EUROPE: Young scientists promise a bright future

Three young researchers, from Poland, Slovakia and Britain, were awarded the top prizes in the EU Contest for Young Scientists in Copenhagen on 25 September, against competition from national scientific prize-winners from 39 European countries plus Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand and the US.

There were 87 projects in contention, ranging from engineering and earth sciences to biology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, medicine, computer and social sciences. The contest was part of the EU's Science in Society programme aimed at stimulating interest in science among young people and encouraging them to take up scientific careers. Several past winners have gone on to achieve major scientific breakthroughs or set up businesses to market ideas developed for the contest.

The winners, who each received prizes of EUR7,000 (US$10,000), were Magdalena Bojarska (17) from Poland for the project Hamiltonian cycles in generalised Halin graphs, Martin Tkác (20) from Slovakia for Tilting of bulk materials based on gravitation principle in cargo railway transport and Elisabeth Muller (18) from the UK for From Microcosm to Magma Oceans: A Lunar Meteorite Perspective.

Altogether prizes worth EUR46,500 were awarded, with other winners coming from the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Belarus, France and Latvia. It was the 20th anniversary of the EUCYS and a special prize was given by the European Commission for the best project from a third country to stress the importance of international scientific cooperation in research. This EUR5,000 prize was won by Pipa Grierson from New Zealand for Fighting Facial Eczema.

The other prizes included one from the Danish government awarded to Pawel Maryniak of Poland for Differences between spatial orientation in male and female of Madagascan hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa).

Teleri Edwards (18) of the UK won an invitation to attend the 2008 Nobel Prize ceremonies, meet Nobel laureates and take part in scientific/cultural activities awarded by the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar 2008 for an earth science paper.

Other prizes included a visit to the European Patent Office in Munich, the London International Youth Science Forum 2009 and one-week stays at each of the seven members of the EIROforum including The European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

More information at: www.eurocontest.dk

alan.osborn@uw-news.com