Shane Curran, the sole representative from Terenure College at the 2017 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, took home the top prize for his cybersecurity project with a twist.

At his fourth attempt of trying, Shane Curran has finally ascended to the top of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, wowing the judges with his innovative encryption software.

His project, called qCrypt: The quantum-secure, encrypted, data storage solution with multijurisdictional quorum sharing, wowed the judges, with Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton, TD, one of the many praising Curran’s achievement on the night.

“It’s phenomenal,” said an overwhelmed Curran after hearing his name called out, before quickly turning his attention to the next stage of his journey. Curran will go on to represent Ireland at the EU version of the event, to be held in Tallinn, Estonia in September.

Alongside that trip, Curran takes home the trophy as well as a €5,000 prize. The only representative of Terenure College, it will be interesting to see if this win inspires a new generation of wannabe winners in the Dublin school after the event was once again dominated by Cork.

1,142 students took part this year, with the girls once again outnumbering the boys (602 to 540). Cork’s strong showing of 125 students again topped the charts, with Dublin’s 84 in second.

Words by Gordon Hunt