30th EU Contest for Young Scientists opens in Dublin

The 30th European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) was opened by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins here on Saturday.

A total of 139 middle school students from 38 countries and regions have participated in the event which runs from Sept. 14 to 19, including a day for setting up their exhibition booths by participants.

Most of the participants come from the EU member countries while representatives from non-EU countries such as China, Canada and Israel have also taken part in the contest at the invitation of the organizing committee.

All the contesters have previously won first prizes in their home country's science competitions, according to organizers.

The three contesters sent by China are all girls including one from capital city of Beijing, one from the country's biggest city Shanghai and another from northeast China's Changchun City.

A total of 90 projects will be displayed by participants at the main exhibition hall of Royal Dublin Society. A group of 20 judges consisting of experts from different EU countries will select nine winners out of all the contesters.

The first prize winner will be awarded 7,000 euros (8,140 U.S. dollars) while the awards for the second prize and third prize winners are 5,000 euros and 3,500 euros respectively.

EUCYS is a science fair first launched by the European Commission in 1989 with the aim to promote the ideals of cooperation and interchange between young scientists. It is a part of the European Union Framework Programmes on Research. The EU Contest is hosted annually in a different European country.

China started to annually participate in the contest since 2003. A Chinese girl won a prize for her chemical project in the 2017 EU Contest, the first of its kind ever won by Chinese participants over the last 15 years, according to organizers.