We were delighted to see the posters going up on the walls near the SATS building … it was time for SciFest 2026!
The SciFest fair is a highlight of the year with choosing a area of scientific investigation that interests them to present to visiting judges and student leadership.
Check out the list of projects and winners below!
The Projects
| Student | Project Name | Student | Project Name |
| Jeffrey Black | Apartments for the poor | Joe Gu | Does friction affect speed? |
| Russell Boyd | An investigation into the electrical energy consumption of home appliances | Aloj Karczewski | Is misinformation a problem solved by AI? |
| Oisín Burke | Do shoes affect how high you can jump? | Kingsley Kelly Drake | Do horses prefer natural treats or manmade treats? |
| Patrick Carr | How do different types of snow affect the speed at which a skier travels down a slope? | Charlie Kerin | Do plants grow faster in soil, dirt or compost? |
| Charlie Casey | All Wind? Has there been an increase in Irish wind in the past 30 years? | Jack Kieran | The Effect of Temperature on “Blood” (Viscosity and it’s impacts on athletes in sport) |
| Hugo Casley | California Wildfires | Ace Liu | Does the presence of different objects affect the transmission of Wi-Fi signals? |
| Cooper Cassin | What flags are most known to people | Andrew Lucey | What Foods Give You The Most Long Term Energy For Sport? |
| Adam Clarke | Which sports drink hydrates the best | Dannan Lynch | Why do fruits generate electricity? |
| Lucas Cleary | Does stretching improve vertical height? | Oisín MacMathuna | Eco Friendly Energy |
| Ajay Comiskey | Does background colour affect memory? | Arthur Mallon | Which golf club gets the most backspin? |
| Eugène Comte | Does the mass of a backpack affect balance? | Huw McCarthy | Does a Hurricane ball travel further than a cyclone ball off the tee in rugby? |
| Dylan Coppinger | Can Life Grow in Pond Water? | Vincent McElwee | How Will AI Affect Humans in the Future ? |
| James Cottin | Does exercise and feed affect a racehorse? | Sean Mee | Using Sound Waves for Non-Invasive Object Scanning |
| George Curran | This or That? | Michael Meighan | Is solar an option for aeroplane flight? |
| Carlos De Corrall | Why do young people start to play golf? | Jaime Molina | Do we react faster in the morning, afternoon or the evening? |
| Alvaro De Sitjar | Density of cokes | Jack Nagle | Measuring randomness in human generated sequences v computer randomness |
| George Deering | Evaporation of sugar in different liquids | Leo Nguyen | Which acids remove rust from metal the fastest |
| Sam Dolan | Does the colour of light affect how fast a plant grows? | Ollie Nolan | Which soil conditions will maximise the electricity output of a Microbial Fuel Cell? |
| Alvaro Dominguez | Ending Plastic Permanence | Ted Noone | Coillte: Non-Native Forestry in Ireland |
| TJ Dunne | How different drinks affect tooth enamel | Jack Pinschmidt | Can a sea-weed based gel conduct electricity? |
| Cael Dunning | What is the difference between filtered water and tap water? | Tom Priede | Which Paper Airplane Flies the Farthest Distance? |
| Blake Durack | How many First Years us AI? | Alfie Queally | How does the temperature of a tennis ball affect its bounce |
| Chinonso Emmanuel | Video games or books – which has better benefits? | Jake Redmond | Attenuation: The optimisation of SuDs solutions in the prevention of water runoff from hard surfaces in urban settings |
| Matthew Ennis | Which footwear allows me to run faster over 100M | Dylan Roche | What day on Clongowes Solar Farm uses the most energy and why? And how can it be reduced? |
| Peter Fan | The Production and Transmission of Sound | Educardo Sánchez | How does light intensity affect a plant? |
| Oli Feeney | Why do animals live longer in captivity than the wild? | Shawn Shen | A solution for age related tripping |
| Cian Free | The effects of exercise on heart rate | Aidan Sinnott | Does the height an egg is dropped from influence breaking into water? |
| Donovan Gaffney | Is there a significance difference between low and high SPF sunscreens? | Miguel Small | How does multilingualism enhance brain performance? |
| Alvaro Gonzalez | Do shoes affect your running on grass? | Kevin Sprague Romero | How PSI affects the bounce ability of a basketball |
| Nicolas Grant | Why salt is an important tool to keep roads safe in icy conditions | Tom Trench | Sour and Spice |
| Henry Griffith | Hydrogen electricity :A viable path forward | Jiuwen Wang | Which flower changes colour the fastest when placed in coloured water? |
The Winners
SciFest Best Project Award: Jake Redmond – Attenuation: The optimisation of SuDs solutions in the prevention of water runoff from hard surfaces in urban settings
Student Choice Award: Henry Griffith – Hydrogen electricity :A viable path forward
Runner Up Best Project: Donovan Gaffney – Is there a significance difference between low and high SPF sunscreens?
SciFest 20th Anniversary Award: Alvaro Dominguez – Ending Plastic Permanence
EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award: Ollie Nolan – Which soil conditions will maximise the electricity output of a Microbial Fuel Cell?
Keenova STEM Excellence Award: Jack Kieran – The effect of temperature on blood viscosity and its impact on athletic performance
Keenova STEM Excellence Award: Jack Nagle – Measuring randomness in human generated sequences v computer randomness
Science Communication Award Oral Presentation: Cael Dunning and Matthew Ennis
Science Communication Award Oral Presentation: Oisín Burke
Commended Projects: Sam Dolan, Alvaro Gonzalez Mendez, Miguel Small, Jack Pinschmidt, Patrick Carr, Michael Meighan, Hugo Casley, Charlie Casey, Tom Priede and Nicholas Grant
Thank You
A special word of thanks to Ms Nolan for her continued dedication to SciFest at Clongowes. Thank you to our judges for giving so generously of their time and, of course, our Elements students for their hard work and creativity!
