Dublin Student’s Project Investigating an App for Vision-Impaired Safety Wins SciFest National Final 2024
Maura Moore-McCune from King’s Hospital School in Dublin will represent Ireland at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2025 in Columbus, Ohio
Friday, 29th November 2024:
Fifth year student, Maura Moore-McCune representing King’s Hospital School in Palmerstown, Dublin 12 has won the title of SciFest STEM Champion 2024 with her project “VIPMOD: Vision Impaired Person's Moving Object Detector”. Maura will represent Ireland at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.
Now in its 19th year, SciFest is Ireland’s largest, most-inclusive all-island STEM fair programme for second-level students. The National Final, held in Marino Conference Centre in Dublin today, was attended by students from every corner of the island, with 62 students qualifying to participate this year. Since 2006, the programme has continued to evolve and expand, reporting an average increase of over 20% year on year. This has been helped by the tremendous support offered by Intel Ireland, Boston Scientific, EirGrid and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
Maura from King’s Hospital School developed VIPMOD (Vision Impaired Person’s Moving Object Detector), an innovative app designed to enhance safety and independence for over 2 billion vision-impaired people worldwide. Motivated by personal experiences and near road accidents, Maura created the app through six prototypes, culminating in a version that uses advanced AI models like YOLOv8 to detect and estimate the speed of oncoming objects. With 95% accuracy in controlled tests and upcoming trials at Vision Ireland’s WayFinding Centre, VIPMOD has the potential to transform road safety.
Maura was presented with the SciFest STEM Champion 2024 Award by Sheila Porter, SciFest Founder and CEO. Earlier this year, Maura earned her place at the SciFest 2024 National Final by excelling at the regional level, where she won both the Runner-up Best Project Award and the Boston Scientific Award at TU Dublin, Tallaght, last May.
Speaking today at this year’s National Final, CEO and Founder of SciFest, Sheila Porter commented:
"On behalf of everyone here at SciFest, I would like to extend a warm congratulations to all the winners, particularly to Maura for winning the title of SciFest STEM Champion 2024. SciFest has been providing opportunities in STEM for students for nearly two decades, and I am proud to have watched it evolve during that time. And while every year, we continue to grow, our core mission remains the same: to inspire and empower the next generation to engage with and explore the world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
This year saw a big uptake in projects focusing on the environment and sustainability – critical areas for shaping a better future. I want to sincerely thank everybody who has been involved – from our students, teachers, and parents to our wonderful sponsors – all of whom have contributed to this extraordinary event. Together, we continue to drive progress and spark the creativity that will lead us into the future."