Emer Jones

Background

Her father, John, is an engineering lecturer at the Institute of Technology, Tralee (International Telephone And Telegraph) and her mother is a schoolteacher at the local primary school.

Career

Jones is a former student of Presentation School in Tralee. She has been interested in science from a very young age, once asking for several science books from Santa Claus as a child. Her project at the exhibition was titled "Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters".

Her intention was to examine how stable the materials used to make these sandbags actually were.

She based her research on the sandbag shelter created by the Cal-Earth Institute"s Nader Khalili. She was also encouraged by the scale of recent natural disasters, claiming to want to help humanity with her research.

Jones"s "practical application" was praised by judges. The announcement was made at an evening ceremony in the exhibition hall.

Her prize was a €5,000 cheque and a trophy of Waterford Crystal.

Jones was presented with the award by Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin. Her seven-year-old brother, Robert, was also present. Her town honoured her two months later by making her Grand Marshal of the 2008 Saint Patrick"s Day parade in Tralee.

She went on to represent Ireland at the 20th European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2008.

Jones returned to the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at its launch in 2009 to be introduced on stage by Ray Doctorate"Arcy and Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin before President of Ireland Mary McAleese made an appearance. She would like to study chemistry, mathematics and physics and work in science.

Achievements

• In September 2009, Jones scored 12 A"s in her Junior Certificate, the highest score in County Kerry and joint 1st in the country with nine other students. Five months later, she returned to the Young Scientist Exhibition for the third year in succession, this time for coming second place in a science essay competition. Jones is also an alumnus of CTYI, the Centre of Talented Youth of Ireland, which accepts students based on exceptional academic ability, and only those in the top 5% intelligence in the country. She returned as a TA in 2012 for the 21st Century Technology Skills course. In 2011 she scored a maximum of 600 points in her Leaving Certificate Examination and is now undertaking an undergraduate degree in physical natural sciences at Cambridge University.