National school student from Dunlavin lands major Irish award for innovative beehive design

A national school student from Dunlavin has won a major award for an innovative project that she built that helps to monitor the activities of bees by using sensors and special software. Amy Cunningham, a student at Scoil Nioclais Naofa National School in Dunlavin, had her project selected ahead of more than 1,000 other competitors at this year's CoderDojo Coolest Project Awards, sponsored by Virgin Media and its parent company Liberty Global. She constructed a special beehive - Amy's Buzzy Hive - that monitors the activities of bees, using sensors and a special software. Amy took the inspiration for her project from her concern that bees and our food sources are under threat - as much of the world’s food production depends on pollination by bees. Her creative invention provides data which could help to save bees from extinction by knowing better how they are getting on in the hive and monitoring the quality of their honey production (a key sign of bee health). Anna Maria Barry, head of public relations at Virgin Media said, “This is a very impressive project by Amy which shows the fantastic creativity and thoughtfulness of our young people in Ireland.  She has demonstrated a very caring and conscientious approach to environmental concerns and to the future of one of the world’s most important insects, the honey bee.” “Liberty Global and Virgin Media are proud to have once again sponsored the Coolest Projects event organised by CoderDojo. In the competition, young coders are invited to identify a social issue, create a solution and make a better future. “The awards aim to celebrate digital solutions that answer society’s most pressing challenges by encouraging young people to take an active role in their communities. The initiative is part of Liberty Global's flagship programme called ‘Digital Imagination’ which focuses on empowering positive change through technology.” More than 15,000 people attended the impressive event in Dublin’s RDS where Future Makers Awards were presented to young people who use technology to make the world a better place, with over 1,000 projects developed by young people from 17 countries.