Double success for Offaly students at major national cyber awards

STUDENTS from Sacred Heart School Tullamore scored a remarkable double at the 2024 Adventures in Cyberland Awards.

The girls won two awards at the competition organised by cybersecurity project Cyberwise which took place in O’Reilly Hall in UCD last month and featured school teams from all over Ireland.

The event was a celebration of creativity, innovation and resilience in cybersecurity education. It honoured visionary student projects that break barriers, challenge gender biases and champion inclusivity in computer science and cybersecurity.

Speakers and guests present on the day included Minister Ossian Smyth who officially launched the UCD Centre for Cyber Resilience Education, Professor Colin Scott from UCD, and judges and representatives from Microsoft, Oide, National Cybersecurity Ireland, Queen’s University Belfast and University of Limerick.

The Sacred Heart’s Cyberwise team impressed the judging panel with their exceptional project, 'Breaking Barriers - Gender Bias Busting at SHS: Our Cyber Journey to Flatten the Gender Bias Curve' where the team came first place in the Busting Gender Bias Category and claimed the award for overall group winner of the entire competition.

They were joined by the school's robotics team members Caitlin Murphy and Sarah Omoruyi, and guided by their dedicated teachers, Annette Griffin and Jacinta Gallagher.

The girls’ project investigated and documented the Sacred Heart School’s journey in cybersecurity, STEM and gender equality, analysing if and how the Sacred Heart’s journey in cybersecurity and STEM is breaking barriers.

While working on the project, the Cyberwise team used various forms of research. One of the girls had the opportunity to use professional recording equipment to produce a podcast as part of the research.

The girls also used Microsoft Forms to conduct surveys of current students about their experiences of STEM subjects and cybersecurity in the school.

They also got the opportunity to interview past pupils, including one from London, via Teams. As well as that, the team was also given access to archival data, adding to their comprehensive range of research methods.

As a result of the team’s outstanding research, their project was able to display a structured timeline, highlighting the Sacred Heart’s cyber journey from 1984 to the present day.

They included important milestones such as the installation of the first school computer in 1984, the school’s transformation to book-free digital learning in 2015, online teaching during the pandemic and the introduction of Technical Graphics and Computer Science as exam subjects in the school.

The project showed the girls’ understanding and findings of addressing gender disparities, particularly in computer science and cybersecurity.

The presentation demonstrated the Sacred Heart’s achievements and efforts towards breaking barriers in the school, as well as the Sacred Heart's continuous dedication of giving every girl the best possible foundation for success in technology, science, cybersecurity and beyond.

The school said it was very proud of the team’s hard work and dedication to the project and congratulated all the girls and their teachers.

As Ada Lovelace, distinguished 19th century mathematician and daughter of the poet Lord Byron said: “It is not the function of women to remain in the background, but to bring into action those faculties of the mind that have been unjustly restrained.”