AI Bias Detection Project Wins Top Award at Young Scientist Exhibition

SCHOOLS across West Cork are celebrating after last week’s Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition with some coming home with awards, while others had their projects highly commended by judges. Afric Deasy from Bandon, a fifth-year student at Kinsale Community School, won the Oracle Academy Award for her project Sherlock: An improved universal AI Model for the automatic evaluation of bias in news media. She was presented with the award by Orla Lawton, senior marketing manager at Oracle. Afric also secured third place in the Senior Individual category for the same project. Afric used her own original code to give effect to her design concept and produced an app which analyses news media text providing a set of criteria and an objective scoring scale for quantifying the incidence and signifiers of bias. There were more wins for the Kinsale school as Ella Holly and Grace Holland were placed second in the Junior Group (Social & Behavioural Sciences) for their project which found school phone pouches reduced screen time by 10%. They found that the introduction of phone pouches in schools has led to a 10% decrease in students’ weekend screen time. Cushla O’Reilly, Caoimhe Ní Charragáin and Elise O’Sullivan were awarded third place for their project: Numbers Don’t Discriminate. Their fellow students, Miah O’Callaghan and Peter Leahy were placed second in the Senior Group (Biological & Ecological) for their project on Soleus – the forgotten knee muscle and its link to anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Cathal Murphy and Tom Kingston from Hamilton High School in Bandon picked up third place in the Intermediate Biological and Ecological category for their project Is lung capacity the key? which looked at assessing differences in physiological attributes between students on a school GAA team and those who are not. St Mary’s Secondary School in Macroom had several students performing very well at the exhibition. Junior Cert student Aine O’Leary won a Display Award for her project titled Reserved for a Reason: Exploring public perception and misuse of disabled persons parking spaces and permits, with proposed solutions.’ Amy White and Chloe Lehane were placed second in the Senior Group (Social & Behavioural Sciences) for their project: Likes vs Rights: Should family vloggers be subject to child labour laws?, while TY students Réaltín Walsh, Isabelle Roberts and Siún O’Connor were Highly Commended for their project Counting the cost of clean water: An investigation into the social, environmental and economical cost of frequent boil water notices in Macroom. Second year students, Jenny Duggan and Aoibhínn Kelleher also won a Highly Commended award for their project Scroll, swipe, forget? The effects of screentime on adolescent memory. Other projects of note included Kinsale students’ Emily Bertoletti, Annabel Long and Nora Lynch’s statistical analysis of assessing modifiable risk factors for dementia, and Kinsale student Cathal Murray’s project analysing ear versus sight in learning traditional Irish music. Jan O’Longphuirt of Mount St Michael in Rosscarbery considered how using thermo-electrics during a workout could generate enough electric energy from body heat to charge a mobile phone. Another project from the same school highlighted the need for changes to the Free School Books scheme. A team from De La Salle College in Macroom considered how to design a safer alternative to manhole covers in a slated slurry tank. Minister Christopher O’Sullivan praised the ‘breadth and quality’ of the projects on display by West Cork students.