17 October 2018
Assistant Director General at the Central Statistics Office, Maria Hurley, today (Wednesday 17 October) presented prizes to the winners of the 2018 John Hooper Medal and Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition, in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
The goal of the John Hooper competition is to improve students' abilities to describe, explore and investigate their environment using statistics. This national competition is open to teams of 2 to 3 students, up to 18 years old and is named in honour of John Hooper BA* (1878 - 1930). The competition was first launched eight years ago to mark the first World Statistics Day in 2010.
In addition, this is the fourth year of the Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition. This competition aims to encourage young people to use open data; the award is for the most innovative use, or potential use of CSO data, be it in statistical analyses, processes or outputs, a piece of research, a visualisation or a data map, the development of a device, a software application or the use of CSO data in any other innovative way.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Hurley said:
“There has been a consistently high standard of entries for the John Hooper competition and the Best Use of CSO Open Data Award, and I am delighted with both the commitment shown by the teachers and pupils and by the quality of the entries submitted.
Each year, students demonstrate ingenuity and original thinking by exploring a broad range of topics, and this year is no exception, with topics ranging from position in the family and attitudes to mindful meditation being explored.
Promoting the understanding and use of statistics is an integral part of the CSO’s Educational Outreach programme which includes the John Hooper Medal, Award for the Best Use of CSO Open Data at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition and the Census at Schools initiatives.”
John Hooper BA* (1878 - 1930). He graduated in 1898 with a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics, and in 1923 at the foundation of State, was appointed the first Director of Statistics for Saorstát Éireann. As the first Director of Statistics, John Hooper shaped the development of official statistics for the new State until his death in December 1930. His work led to the development of new statistics (e.g. first Census of Population and Census of Industrial Production in 1926), and the 1926 Statistics Act.
Elaine O'Mahoney
087 1308799
Ken Kennedy (+353) 21 453 5036 or Olivia Lucey (+353) 21 453 5021
or email information@cso.ie
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