10 January 2026
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Overall winner Aoibheann Daly from Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School with the trophy for her brain cancer diagnosis tool at the Stripe Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS.
Aoibheann Daly, a 4th year student from Mercy Secondary School Mounthawk in Kerry, has been announced as the winner of the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, with her project “GlioScope: Multi-task Deep Learning and Causal AI for Glioma & Glioblastoma Profiling”.
The winning project “GlioScope” helps doctors improve the treatment of brain cancer. The treatment and prognosis for brain cancer depends on the specific genetic mutations present, but there are currently no good methods for identifying these mutations. Doctors rely on taking samples of brain tissue, which is expensive, slow and carries a high risk of bleeding in the brain. Glioscope allows a doctor to predict what genetic mutation is likely to be present from a simple MRI brain scan, so they can make quicker treatment decisions and reduce risk for the cancer patient.
Professor Catherine Darker, Head Judge for the Health & Wellbeing category: “Brain cancer is a devastating condition for people. GlioScope, developed by a fifteen year-old student, is an extraordinary achievement. Aoibheann has brought together scientific areas of medicine with computer science to improve the chances of early intervention for people with brain cancer. She is a worthy winner of the Stripe Young Scientist & Technologist 2026.”
Eileen O’Mara, chief revenue officer at Stripe, said: “It is inspiring to see the incredible depth of talent displayed by all the winners today. Aoibheann has taken a tragic health condition affecting hundreds of Irish families, and applied cutting edge science to move the field forward. It’s a stunning piece of work.”
Cork received 27 awards, including Méabh Dorgan, Katie Fitzgerald, and Muireann Murphy from St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow:
| School | Students | Project Title | Award |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Alvy Fitzgerald, Anna Duggan, Leah O’Sullivan | An Investigation into the Effects of various NFB and N- Fertilizer Amendments on the Growth of Barley Plants: A Route towards a more Sustainable Agriculture. | The Department of Agriculture food and the Marine Award |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Méabh Dorgan, Katie Fitzgerald, Muireann Murphy | An Investigation into Soil Organic Matter in North Cork Using UAV RGB Imagery: Supporting the “4 per 1000” Initiative & Climate Change Mitigation | The Teagasc Award |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Holly Fitzgerald, Alison Kerrisk, Maeve O’Reilly | Design and Development of a Solar-Powered SMART Buoy as a Sustainable Solution for River Health | The Comreg Award |
| Kinsale Community School | Afric Deasy | Sherlock: An improved, universal AI model for the automatic evaluation of bias in news media | The Oracle Academy Award |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Rea Vinovrski | An Investigation into the Role of Noise in Irish Schools: Impacts on Behaviour, Learning, and Emotional Health in Mainstream and SEN Students | The Department of Education and Youth Education for Sustainable Development Award |
| Terence Mac Swiney Community College | Mikayla Ryan, Reece Morey, Alex McKee | Bumblebee | The Ombudsman for Children’s Award |
| Millstreet Community School | Farhan Tijani | ReThread | The Re-turn Award |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Aoife Cregg, Niamh O’Sullivan, Clodagh Parkin | Pixelated Realities: When Social Media Becomes the Escape | 1st Senior Group (Social & Behavioural Sciences) |
| Kinsale Community School | Ella Holly, Grace Holland | School Phone Pouches: Do They Really Limit Students’ Screen Time? A Statistical Analysis | 2nd Junior Group (Social & Behavioural Sciences) |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Chloe Lehane, Amy White | Likes vs Rights: Should Family Vloggers Be Subject to Child Labour Laws? | 2nd Senior Group (Social & Behavioural Sciences) |
| Bruce College | Philipa McIntosh | AccessiRead: Making Exams Accessible, for Everyone | 2nd Senior Individual (Social & Behavioural Sciences) |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Rea Vinovrski | An Investigation into the Role of Noise in Irish Schools: Impacts on Behaviour, Learning, and Emotional Health in Mainstream and SEN Students | 1st Junior Individual (Health & Wellbeing) |
| Terence Mac Swiney Community College | Mikayla Ryan, Reece Morey, Alex McKee | Bumblebee | 1st Senior Group (Health & Wellbeing) |
| Boherbue Comprehensive School | Cathal O’Shea, Fionn Murphy | Silent Struggles: Farmers Mental Health And The Weight Of Change | 3rd Intermediate Group (Health & Wellbeing) |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Holly Fitzgerald, Alison Kerrisk, Maeve O’Reilly | Design and Development of a Solar-Powered SMART Buoy as a Sustainable Solution for River Health | 1st Junior Group (Technology) |
| Kinsale Community School | Afric Deasy | Sherlock: An improved, universal AI model for the automatic evaluation of bias in news media | 3rd Senior Individual (Technology) |
| Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh | Mícheál Ó Cróinín Macmathúna, Conall Conroy | Investigating the Energy Absorption of Biological and Non-Biological Lattice Structures | 1st Intermediate Group (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences) |
| Christian Brothers College Cork | Ben Dwyer, Daragh O’Mullane, Oisín Sheehan | Using an automatic irrigation system to improve crop production | 1st Junior Group (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences) |
| Pobalscoil na Tríonóide | Robert King | The gloves are off – but what’s left on? Detection of chemical allergens in Goalkeeper Gloves and potential barriers for skin protection | 1st Junior Individual (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences) |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Jade Hosford | An Investigation into the Spread of Forever Chemicals in Local Surface and Groundwater Sources of North Cork Using Low-Cost School Based Detection Methods | 2nd Junior Individual (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences) |
| Colaiste Muire Crosshaven | Saoirse O’Connor Buckley, Holly Forde | If you care breathe air: An investigation into the chemicals in vapes and cigarettes | 2nd Senior Group (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences) |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Alvy Fitzgerald, Anna Duggan, Leah O’Sullivan | An Investigation into the Effects of various NFB and N- Fertilizer Amendments on the Growth of Barley Plants: A Route towards a more Sustainable Agriculture. | 1st Intermediate Group (Biological & Ecological) |
| St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow | Méabh Dorgan, Katie Fitzgerald, Muireann Murphy | An Investigation into Soil Organic Matter in North Cork Using UAV RGB Imagery: Supporting the “4 per 1000” Initiative & Climate Change Mitigation | 1st Junior Group (Biological & Ecological) |
| Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh | Jonathan Varughese, Cian Manning | Don’t Stop Bee-lievin’ | 2nd Intermediate Group (Biological & Ecological) |
| Kinsale Community School | Miah O’Callaghan, Peter Leahy | Soleus – the forgotten knee muscle? Is its neglect contributing to an increase in incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury in Ireland? | 2nd Senior Group (Biological & Ecological) |
| Árdscoil Uí Urmoltaigh | Cathal Murphy, Tom Kingston | Is Lung Capacity the Key? – Assessing differences in physiological attributes between students on a school GAA team and those who are not. | 3rd Intermediate Group (Biological & Ecological) |
The Stripe YSTE trophy was presented to Aoibheann by Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughton, and Stripe cofounder and former YSTE winner Patrick Collison. In addition to receiving the grand prize of €7,500, she will go on to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Germany in September 2026.
Aoife Fadian and Jessica O’Connor, 5th year students from Ursuline College in Sligo, were named Best Group, with their project “Sheep Strength II: Using Sheep Wool to Reinforce Concrete”. Expanding on their work from last year, the pair investigated the most effective, market-friendly form of sheep wool as a strengthening agent for concrete.
Barry Kennedy, Head Judge for the Technology category, said: “Using state of the art scientific methods and rigorous evaluation techniques, Aoife and Jessica have demonstrated that embedding wool fibres reinforces concrete strength, enhances its thermal insulation properties and increases its durability. This novel use of wool has the potential to enable the manufacture of more sustainable concrete, enable new forms of thermal batteries, and open new business opportunities for sheep farmers in Ireland.”
Joshua Corbett, a 6th year student from St. Mary’s C.B.S. in Laois, won the Individual Runner Up, with his project “There’s Plenty of Room To Break Through at the Bottom” which identifies tiny nanocarriers for drug delivery administered through the nose to treat brain cancer.
Dr Rachel Quinlan, Head Judge for the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category, said: “Glioblastoma is the most lethal brain cancer and its treatment is made difficult by the need to transport drugs across the protective brain barrier, which acts like a wall without a door. This expansive project used machine learning to identify the best designs of tiny nanocarriers, approximately one thousandth of the width of a human hair, to act as miniature submarines. By navigating the space of a hundred million billion possible nanoparticle designs, this method can guide the next practical steps in the development of treatments leading to better outcomes.”
Ritvik Venkateshwar and Hao Wen Liu, 5th year students from Stratford College in Dublin, won the Runner Up Group, with their project titled “A simulation of Axion Monodromy inflation to investigate whether it can describe our Universe”, which uses advanced theoretical physics to accurately describe the early universe.
Professor Pat Guiry, Chair of the YSTE Board and Head Judge for the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category, said: “This ambitious project tackles the extremely fast expansion of the universe from its beginning. In order to address this, they used advanced theoretical physics. They implemented their model by developing code and validated it by comparison with the latest astronomical observational data.”
Stripe YSTE Trophy
The Stripe YSTE trophy is a testament to cutting-edge Irish innovation, designed by Stripe’s design team and printed from titanium grade 23 by Limerick-based Croom Medical. Created using advanced 3D-printing technology, it uses the same strong, medical-grade material as orthopedic implants. Its detailed design could not be produced using traditional manufacturing methods, reflecting the blend of engineering innovation and scientific discovery at the heart of the exhibition.