Once in a lifetime experience for twins Aimee and Ashlee
Tallaght twins awarded at Young Scientist 2025 are set for a “once in a lifetime” experience as they will represent Ireland at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
Sixth-year students at Tallaght CS from Fettercairn, Aimee and Ashlee Keogh, attended the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for their third year.
Their project “Mind the Gap: Modernising Study Habits” got them an exciting role in the next EXPO, an award by The Irish Science Teachers Association, and the first place in the Social and Behavioural Sciences category at the fair.
“We weren’t expecting first place, let alone Japan,” said Ashlee talking about their reaction to the awards and how they got “emotional” as they received them.
Ashlee and Aimee with teacher Kate O’Gorman show off their awards in Tallaght Community School
“Mind the Gap” is an app aimed at helping students figure out the learning methods that suit them the most and fight procrastination and the so-called ‘intention-action’ gap.
It was first presented at the Young Scientist last year as a website, awarding the sisters with the third place in the category, and was extended into an app this year.
“It can have a massive impact on students,” said their science teacher Kate O’Gorman.
“On the app you take a survey which tells you ‘what kind of learner you are’, for example if you’re a visual or audio learner, and how your motivation works,” she explained.
Susannah Norton and Nikola Gebska from Kishoge Community College with their project ‘Sol-Mate’
Based on the results, users receive recommendations on how to approach different subjects and which subjects they are most aligned with, which can also help them taking more knowledgeable decisions after their leaving certificate.
“As we were going through secondary school, we found there are a lot of expectations, and that sometimes we couldn’t follow through,” said Ashlee.
“By talking to other students, we realised we were not alone and that’s where we got the idea.”
“Research on the ‘intention-gap’ is usually done in relation to sports but hasn’t been done in terms of education, so they really looked into something new,” said Ms O’Gorman.
“We are blown away and so, so delighted. The entire school came together to celebrate them.”
Therese Gunning, of BT Ireland presents the 3rd place Senior Individual Biological and Ecological Sciences Category Award to Amelia Lupascu, Adamstown Community College
Winning a trip to EXPO was a novelty at the BT Young Scientist, and five projects including Mind the Gap were selected to be showcased at the Ireland pavilion in July 2025 and to also be represented at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) in September.
The twins are determined to pursue careers that will have an impact on people be it through STEM disciplines or social sciences such as psychology and law.
“I’m very interested in psychology and behavioural sciences, as I believe they can really help people in society,” Amee told The Echo.
“If you have a project but you don’t feel as confident about it, always go for it,” they both agreed.
“You will build that confidence up along the way.”