SciFest is greatly honoured that President Higgins has agreed to be the project’s sole Patron. The President’s patronage is recognition of the hard work and dedication of the teachers who support and encourage their students to develop and exhibit their science and technology projects and to those teachers who also organise their own in-house SciFest@School fairs. It is also recognition of the work of the staffs of the third level colleges who give freely of their time and expertise to organise the 16 SciFest@College events, to act as judges at these events and to ensure that the students who participate in the events have the best possible experience on the day.
SciFest has developed rapidly since its launch nationwide in 2008. In that year just over 1600 students exhibited 680 projects. Ten years later, in 2018, over 10,000 second-level students participated in SciFest STEM fairs at school and/or college level. Over these ten years some 60,000 students have had an opportunity to participate in SciFest at local and/or regional level. Of these, over 200 have gone on to participate in a SciFest national final. And from these national finals 15 students have gone on to represent Ireland at international competitions in the Netherlands and the USA. In all, SciFest students have participated in 10 international competitions and have brought home a total of 12 major awards.