. Conrad studied the processes involved in hardening of steel and how these impact steel quality – a vitally important aspect for many manufacturing processes. His analysis of complex data and ability to synthesis this into a meaningful conclusion obviously impressed the judges. Congratulations Conrad!
Our team of 9 ISEF delegates is getting ready to participate in the 2021 Regeneron Virtual ISEF Fair this week. The virtual event starts on Monday morning at 10am (Sydney time) and finishes at midnight on Friday (Sydney time) with the Grand Awards ceremony where they will be presenting the best students with US $5 million in prizes.
Their projects range from investigating the conditions for the origin of life itself to designing an innovative new design for cold caps for chemotherapy. Please follow the links below to register and visit their virtual booths in the Fair.
There are two other NSW students also participating in ISEF 2021. They are both Young Scientist Award winners and are competing as part of the national BHP Foundation Science and Engineering team.
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has meant the students cannot attend the fair in person, it has provided much easier access for everyone to their amazing work as presented at the fair.
All students completed their judging sessions early in May. From all accounts they performed admirably and we wish them all the very best for the rest of the fair.
Yes – we are running the competition in 2021. We are just finalising dates, and entry forms and should have the website updated within the next couple of weeks.
We expect that the program will continue to be completely online – including training and judging. Our submission dates will also be coordinated with HSC exams and submission dates (particularly for Technology entries).
We appreciate you patience but please continue to use the resources here to plan for your school programs of investigation and discovery.
And in case you would like to watch and share specific portions of tonight’s program, here are the links to those videos. Please don’t forget to tag us on Facebook @stanswyoungscientist, Twitter @STANSW_YS and Instagram @stansw_youngscientist and use the hashtag #YSAwards2020
We have been overwhelmed by your responses to these presentations – an entirely new concept for us – both via email and on the Facebook feed. We are so pleased that we have been able to capture at least some of the excitement of the live event in this format. Please do get in touch with us with any stories, feedback, videos you are happy to share – we miss seeing the excitement and joy on the students’ faces.
We will be in touch with the award winners soon with certificates and details about the redemption of their cash awards. We also hope to be able to send all of the participants their certificates and feedback letters in the next couple of weeks.
Until next year …… Yours in STEM – the Young Scientist Awards Committee!
Welcome to the 4th and final day of the virtual 2020 Young Scientist Awards presentations! It has certainly been an exciting time so far.
Please click on the video below to watch Session One for today where we will present all of the Mathematical Investigations awards and the AARNet – Mathematics and NMI – Mathematics Awards.
For more details on all those amazing projects who were just announced please click on the link below to access our Presentation Booklet
And in case you would like to watch and share specific portions of tonight’s program, here are the links to those videos. Please don’t forget to tag us on Facebook @stanswyoungscientist, Twitter @STANSW_YS and Instagram @stansw_youngscientist and use the hashtag #YSAwards2020
Welcome to the 3rd day of the virtual 2020 Young Scientist Awards presentations! It has certainly been an exciting time so far.
Please click on the video below to watch the presentations of the Primary Inventions and Innovations, Secondary Innovations and Engineering Design, AARNet – Technology, NMI – Technology, Sebel Testing and STA NSW Most Promising Awards.
For more details on all those amazing projects who were just announced please click on the link below to access our Presentation Booklet
And in case you would like to watch and share specific portions of tonight’s program, here are the links to those videos. Please don’t forget to tag us on Facebook @stanswyoungscientist, Twitter @STANSW_YS and Instagram @stansw_youngscientist and use the hashtag #YSAwards2020
