Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton congratulates Aoibheann Daly on winning the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition
- Published on: 9 January 2026
- Last updated on: 9 January 2026
Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, has congratulated Aoibheann Daly from Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, Kerry, who was won the top prize at this year’s Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
This year’s winning project was titled: 'GiloScope: Multi-task Deep Learning and Causal AI for Glioma and Glioblastoma Profiling'.
Attending the awards ceremony, Minister Naughton said:
“I would like to sincerely congratulate Aoibheann Daly from Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, Kerry, on winning the hugely prestigious top prize in the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
“Given the extremely high standard of entries presented by students at the RDS this week, it is a tremendous achievement to be awarded first prize. It is a wonderful testament to Aoibheann’s hard work and dedication to her chosen field of research, as well as to the unwavering support of her family, teachers and school.
“It was a delight to meet with students and their teachers from schools right across the country this week and to witness the wide-ranging, insightful and groundbreaking research they have conducted and I am in no doubt that their work will be of so much benefit to our country and indeed our world.
“More than 60 years after visionary founders Dr Tony Scott and Fr Tom Burke first brought the Young Scientist event to life, our school communities remain steadfast in their commitment to supporting students to dream, try, explore, discover, enjoy and celebrate scientific research in the field of their passion. This spirit of innovation resounds in our schools and through our curricula. Along with the Government, I am committed to continuing to promote uptake in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in our schools for the benefit of all learners.
“Once again, the Department of Education and Youth has sponsored a special award for the best entry in the area of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), with the aim of inspiring the innovation needed to be sustainable into the future. ESD is an important focus for the department and we hope that research projects undertaken in this area will help to inform future policy initiatives. I would also like to congratulate the 2026 winner of this award.
“Well done to everyone who presented entries and to all of those who contributed in any way to making this another hugely successful year. My thanks also to Stripe and to the Board of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for their dedication to supporting and empowering students along the way to this momentous occasion. My very best wishes to all of the school communities who took part across the country.”