September saw Courtney Williams, who was until recently a pupil at William Farr C of E Comprehensive School in Lincolnshire, find success at the 21st European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) in Paris.

The six day event featured entries from across Europe. Three students represented Britain and CREST. Courtney (pictured, right) was awarded the EIRO prize for her project 'Listening for Ghost Particles: the Acoustic Cosmic Ray Neutrino Experiment'. Her prize is the opportunity to spend a week working with the scientists at CERN next summer.

Courtney carried out her project when she was on her Nuffield Science Bursary placement at the University of Sheffield in the summer of 2008. Her project was accredited with a Gold CREST Award and she entered it for the first Big Bang Fair which was held in London in March 2009.

At that event she was one of the three winners of the EU Contest for Young Scientists Prize. The opportunity to attend EUCYS in Paris was part of her prize.

On top of this, Courtney has been successful in gaining an Ignition* Creative Sparks award to develop her interests in science research and communication.

We’re delighted that staff at Lincolnshire and Rutland EBP were able to co-ordinate the Nuffield Science Bursary placements and CREST Awards in Lincolnshire so that Courtney had the opportunity to do her project last year.

Congratulations Courtney on all the successes you have achieved so far! We hope you enjoy your week at CERN and wish you every success in your studies at Imperial College London.

For more information:
• CREST Awards: www.britishscienceassociation.org
• Nuffield Science Bursaries: http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/go/grants/nsb/page_390.html
• Story about Courtney and her article: http://www.lrebp.org.uk/newsDetail.asp?ID=57&NewsTypeID=4
• EUCYS 2009: www.eucys09.fr
• Ignition* Creative Sparks: http://www.ignitefutures.org.uk/ignition/creative-sparks/

Paula Bailey & Stella Morgan, Nuffield Science Bursary Co-ordinators, Lincolnshire & Rutland