Winners of the 2019 European Union Contest for Young Scientists Announced

The 2019 winners of the prestigious European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) have been announced. Since 1989 the EUCYS has aimed to promote cooperation and interchange between young scientists and to guide their future careers in science and technology. This year celebrated the 31st year of the competition, with more than 150 young scientists coming from 39 countries around the world competing in Sofia, Bulgaria. The EUCYS 2019 Jury comprised 19 expert judges with a wide range of scientific experience.

The four first prizes of the EUCYS 2019 competition were presented by the Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science, Krasimir Valchev and Signe Ratso, the European Commission’s Deputy Director General for Research, Science and Innovation. The prizes each consisted of €7,000 and were awarded to:

• Adam Kelly from Ireland for “Optimised Simulation of General Quantum Circuits”
• Magnus Quaade Oddershede from Denmark for “The Wingtip’s Influence on the Efficiency of Airplane Wings”
• Alex Korocencev and Felix Christian Sewing from Germany for “Hoverboard — a Magnetically Levitated Vehicle”
• Leo Li Takemaru and Poojan Pandya from the USA for “Investigating the Role of the Novel ESCRT-III Recruiter CCDC11 in HIV Budding: Identifying a Potential Target for Antiviral Therapy”

As a member of the EIROforum — a group of eight major European Intergovernmental Research Organisations — ESO donated a special prize for the best project in the field of astronomy and space physics. The prize was awarded to Ségolène Mosser, Louise Richard, and Hugo Montan from France for their project titled “Advanced ARAGO, a Gravitational Wave Detector”. They will receive a trip to ESO’s sites in Chile, including visits to the Paranal Observatory and the ESO facilities in Santiago, offering a unique insight into life at the most advanced observatories in the world. 

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory