[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/10809\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFrom rockets to spider silk, young scientists wow the jury \u2013 and each other!\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn\u00eas Alves Cerqueira of Portugal just spent five days in Brussels and left with a top EU prize for young scientists.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBut ask 17-year-old Cerqueira what she remembers most about the event, which featured 136 contestants from three dozen countries in Europe and beyond, and the much-coveted award gets hardly any mention.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENo worries\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I loved listening to all the projects and having conversations about science without having to worry about people judging me or anything like that,\u2019 she said as the 34th annual EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) drew to a close in the Belgian capital.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWorries or not, Cerqueira and the other contestants aged 14 to 20 years were judged by a jury of 22 distinguished scientists and engineers from across Europe as part of the official competition. It featured 85 science projects in the running for first, second and third awards that shared a total of \u20ac62 000 in prize money.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe rewards also include scholarships and visits to institutions such as the European Space Agency, nuclear-research organisation CERN and a forum that brings together eight of the largest research bodies in Europe.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAll the participants had already won first prizes in national science competitions. At EUCYS, four projects won the top prize and received \u20ac7 000 each.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ECerqueira claimed hers with two teammates: Afonso Jorge Soares Nunes and M\u00e1rio Covas Onofre. The three Portuguese, who come from the northern coastal city of Porto, are exploring the potential of spider silk to treat bone diseases including osteoporosis.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe EUCYS projects, which ranged from rocket science and chronic-pain drugs to climate demographics and river pollution, were as varied as the backgrounds of the participants, who came from as far away as Canada and South Korea.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ECanadian Elizabeth Chen was another first-prize winner for a project on a cancer therapy. The two other top-award recipients were Maksymilian Gozdur of Poland for an entry on judicial institutions and Martin Stengaard S\u00f8rensen of Denmark for an initiative on rocket propulsion systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBright minds\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018EUCYS is about rewarding the enthusiasm, passion and curiosity of Europe\u2019s next generation of bright minds finding new solutions to our most pressing challenges,\u2019 said Marc Lema\u00eetre, the European Commission\u2019s director-general for research and innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EEagerness and spirit were on general display at the event. So was camaraderie.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENoemi Marianna Pia, Pietro Ciceri and Davide Lolla, all 17 year olds from Italy, said they felt themselves winners by having earned spots at EUCYS for a project on sustainable food and described the event as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to mix with fellow young scientists from around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe three Italians want to develop plant-based alternatives to animal proteins. At their exhibition stand, they talked with contagious excitement about their research while holding dry chickpeas and soybeans.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ELolla said that, while his pleasures include tucking into a juicy steak, he feels a pressing need to reduce meat consumption to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESparkling ideas\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn the other side of the venue, 16-year-old Eleni Makri from Cyprus recalled how a classroom chat about summer plans sparked an idea to use seagrass on many of the island\u2019s beaches to produce fertiliser.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHer project partner, Themis Themistocleous, eagerly joined the conversation to explain how seagrass can recover phosphate from wastewater. The process involves thermal treatment of the seagrass.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThemistocleous also expressed pride at having been chosen by Makri as her teammate for the competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There were a thousand people, but she chose me!\u2019 he said with a wide grin as Makri playfully shook her head in response.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EScience can also be the outcome of a partnership rather than its trigger. Metka Supej and Brina Poropat of Slovenia were brought together by sports, particularly rowing.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter years of training on the same team, they decided to research the impact of energy drinks on heart-rate recovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMultiple paths\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAs they cheered for one another while preparing to say goodbye, the participants at EUCYS 2023 offered a glimpse of the combination of qualities \u2013 personal, intellectual, social and even professional \u2013 that turn young people into pioneering researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGozdur, the Polish top-prize winner, discovered his passion for judicial matters while working at a law firm. Before that, he wanted to study medicine and even dabbled in the film industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHis EUCYS project drew on French and Polish criminal-procedure codes to examine the prospects for \u201crestorative justice\u201d \u2013 a central element of which is rehabilitation of the convict. The conclusion reached was that \u2018penal populism is not beneficial to any party, especially to the victim\u2019s,\u2019 according to a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eucys2023.eu\/social-02\/\u0022\u003Edescription\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENow 19 years old and a law student in Warsaw, Gozdur said he would like international institutions to take up his work so that it influences \u2018real-life\u2019 legal norms in the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018EUCYS showed me that my idea is actually relevant and that it may help societies,\u2019 he said. \u2018I would like to fight more for my project.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFor S\u00f8rensen, the Danish recipient of the top prize, venturing into rocket science as a teenager was no surprise. From the city of Odense, he began computer programming at the age of 10 and was inspired by his father \u2013 an electrical engineer \u2013 to look into engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENow 19 years old,\u0026nbsp;S\u00f8rensen is striving in his research to create cheaper rocket engines. His project, entitled \u201cDevelopment of small regeneratively cooled rocket propulsion systems\u201d, demonstrated how small rocket engines can be cooled by using a fuel that is a mixture of ethanol and nitrous oxide.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ES\u00f8rensen said he\u2019s unsure what his future path will be while expressing interest in pursuing his rocket research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I would like to continue working on this project,\u2019 he said. \u2018And I would like to do something that matters in the world.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EChen, the top-award winner from Canada, has long had a passion for cancer research.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom childhood, she became involved in fundraisers for a Canadian cancer association and was puzzled about why significant donations had produced no cure. Now 17 years old and in high school, Chen is seeking a therapy that would avoid the often-considerable side effects of conventional treatments.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHer project focuses on a novel form of immunotherapy based on \u201cCAR-T cells\u201d, which are genetically altered so they can fight cancer more effectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I am really interested in going into university right away and then hopefully getting involved in some cancer research because that is just so interesting to me,\u2019 said Chen, who comes from Edmonton.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe three Portuguese winners \u2013 Cerqueira, Nunes and Onofre \u2013 said they have developed a partnership as strong as their spider silk and plan to pursue their research while at university with the hope \u2013 one day \u2013 of conducting clinical studies.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ECalled \u201cSPIDER-BACH2\u201d, their project reflects an awareness that osteoporosis will become a growing health challenge worldwide as people live longer. It aims for in vitro production of bone-building cells known as osteoblasts.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The future is bright for us,\u2019 said Nunes.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-tzmbulttumvak0vipq9i1uwxh1cnftmpbimuwiinoaq\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-tzMBulttUMvaK0VipQ9i1uWxh1CnFtMpBImUWIinoAQ\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]