St. Mary’s girl Kaycee Deery named UK Young Scientist of the Year 2023 for environmentally friendly sunscreen

Her project was designed to avoid harmful chemicals found in commercial suncreams which damage the environment.

Kaycee was inspired to create sunscreens based on natural ingredients after seeing articles detailing potentially harmful chemicals in commercial sunscreens entering UK water systems.

Accepting her award, Kaycee said: “This is surreal. I don’t feel like I’ve done it, but I did! I decided to do this project to create a more sustainable, biodegradable and eco-friendly sunscreen.

"This award will help me continue and advance the project and hopefully, some day have an actual product to give people.”

Dr. Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, which runs The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition, said: “Huge congratulations to Kaycee on her UK Young Scientist of the Year award.

"She has worked incredibly hard on her sunscreen project, innovating her own lightbox and experimenting to extract natural oils from plants and vegetables.

"The judges were really impressed with her creative ideas, problem solving and determination – all important elements in science. I look forward to seeing how Kaycee develops her sunscreens and what she achieves in the future.”

Kaycee set out to create natural sunscreens with ultraviolet protection, derived from naturally occurring oils.

After selecting a range of oils, including vitamin A and E oils, Kaycee tested their ability to absorb and protect against UVA radiation.

Following her experiments, she was able to create several natural sunscreens.

The North was well represented among the winners at The Big Bang Competition, with Nikita Morrison and Becca Connolly also from St. Mary’s College winning the Intermediate Science category award. Ashton Mui, Callum Bailie and Niall Manson from Ballymena Academy (County Antrim) took home the Siemens SMART Technologies Environmental Award 2023.

The UK Young Engineer of the Year was also announced at The Big Bang Fair. Ranita Ariyibi, age 15 from Colchester County High School for Girls, Essex England won the prestigious award for her Intersign project.

To find out more about The Big Bang Competition and the 2023 winners visit: www.thebigbang.org.uk/the-big-bang-competition/2023-winners

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