Dublin student wins major science competition

RTÉ News​

09-07-2025

Amelia Lupascu, 16, from Adamstown Community College in Dublin has won the top prize at 'The Eurekas', an annual physics awards programme for students aged 11-16 from across the UK and Ireland.
The winning entry, 'Through Another Eyes,' was inspired by Amelia's cat and explores how physics shapes the way animals perceive the world in ways which go far beyond human ability.
The project examined how different animals use light waves, sound vibrations and magnetic fields, to perceive the world around them.
"I came across this idea because I have a cute little cat," Amelia said.
"I was aware that they could see the world in different colours than us humans and began to wonder what other animals see when perceiving the world," she added.
Mariia Rudnitska, 13, from Nord Anglia International School in Dublin took second place for her project on 'The Hidden Physics in Mirrors,' which explored the physics behind how flat mirrors work, focusing on the law of reflection.
Katie Staunton, 14, from Mount Sackville Secondary School in Dublin won a 'highly commended' award for her entry, 'Two Slits to Many Worlds,' which saw her conducting experiments with lasers in the school lab to demonstrate wave-like interference patterns and illustrate the collective behaviour of photons.
The Eurekas competition is run as part of the Institute of Physics' Limit Less campaign, which works to break down barriers to the study of physics.
Commenting on the three winners from Dublin, Sarah Bakewell, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the Institute of Physics, said the judges were blown away by all the entries.
"The quality of entries both in terms of creativity and physics content make The Eurekas such an enjoyable and inspiring event to judge each year," she said.
This year, The Eurekas received 274 entries from schools across the UK and Ireland.
Entries were in a wide range of formats, from film and music, to poetry and presentations.