Karina Movsesjan from the Czech Republic  is the  winner  of 29th EU Contest for Young Scientists

In 2017  European Commission top prizes for young scientists were awarded to Karina Movsesjan from the Czech Republic for “The role of RAD51 mutations in cancer development”, Adam Jan Alexander Ohnesorge from Switzerland for “The forgotten prisoners – Civilian prisoners of the Great War in Corsica” and Danish Mahmood from Canada for “W.I.N.I.T.S. (Wireless Interconnected Non-Invasive Triage System)”. The three first prizes for outstanding science projects were €7000 each.

The three second prizes and three third prizes were given to projects from Poland, Canada, Ukraine, Austria, Bulgaria and Germany. The winners were among 146 promising young scientists aged 14 to 20 who presented their projects at the 29th edition of the EU Contest for Young Scientists over the last days in Tallinn, Estonia. The winners shared a total of €53.500 in prize money, as well as other prizes such as science trips.

Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “This year, 89 brilliant projects from 38 countries were presented. It’s encouraging to see so many bright young minds and so much talent. Europe’s economic capacity to deal with major challenges will depend on this next generation of researchers and innovators.”

Background

The European Union Contest for Young Scientists was set up by the European Commission in 1989 to encourage co-operation and exchange between young scientists and to give them an opportunity to be guided by some of Europe’s most prominent researchers.

The contest seeks to support national efforts to attract young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and to eventually choose careers in science and research. The number of participating young scientists has grown from 53 in the first competition in 1989 to 146 this year.

Female participation in the contest reflects the broader issue of underrepresentation of women in STEM. This year, 38% of the participants were female (56 participants vs. 90 male participants). Over the 29 years, from the 3014 participants of the contest 313 young women and 916 young men have won prizes in this contest.

Source: European Commission