Discover the winners of the EU Contest for Young Scientists and EU TalentOn

On 13 September 2024 at the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the European City of Science 2024, two prestigious European science competitions concluded with the announcement of their winners. The 35th EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) and the 2nd EU TalentOn brought together over 250 promising young minds from across the globe to present innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time. The EC press release with all further details is here.

EUCYS 2024

At the 35th EUCYS, 146 young scientists aged 14 to 20, from 37 countries showcased their projects, competing in a range of scientific fields including biology, chemistry, computer science, and engineering. The first prize winning projects, each receiving €7,000, were:

• Piotr Olbryś from Poland for the project Design of new pyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone-based heterocyclic derivatives as high-capacity organic cathode materials: a density functional theory study
• Nikhil Vemuri from the USA for the project ANOMaLY: A Real-Time Globalized System for Effective Regional Mitigation of Agricultural Nitrous Oxide Emissions
• Lamia Music from Austria for the project Sustainable and Advanced Approaches to Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
• Aleksandra Petkova from Bulgaria for the project Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Ship Wakes 

In addition to cash prizes, winners were awarded prestigious visits to leading European research institutions such as CERN, ESA, and EMBL. Full list of EUCYS 2024 Winners

EU TalentOn 2024

During the five-day event, 108 young researchers aged 21 to 35, from 38 countries, competed in teams of four to address societal challenges linked to the five EU Missions under Horizon Europe.  

The first prize winning teams, each receiving €7,500, were recognised for their outstanding projects in each mission category:

• Adaptation to Climate Change Mission: H₂FAST (Pawel Brusiło, Faisal Alaid, Brita Laht, Ana Maria Popa)
• Cancer Mission: Breath for Life (Anneke Kastelein, Ana Filipa Moreno, Guillermo Nevot, Simone Kresevic, Krzysztof Gorgoń)
• Restore our Oceans & Waters Mission: WhaleTrail (Leonard Günzel, Spela Lemez, Akshay Kowseller, Adriano Nicola Pilagatti, Barbara Wachowicz)
• Climate-neutral and Smart Cities Mission: E(CO) mining (Ali Badiei, Aanchal Sharma, Carmelo Carbone, Muhammad Hamza Daud, Kamila Fąferaal)
• Soil Deal for Europe Mission: ReviSoil (Diana Maria Branga, Adam Grzywaczyk, Qumber Abbas, Emma Olmi, Aleksandra Maksimowska)

The Grand Prize of €12,000 for the best overall project was awarded to Breath for Life project (Anneke Kastelein, Ana Filipa Moreno, Guillermo Nevot, Simone Kresevic, Krzysztof Gorgoń) for their outstanding contribution to Mission Cancer. Second prizes were also awarded for each Mission.

Full list of TalentOn 2024 Winners