On Sunday 20 March 2016, 30 young people divided into 17 teams presented projects in a range of fields from biology, engineering and medicine to physics and history as part of the 'Jonk Fuerscher' national competition.
Organised by the National Research Fund (FNR), the prize-giving ceremony saw HRH Prince Guillaume and Luxembourg City Mayor, Lydie Polfer, join twenty delegations from Europe, China and Kyrgyzstan to witness all the young participants aged 11-21 be rewarded for their efforts according to their age and the quality of their work. Consequently, the project showing the most promise will get the chance to represent Luxembourg in international competitions in China, the US and at the selective European Union Contest for Young Scientists organised by the European Commission. The younger participants will take part in internships and scientific exhibitions in Europe.
The two projects that were highlighted by the jury were 'What do we bring home from school? Phase 2' by 15-year-old Camilla Hurst and 'Das Elektro-magnetische Auto' by Same and Tom Herz, both 17 years old.
Camilla Hurst came back victorious once again after the first part of her research won at the 2015 competition. Having discovered a new bacterium last year, she expanded her work on bacterial transmission and focused this year on prevention, with an environmental study on materials and practices at the European School of Luxembourg I, where Camilla goes to school.
As a means of putting their vested interest in protecting the environment to good use, Sam and Tom Herz of the Lycée Aline Mayrisch conducted an extensive study on electromagnetism with a view to building a new, similarly-powered automobile model.
MEP and 'Ambassador e-skills for jobs', Mady Delvaux-Stehres, was in attendance for the first time this year to present a 'Special Award for e-Skills' to Alex Burman, Pierre Klemmer and Simon Kelly, for their project 'Arbeit von zur Polystytolkonsum Tenebro Molitor', which explored a new way to recycle non-organic waste through mealworms. It was the project's originality and its use of new information technologies to serve the research which snared the award for the group.
Photos by FNR (L-R: Camilla Hurst; Sam and Tom Herz)
