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The excitement for all participants will culminate on tomorrow evening when the overall winner is announced at the awards ceremony.
Students from Dunderry N.S. in Co. Meath were at the heart of the action at the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition today, enjoying a lengthy personal visit from Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison.
The tech billionaire spent significant time at the Primary Science Fair engaging in conversation with the Dunderry students about their project, titled “From Blood to Boba: Exploring Coagulation & Spherification”. Their work is part of a showcase running alongside the main competition featuring 60 primary school projects, all designed to ignite a lifelong love for STEM in third to sixth class students across Ireland.
Collison also took the time to visit some of the other 550 project stands across the exhibition floor and participated in a live student Q&A. During his tour, he met with entrants across all five categories, including international participants from Kenya and Jordan who traveled to Dublin as national winners in their own countries.
Speaking to students at a Q&A session, he said: “I was sitting in the audience here not that long ago, now 21 years ago. I’ve been spending some time in the hall and the standard of your projects is extremely impressive and you are going to accomplish incredible things in the years to come… Hone your curiosity and figure out what it is that compels you in particular—that’s at the heart of it.”
Some of the work Patrick Collison also viewed, centres around tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges, ranging from the effect of tidal waves on black holes and the impact of biodegradable products on soil quality, to a wearable AI device for early disease detection.
Over 200 prizes will be awarded at the exhibition, with the ultimate winner receiving €7,500 and the opportunity to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
